As a hiring manager it is easy to fixate on salary but while it is without doubt important, it is the overall employee value proposition (EVP) and how well this is communicated that usually determines which employers will attract their preferred candidates.
Why is EVP so often undersold
The reason hiring managers sometimes default to focussing on salary when recruiting for a role is because it is so clean and easy to discuss compared to most other elements of the EVP. The salary figure will mean the same to everyone. It can be written into a contract. You can directly benchmark one salary against another. It doesn’t require thought or preparation from the interviewer… you can write down a figure before you go into the room and tell the candidate what they’ll get or compare it to what they’re on now… But actually, salary is only one part of the transaction between employer and employee, and while salary bands are often broadly similar across employers, EVPs can vary wildly.
So what is EVP?
EVP is everything the employer offers to and expects of its employees. It includes:
Assumed promises v considered propositions
All too often either the EVP is an after-thought rather than a considered proposition (as the term ‘employee value proposition’ suggests it should be), or it has been hastily scribbled down during an afternoon workshop rather than being a commitment proactively embedded by senior management.
When EVP doesn’t get the focus it needs then employees can have wildly different understandings of what the proposition is. Not only does this result in different experiences both for employees and applicants, but it also means that either the EVP is likely to be undersold during interview or that new joiners will quickly find a disconnect between the role they were sold and the reality.
Using a clearly articulated EVP at interview
Hiring managers armed with a clear EVP have a menu of options for engaging candidates and this can be easily used at interview to upsell the core financial component of the offer. While not all parts of the EVP will resonate with every candidate a way to identify the parts that will is to ask what aspects of their current employment they value and which they find underwhelming.
Repeating the trick by asking what has attracted the candidate to other employers will give further insight and enable the company to benchmark its own offer against that of the competition.
Bringing the EVP to life
Presented unimaginatively EVPs can come across as a list of empty promises to candidates who are promised the moon on a stick all too often. By assigning a financial value to elements of the EVP employers can help highlight the true generosity of the total package.
Providing case studies, targets and measurements can further highlight both the company’s commitment to its EVP and bring it to life.
EVP lessons from the charitable sector
While the EVP will have been developed with the whole company in mind, procurement and commercial teams should look to tailor it specifically for their specific functions. The reason the charity sector is one of the most competitive for job applicants in the UK in spite of being one of the lowest paid is because of the value prospective employees assign to the charity’s values and purpose.
Construction companies should think about what it is that makes them more exciting to work for than their competitors. Is the team using AI in innovative ways to improve supply chain efficiency? is the company’s negotiation training best in class? or does the scale of operations make the company particularly interesting?
The list of selling points is endless, but needs to be thought about, articulated and delivered against.
Adam has over 20 years’ experience recruiting procurement and commercial professionals across the construction sector.
