A definition and articulation of what it’s like to work for you, will be a communication and employee experience design tool used to ensure:
- You’re attractive to the kinds of people who have the qualities and attributes you need to deliver on the brand promise.
- There is a universal understanding amongst your people of what’s required of them and why; and
- peoples’ expectations are effectively set and met so that an emotional connection.
In order to be a useful tool, your EVP needs to be steering your people in a unified direction towards the organisation’s goals. We gain understanding of this as the foundations upon which everything else in the approach is built upon and aligned to.
Stretch
It’s the gap between where we are and where we want to be. We write stretch into your EVP and to ensure it’s a useful tool for long enough to deliver tangible ROI. We generally work on a rule of 70% reality 30% aspiration and adjust from there based on your individual business context and needs. Without significant changes to the offering, your EVP should last 3-5 years.
Balance of commonality and difference
Your EVP should articulate an offering that is true across all parts of the business, but flexible enough to be interpreted differently as practically needed by the various organizational areas or locations. We therefore speak to a cross section of employees that represent where the differences are to inform the brief.
Compelling
Whilst the EVP needs to reflect reality, there will always be some aspects of the experience which are more compelling than others. But what one person finds compelling, another may not. Your EVP should highlight those that are most attractive and engaging to the kinds of people we want to attract and retain.
Authentic
There’s only one brand. We take time to hear real stories from your people to capture the personality and vernacular of your organisation, so that the stories we tell still look, feel and sound like you, just a different side of you for a candidate and employee audience.
Differentiation
The objective is to not only highlight your Points of Parody which simply make you competitive, but more importantly, highlight the Point of Difference and in a way that occupies a unique space in the market.
A typical approach
Every client is different. and an approach will be recommended specifically for your context and requirements, but in our experience, here are four key phases of any EVP and employer brand development.
