How To Use Employee Value Proposition To Attract + Retain Tech Talent

Published in partnership with HiBob , we’re sharing how to create an EVP to help you attract talent and keep them happily engaged as you grow.

As we adjust to a post-COVID (ish) world, companies need to evolve according to changes in the workplace and their people’s expectations, which are no longer considered just ‘perks’ but essentials. Culture, employee stock ownership (ESOP), diversity and inclusion foundation processes are now being redefined as companies struggle to succeed in hiring the best tech talent, keeping the market dynamics interesting.

Together with?HiBob , we recently hosted events in Sydney and Melbourne focused on attracting and retaining tech talent. In these sessions, we discussed several strategies that companies can use to help them achieve this goal. As a follow-on from these insightful events, we’re sharing how to create an EVP to help you attract talent and keep them happily engaged as you grow.

While creating an EVP shows that you care about your people and want to provide them with a generous offering of benefits and rewards, it’s important not to get dragged into a benefits battle for the sake of trying to stay current. Here are some ideas for how you can generate an EVP that comes across as authentic while staying true to your company’s core values.?

Challenge 1: How to make your EVP come across as authentic?

While the usual benefits shouldn’t be dismissed entirely, they can come across as gimmicky and like they’ve just been thrown in without much consideration for the impact they have. For example, ‘we’re advocates for flexible working' may miss the mark. Taking the time to describe what that means and why you’ve introduced it as part of your EVP is just as important as the benefit itself.?

Solution 1: Communicate your North Star metric and build your EVP around it.

Your North Star is your key measure of success, so use it to build your EVP. Consider your company’s priorities and then ask yourself what your team needs from your EVP to tick off those priorities.

Prospective employees will want to also know your North Star metric and not only how you see them helping you reach it, but also what you’re going to provide them with to help them to help you.

Solution 2: Share what actually matters to you and your employees and?why.?

Our work and personal lives are blended in more ways than ever before. The fact is, we all have a life and people we love in it that are incredibly important to us. Showing you?care?about your people’s personal lives will remove any gimmicks or inauthenticity around your EVP.?

For example, you can introduce calendar transparency as part of a flexible working model. Your employees may have things they need to do during the day, such as clocking out early to pick up their kid from school, blocking out a couple of hours for the gym or looking after their dog. Whatever the reason, they shouldn’t need to hide or lie about what they’re doing.

A company that’s open and encourages its people to do the things that are important to them, shows that they acknowledge their people's needs and that life isn’t all about work. Because the truth is, it isn’t.?

Challenge 2: How to have an EVP that stands out from your competitors?

When it comes to the benefits battle, employees are being bombarded with options. An EVP is a great way to pitch yourself away (and above) from your competitors. But, you should think about your offering carefully. Here’s how to create and communicate your EVP with a difference:?

Solution 1: Competitor research - what can you do differently and why??

This may sound obvious, but you’d be surprised at how few companies take the time to do this. Research your competitors and find out what they’re offering as part of their EVP, and why and what impact this has on their talent acquisition and retention success.?

Consider what you can offer that’s different and will be more beneficial to your employees. If you're offering something similar to other companies, then how can you communicate and pitch it differently, so that it sounds more relevant and attractive to them right now? Try to communicate the essence of your company in a few paragraphs, highlighting what makes you truly unique. This should help in sharing the integrity and trust that comes out of an EVP.

Solution 2: What do?you?think is missing??

Sometimes competitor research can become overwhelming and offer up too many unwelcome ideas that are too far removed from your core values. In this case, go back to those core values and?you.?

Ask yourself these questions: What do you think is missing from your EVP? What would make you stay at this company from an EVP perspective? What would make you feel proud to work here? What would be desirable to you if you were interviewing at this company??

Challenge 3: How to create an EVP that current and future talent actually wants?

Creating EVP strategies used to be like hitting copy and paste, but candidates can see through that now, especially when companies are continuing to raise the bar. So, how do you get ahead??

It sounds simple, but the first step is tailoring your EVP to what your talent actually wants. But, going above and beyond means removing the guesswork and putting effort into discovering the truth. This will help you have a better aim at your targeted talent.?

Solution 1: Give them purpose in their role and future career moves??

Let’s talk about?attracting?tech talent, for example, engineers. Interview your current engineers or even previous engineer candidates to understand what they care most about in solving problems and building your product. This will help you get a clearer picture of what attracted them to the role and your company. You can then use this information to create descriptive job ads including the role’s purpose and the part it has the potential to play in the company’s success. You can also go one step further and create a blog post about your EVP and get your product team to share it on different forums and channels like Linkedin, GitHub etc to source like-minded engineers.?

You can also use learning and development opportunities to attract talent. Showing you’re heavily invested in furthering your employees’ careers is incredibly empowering and attractive, creating a sense of belonging and community that’s essential for talent retention.?

Solution 2: Don’t be afraid to move with the times

We’ve already seen the drastic changes that the pandemic has introduced – hybrid office and remote working is a key example. This means that a stagnant EVP will become outdated and ineffective fairly quickly. One way to overcome and prevent this is to introduce an EVP-specific survey to employees after their probation period.?

Collect their insights on how your EVP was communicated to them, how authentic they felt it was at the time, and how they feel about it now. What are the differences in how it was presented to them before they joined, and after working in the company for 3-6 months? These insights can become invaluable when creating an EVP that’s relevant and current.?

In summary…?

• Make your EVP as authentic to your company’s values as possible by basing it on your North Star metric and figuring out what is most important to your employees and?why.
• Create an EVP that stands out from competitors by doing competitor research and asking yourself what you feel is missing.?
• Communicate an EVP that talent actually wants to see by giving them purpose in their role and future career moves and be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to making changes.?

This article has been posted in partnership with?HiBob :?HiBob was founded to modernise HR tech. HiBob's intuitive and data-driven platform, bob, was built for the way people work today: globally, remotely, and collaboratively. Since its launch in late 2015, bob has achieved consecutive triple-digit year-over-year growth, and become the HRIS of choice for more than 2,500 modern, midsize and multinational companies who understand that a powerful, agile HR tech suite is mission critical and a key driver of organisational success. Fast-growing companies across Australia and the world suchas Seer, Novatti, Airtasker, Gong, Fiverr, and VaynerMedia rely upon bob to help HR and managers connect, engage, develop and retain top talent.

To get help with your tech talent hiring needs, contact Managing Partner at Think & Grow , Dan Spencer .