Managing Partner at Twistlab Marketing.
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Have you ever noticed that companies have personalities? As far as employees go, Goldman Sachs attracts those who don’t mind working long hours and feel proud to be affiliated with their brand. Southwest is exciting and caring; landing a job there is sometimes presented similarly to getting into Harvard.
Companies can influence these personalities through a well-crafted employee value proposition (EVP). An EVP is an experience an employer provides its workers in exchange for their labor. This experience, in most cases, holds far more value in motivating employees than just a salary.
The goal of an EVP is to use internal branding to attract and retain the right people. It has a core message that exemplifies a company’s essence in a way that is meaningful to its employees. Marketing, PR and HR lean on this messaging framework through their communications. Airbnb, as an example, ties its EVP to its mission “create a world where anyone can belong anywhere” by incorporating four core pillars emphasizing caring, inclusivity, support and innovation.
At Twistlab, we believe that a carefully curated EVP strategy + consistent messaging = uniform, meaningful and memorable employee journeys. When a business understands its EVP and embraces it, communication from the brand becomes relevant and authentic, and its consistency makes it memorable. Leaders can inspire camaraderie and make plans that align with the brand’s objectives. Recruiters can attract ambitious talent that fit well with the culture. Most importantly, realistic expectations get set with every level of employee, ensuring fulfillment and a sense of belonging.
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How To Create An EVP
I developed a process with my colleagues Dr. Lon Schiffbauer and Penny Bivens while crafting an EVP project for Intel. The steps below are general enough and can be adapted based on goals, size, number of departments or industry:
1. Analyze the problem. Understanding the current situation is essential to keeping the project focused. Dig deep into the real issue. “I can’t retain employees” is just the tip of the iceberg. Ask why until you identify the underlying problem. A recent McKinsey survey, for example, highlights how toxic behavior, low inclusivity, low supportive growth and low emphasis on sustainability directly correlate with low levels of engagement and satisfaction, which increase burnout symptoms and an employee’s intent to leave their work.
2. Define your target population. A target population is essentially the group of employees where the issues are most visible. This could be managers, new hires or a specific problematic department. The idea here is to understand your audience intimately—the more precise your understanding, the better. The selection may not be an accurate representation of the company, but the initial results can help you draft a hypothesis.
3. Conduct your research. First, understand the company’s positioning; collect brand insights, list the company’s mission, vision, values and goals, gain a deeper understanding of its competitors, and draft a SWOT analysis for the company from an employee’s perspective. Second, gather employee insights by analyzing exit surveys and employee communications. Talk to recruiters to identify gaps that direct your research. After analyzing the existing data, conduct research via interviews, surveys and focus groups to help fill in some of the gaps identified while reviewing the materials.
4. Code your data. Coding means categorizing the bulk of data into usable chunks of information that decision-makers can turn into recommendations. In this step, you’ll want to draft categories, then organize data into subcategories (subcodes) and assess the results. Finally, turn all of your coded data into categories using the respondents’ language while making sense to the reader.
5. Analyze data and define conclusions. To get started on this step, ask, “What did the data tell us? How did it answer the problem question?” We like to organize data into three categories: (1) employer values that don’t resonate with employees, (2) employee insights that don’t align with company values or aren’t actionable, and (3) employee values that do align with the company. The third category will carry the most valuable data for new messaging.
6. Form the main message framework. In some cases, all that’s needed is a single concept applied to company communications. In others, messages are more complex and need to be adapted by several departments. In such cases, we organize the insights into several pillars to offer more flexibility.
7. Provide a recipe for the adaptation of messaging. Providing instructions on how to adapt the original words while staying on message provides leaders with the ability to address current issues while still reinforcing the EVP promise. The outcome of this step will be a report that is easy to reference. It will give communicators the confidence to adapt findings to new situations. It will describe the desired emotion, tone of voice and reason behind the messaging. Simplify the recipe to make it useful. An example of a recipe could include bundling the data into relevant buckets and providing step-by-step instructions to help communicators understand how to distill an adapted message.
8. Reinforce the new EVP messaging as often as possible. You want to make it memorable and get people excited for the future. This will help recruit and retain employees more effectively. Consistency is essential; otherwise, the message will get lost. Present all company successes in terms of the developed framework. Invest in programs and projects that align with the messaging. Infuse all possible communications with adaptions of the key framework—from recruiting emails to party banners. Soon, employees will describe your company to others by relaying this message, and it will become the foundation of work culture.
It’s challenging to resist minor, more immediate connections with employees that may not fit into the curated message. Still, staying on-brand will nurture deep relationships between an employer and its workers. With a dedication to the EVP message, entry-level workers will describe the company the same way management would, and the desired reputation will spread. Realistic expectations and unity in purpose will mean increased retention, all thanks to delivering on the EVP promise.
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Author: Ahmad Kareh, Forbes Councils Member
