How to strengthen your employee value proposition – with award-winning examples

An employee value proposition captures the value you offer your employees in exchange for the value they offer you. A crucial part of employer branding, your EVP tells future and current employees what they can expect working with you – and, critically, why that’s different from working with someone else.

In a uniquely turbulent time for people leaders, a strong, unique and compelling employee value proposition is the best weapon in your arsenal.

What is an employee value proposition (EVP)?

The concept of an employee value proposition stems from the marketing world. In marketing terms, your value proposition (or positioning statement) summarises why customers should choose your products, services or brand. It’s a critical part of marketing strategy and integral to differentiation.

‘A great value proposition demonstrates what a brand has to offer a customer that no other competitor has and how a service or product fulfils a need that no other company is able to fill.’

The same is true of an employee value proposition. Just as value proposition is integral to brand, your employee value proposition is integral to your employer brand.

What does an employee value proposition look like?  

The output of building an employee value proposition is typically a concise, powerful statement. The statement itself might be confidential internally, but it will inform collateral like your job adverts and careers site. (As you’ll see in the employee value proposition examples in the next section).

This statement must have clear strategic thinking as its foundation. When that’s missing, the result is often a generic value statement that could come from any of your talent competitors. Without true differentiation, an employee value proposition doesn’t fulfil its main purpose: showing employees why you meet their needs better than anyone else.

Many organisations overcomplicate this process though, building out many different conceptual models – pyramids, Venn diagrams, flywheels and so on. Assistant Professor of Marketing at London Business School, Mark Ritson, calls this ‘the great complexity scandal’ leading to ‘scandalously generic’ branding.

As employer branding mirrors branding, Mark’s advice is readily applicable to HR: ‘the foremost key to success in [employer] branding is to create a tight positioning statement. A positioning that captures the essence of the offering in a way that is accessible to all members of the organisation and appeals to [employees].’

In a moment we’ll show you how to arrive at a statement like that, through the lens of three leading UK employer brands. But first, let’s talk about why building an EVP matters.

Why your employee value proposition matters

A strong value proposition increases sales and customer loyalty. Likewise, a strong employee value proposition improves candidate attraction, boosts engagement and improves retention. Gartner research finds organisations that effectively deliver on their EVP reduce annual employee turnover by 69%, for example, and increase new hire commitment by nearly 30%. Organisations with a strong EVP also reach 50% deeper into the labour market and reduce the compensation premium.

This conversation is especially relevant right now. In the past few years, the workforce has undergone some massive changes. Last year saw a tsunami of resignations that impacted 85% of UK businesses, as employee engagement hit record lows. Only 9% of UK workers feel enthused by their work and workplace right now – the worst in Europe.

The traditional terms of the employment proposition have never been on shakier ground, as organisations scrabble to navigate new models like remote working and flexible working. Meanwhile, IPSE report that the highly skilled freelance workforce in the UK has increased by 1% in the UK since 2019 – impressive growth given the impact of the pandemic.

These signs suggest many employees are looking for something different. And organisations must work out what that looks like. Or, instead, work out the business implications of not hiring and keeping great people, which is costly. REC calculates that an ineffective hire at middle-management level at a salary of £42,000 could end up costing a business £132,015 in total to resolve, for example. Given that 85% of survey respondents also admitted their business has hired the wrong person, that’s a problem which soon adds up.)

Let’s look at three employee value proposition examples. We’ve pulled all three from the UK’s Best Workplaces™ awards 2022, so they’re all examples worth following.

3 employee value proposition examples from the UK’s Best Workplaces™

Salesforce

Salesforce is recognised as one of the best places to work in the world year after year. 82% of Salesforce employees are proud to be part of the brand, while 92% say they work in a positive work environment.

Jennifer Johnson, Salesforce’s Head of Global Employer Branding, directly ascribes this success to their strong EVP and employer brand: ‘We have a very attractive employer brand and great reputation for our culture [which] drives a massive amount of interest. […] As we’ve grown so quickly, we do make [culture] a very intentional priority. I do really feel that’s a huge part of the secret sauce of the strength of Salesforce. The culture, the leadership buy in and ownership of it.’

This is the major takeaway from Salesforce: culture; employer brand; employee value proposition; employee experience – these things aren’t ‘abdicated to the head of HR’, as Jennifer puts it. Rather, they should be a profound company commitment. And when you do that, you build a truly unique, compelling employee value proposition that supports better recruitment, engagement and performance outcomes. 

Softcat

One of the UK’s most successful companies, Softcat has also been extraordinarily successful from a talent perspective. The technology solutions provider is repeatedly honoured as one of the best places to work, and in their 2021 Annual Report they announced a very healthy employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) of 58, despite the pandemic (eNPS operates on a scale of -100 to +100. Scores higher than 0 are typically considered to be good and scores above 50 are considered to be excellent).

‘Softcat directly attribute their commercial success to their focus on people: We continue to have a highly motivated and engaged workforce. We believe that this special culture creates outstanding customer experiences and is the key driver of our customer NPS rating of 59.’

Like Salesforce, Softcat’s unique culture has been integral to their employee value proposition. But they also knew they needed to ‘create a strong visible employer brand that succinctly captured what Softcat represented and offered’. Starting with extensive market research, Softcat distilled their culture into a clear value framework with supporting messaging pillars, encapsulated in the tagline: ‘Success. The Softcat Way’.

This approach is a classic example of an employee value proposition project, with strategic thinking translating into an internal framework that guides external recruitment comms.

Hilton

The hospitality sector in the UK presents extreme challenges for recruiters. Turnover is high, with 6% of staff exiting the workforce every month – and employee engagement has historically been the lowest of all industries. And according to a commissioned survey from UKHospitality, the biggest reason hospitality workers choose the sector is as a last resort: 40% stated they took a job in hospitality because it was the only one available. 

In that context, then, hospitality company Hilton’s strong employer brand is especially impressive: 69% of Hilton employees are proud to be part of the brand.

Hilton’s approach has centred on big, unique culture initiatives to differentiate their value proposition. In this case, the Go Hilton Travel Program, which offers big discounts to employees at Hilton hotels globally, and the Hilton Thrive Sabbatical Program, which offers employees the chance to ‘recharge, grow, and make a meaningful difference’. They also offer a Lead@Hilton Development Program to help employees learn and develop their career.

They are a fantastic example of how the right on-brand initiatives can make a big mark on your people, even in challenging industries.  

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Employee value proposition has become an important priority for most talent leaders in recent years, as recruiting, engaging and retaining great people continues to be a hard-fought battleground.  

There’s a growing recognition that organisations need to treat their employees as customers and deliver a winning experience, unique brand and compelling proposition. And these three employee value proposition examples illustrate what’s possible when you do.