Finding talent is getting more difficult every day. As a recruiting professional, you continuously ask yourself why highly talented software developers want to work for your company or a startup? The number one reason why candidates choose one job over another is the state of company culture, and the Employer Value Proposition (EVP) is giving them the answer upfront!
It’s widely accepted that EVP is the key aspect in attracting, engaging, and retaining talent. Top tech talents will always consider your EVP when analyzing how well you maintain your employer brand on various platforms.
What is EVP?
Our Developer Report 2019 states that more than 57% of software developers aren’t looking for a job but are interested in a change. In this potential willingness for a job change, the target audience’s major decisive factor is the employee experience and work environment. These factors significantly contribute when forming robust EVP.
Employer Value Proposition (EVP) is a set of collective elements that employees within your company think of as an employer. When well put together, EVP describes what your employees value in you as an employer. EVP is the core of your employer brand and your strategy. It defines employer brand positioning and strategic direction all at once. A compelling EVP detects who your competition is, what external demands are, and internal reality. Let’s briefly mention the factors that define each EVP:
Companies are usually having difficulties in making clear distinctions between employer brand concept and employer value proposition. We define these two terms as the following:
- Employer brand is the perception and lived experiences of what it’s like to work for a particular organization.
- Employer Value Proposition captures the essence of your uniqueness and defines how you’d like to be perceived as an employer.
Creating robust and up-to-date EVP needs a proper foundation, and it’s essential to align with the company’s strategic context. So, how do you achieve that?
Elements supporting your EVP
In our continuous efforts to help tech companies and startups build strong employer brands, we advise organizations to understand the strategic context and ensure that EVP aligns with the corporate brand’s strategy, vision, and values. Organizational leadership and HR departments should continuously communicate with current employees to identify strengths to make EVP credible and authentic. Consider doing regular surveys to track these markers, as in every project. The first part is to discover and understand.
The next step is to define or re-evaluate the intrinsic and extrinsic work values. Intrinsic values are related to the tasks involved in a job, while extrinsic values refer to what you get out of your work. Defining these values will provide organizations with a set of useful knowledge to make themself apart from other employers in today’s hyper-competitive hiring market. One of the most effective ways to communicate your company’s or startup’s values is through EVP. Software developers are particularly fond of having a clear perception of these.
Successful EVP articulates sets of values that you offer to your current and future employees. These elements support the creation of it:
- Pillars are the core component of your EVP and are used to define its relevance based on preliminary research.
- The Manifesto contains what you want to offer to your employees. It has to be consistent with EVP and employer brand strategy.
- Tagline/Phrase is a one-liner that summarizes your overall offering. Make it memorable, direct, so it generates focus towards your EVP.
When the elements are defined, written, and set, EVP and employer brand strategy is ready for a successful deployment both internally and externally to tech talents you are looking to attract.
The benefits of carefully crafted EVP
Companies and startups that effectively deliver on their EVP can enjoy a host of benefits, including decreased employee turnovers and increased new hire commitment, according to research by Gartner.
Organizations with effective EVPs are more attractive to candidates and considered employers of choice in a congested talents market. With improved brand sentiment, organizations can differentiate with more ease from competitors.
Thoroughly researched and tested EVP generates an increase in overall reach, as it has a tailored core message that finds its way to the target audience comfortably. Keeping your manifesto and tagline consistent throughout diverse groups of candidates will generate favorable responses.
According to the study, organizations with strong EVPs enjoy higher engagement levels from employees in a reasonable amount of time. This study also suggests that when organizations articulate EVP and the behaviors you’re looking for from employees, it can be a factor in successfully attracting and retaining employees with the right culture fit for your organization.
The redefinition of employer branding strategy is vital for tech companies and startups to become aligned with recently adopted trends. It's time to ensure that your Employer Value Proposition (EVP) isn’t just robust but methodically driven to continue to deliver on what it promises during the most challenging of times.
Just remember that your employees will be your hardest critics or the greatest brand ambassadors, depending on how sticky your EVP is.