How to Write a Great Employer Value Proposition

An employer value proposition (or EVP) is a statement made by a company to attract prospective employees. It aims to present the benefits of working at that company outside of any monetary rewards, including an expression of core values and cultures.Above all, write your EVP to focus on the 5% who deliver 95% of the value. If quant analysts are hugely important, for example, you will want an EVP that lets them harness world-class technology; empowers novel approaches to tackling complex datasets and encourages intellectual curiosity to create new strategies on a global scale.

Why does my company need an EVP?

Developing an EVP can certainly provide a competitive advantage when recruiting talent. An EVP shows that thought has gone into the employee experience and that the wellbeing of employees is important to the company. A well-crafted EVP can be used on your website, recruitment materials, job adverts, and in your general marketing and advertising activities. A study by Gartner found that an authentic and well-crafted EVP can not only help with hiring new talent, but retaining it too, decreasing annual employee turnover by 70%.

What are the benefits of having an EVP?

There are many benefits to crafting a strong EVP. A wellwritten and well-defined EVP is essential to those hiring in competitive sectors who need to attract high-quality talent. Recruitment agencies find their biggest challenge is differentiating themselves from competitors. An attractive EVP is the first step to identifying the benefits and approaches that make your company different. It can also increase visibility in your targeted labor marketand even help you break through to different markets holding untapped talent with transferable skills. An EVP will strengthen your employer brandwhich means attracting a higher caliber of talent that can produce an improved quality of work and elevate any companies’ overall performance.

Developing an EVP: where to start

Developing an EVP should be a truly collaborative process. You are identifying and communicating elements of your company culture, values, perks, and opportunities. This requires communication with the people that form that culture and hold those values. Before you sit down to write anEVP, it will help to hear from across the business to ensure a universal message. Collect data and material from the sources around you to help define those elements which you can build your EVP around. These are:

Your company’s core mission

This is information you will need to get from leadership, executives, and key stakeholders within your company. Ask key questions about the values of the company:

What is our mission and why does it matter?
Who are our competitors? What edge do they currently have on us?

What makes us interesting, unique, or different?
What aspects of our culture and environment makes people happy to work here?
Are we offering growth, development, mentorship, and a clear career path?

The existing perception from employees at your company

Listening to employees will provide the most important feedback your EVP requires. Uncover what keeps them motivated and engaged. Running an anonymous survey will help you get honest and transparent feedback - providing strengths to base your EVP around, and areas for improvement which can contribute to your mission statement.

How to write an EVP

EVPs can take many formats, these can include:

A longer, more detailed statement, illustrating each point with benefits provided. This could also include quotes and feedback from current employees and statistics around employee retention and diversity.
A brief overview – a couple of paragraphs outlining your overall proposition.

A one-sentence definition – used for short-form advertising and marketing activity. This needs to be simple, broad, head-turning, and appealing. For example, Goldman Sach’s EVP simply claims, “At Goldman Sachs, you will make an impact.” Google simply says, “Do Cool things that matter”. An EVP statement needs to cover five elements:

Work: What will employees be doing and working towards? Will working here help those with ambitious career goals?

Rewards: Alongside a salary, what are you offering employees? Perks, autonomy, support, a generous pension, a defined career path?
Environment: Is your company a great place to work? What are the offices like? Are there opportunities to relax and socialize?
People: What are the people like in your company? From CEO suppliers, what are the shared values and characteristics among your peers?

Opportunities: Once employed, can talent advance within your company? Will there be opportunities to train, develop, advance, and network? Do you have a bonus scheme?

Top tips on how to create a stronger EVP

Ensure a universal message

EVPs are not often segmented but communicates values and benefits which are universal throughout a company, appealing to groups from different backgrounds and cultures with differing care goals. This universal message can then be communicated through different channels to appeal to different segments.

View employees as customers

Your EVP is a piece of persuasive writing and needs to be approached in the same way as marketing the product or service you provide. Focus on the values and benefits your company is bringing to the life of an employee, rather than the value an employee will provide to your bottom line.

Keep to simple language

There are no rules for how long an EVP should be. Most EVPs span several paragraphs. However, the most famous and memorable examples of EVPs are only a single sentence or a few words long. Your EVP needs to be concise and provide impact. Adapt informal language if that fits in with your brand.

Focus on the future

When seeking a role, many are looking for a position which not only suits salary expectations, but also provides a space to build a career. Therefore, an EVP needs to be future-focused. This should be reflected in a mission statement. If companies aim to expand, then people will need to grow and learn new skills. Practical elements which support this are training, personal development programs, and educational support. These opportunities are just as important to prospective employees than a large salary, as it ensures stability and individual growth.

Lead honestly, avoid false or misleading statements

Ensure your company is “walking the walk”. For example, if you are selling your culture as supportive of family values, ensure you are offering specific benefits to those with children, such as flexitime, childcare vouchers, or working remotely. Authenticity is key. False statements in EVPs will ultimately lead to harm within a company, and potentially create a toxic culture withemployees frustrated that they have not been delivered what was promised.