The Future of Work: Reinventing Your Employee Value Proposition

As the COVID-19 pandemic begins to wane, we re-enter a world in the midst of a paradigm shift. While it is still unclear exactly what the future workplace will look like, we are fairly certain that it won’t be like the pre-pandemic one. This shift is placing a spotlight directly on Employee Value Proposition.

Whether or not EVP is explicitly articulated, every company has one. EVP describes what employees can expect from a company – the practices, pay, benefits, perks, and growth opportunities. It also outlines what is expected from employees in return, including work hours, accountability, corporate citizenship, and so on. The EVP explains why employees choose to work where they do and how a company attracts, engages, and retains its people.

In order to achieve company goals involving people, it is far better for leaders to be thoughtful and conscious about EVP, taking time to purposefully define it. The defined EVP must align with people strategy and be integrated with the Employment Brand. It also needs to be consistent with the way the organization truly operates, its initiatives, programs, and culture – in other words, companies have to ‘walk the talk.’

Now is the time for leaders to reevaluate and reframe the company’s EVP. A lot has happened over the past year – widespread remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, greater focus on mental health and well-being, and increased attention to racial justice. People have changed, and so have their expectations of what they want and need at work.

When rethinking EVP, companies should consider the following characteristics:

• The organization’s purpose – why it exists, its mission and values, how it contributes to the world
• Stances on issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, justice, and the environment
• How the organization embraces and values the ‘whole person’
• Flexibility offered around work time and place
• Expectations for employee accountability
• How the organization views sense of community and employee engagement
• The benefits of being part of the organization in all forms (compensation, benefits, belonging to a community, etc.)

In addition to working through a process to define and articulate the desired state, redefining the EVP also involves gaining a clear understanding of what is currently being delivered in order to understand and close the gaps. This means getting to what employees’ true perceptions are – both positive and negative – and not necessarily taking at face value what they say when their manager or HR asks. Often this requires having a third party work directly with employees to get to the roots of their perceptions and understandings.

Having a strong EVP and related Employment Brand is more important now than ever. The employment market is changing drastically as a result of extensive and ongoing remote work. As employers and employees become far less tied to specific geographic areas, the marketplace is opening up to dynamics we haven’t experienced before, and competition for talent is becoming even more fierce. Companies need to be at the top of their game when it comes to attracting and retaining talent, and EVP is a crucial element.

For a deeper look into these topics and more issues surrounding the future of work, download hrQ’s                                  “Organizational Resilience and the Changing Employer-Employee Relationship.”