To attract and retain talent, HR leaders must evolve their employee value proposition (EVP) to provide a more human deal that centres on the whole person, according to Gartner.
Employers must redesign their EVP to deliver employees a life experience – not just an employee experience – by focusing on the feelings and features that match their needs today.
Gartner analysis revealed that while organisations have invested resources to modernise the traditional EVP, employee engagement has remained flat since 2016. The Gartner 2021 EVP Benchmarking Survey of 77 HR leaders in January 2021 revealed only 23% of respondents believe most employees will continue working in their current organisation after the pandemic ends. One contributing factor: only 31% of HR leaders believe their current employees are satisfied with their EVP.
“Traditionally, organisations focus on employees as workers when they define their EVP,” says Carolina Valencia, vice-president in the Gartner HR practice. “Instead, employers need to see their employees as people first and foremost. Our research shows that 82% of employees say it’s important for their organisation to see them as a person, not just an employee, yet only 45% of employees believe their organisation actually sees them this way.”
Organisations can strengthen their EVP by delivering on the new human deal that encompasses five attributes: deeper connections, radical flexibility, personal growth, holistic well-being and shared purpose. Employee satisfaction with the EVP increases by 15% when it encompasses the human deal. To make progress on delivering employees a more human deal, which leads to increased intent to stay, employee wellness and likelihood of recommending the organisation to others, HR should do the following:
Personalise connections while respecting boundaries
To ensure employers are respecting employees’ boundaries while personalising connections, HR leaders should integrate inclusion goals into day-to-day work and talent processes to drive accountability and ensure employees feel comfortable bringing their full selves to work; provide benefits directly to employees’ families or communities; and identify information employees are comfortable sharing to improve trust.
Ensure productivity while providing choice
Most organisations typically offer flexibility in when and where work gets done, but leading organisations also offer flexibility in who employees work with, what they work on, and how much they work.
For the best results, HR should partner with managers to establish team flexibility boundaries. Managers can then offer employees flexibility choices within these boundaries and encourage teams to co-create flexibility norms for their specific context. Organisations can also ensure flexibility for all by determining which activities, not which roles, can be flexible.
“Radical flexibility fuels performance,” says Dion Love, vice-president, advisory, in the Gartner HR practice. “Employers can increase the percentage of high performers by 18 percentage points by offering employees greater choices surrounding their work conditions.”
Advance organisational and individual growth
More than half of employees feel it’s important for their employer to provide opportunities for personal growth. Progressive organisations are providing employees with objective career coaches who help them prioritise their personal goals and explore how to pursue them internally and externally. Leading HR functions are bringing employees into the design of development opportunities to help scale the number of development options and improve their relevance to employees’ personal interests.
Create diverse, yet focused well-being offerings
Gartner’s research reveals nearly half of employees say their work-related stress is higher now than previously in their career. Employers are offering physical (80%), financial (67%), and emotional (87%) well-being benefits, however few employees are using those offerings.
Managing this gap between the benefits programs offered and the programs requires HR to take three actions:
1. Hold employees accountable for their wellness by helping them identify the well-being offerings that matter most to them, incentivising them to use available offerings and enabling them to track their wellness progress.
2. Leverage leaders and peers to reduce the stigma of well-being offerings by having open and honest conversations about mental well-being to normalise mental health topics and support.
3. Coach managers on how to provide effective well-being support.
Take action while representing all perspectives
Fifty-three percent of employees want their organisation to take action on issues they care about. Many organisations struggle on how to balance activism with representing all perspectives. HR leaders should include employee perspectives – across levels, business units, and functions – when determining which societal issues to act on.
HR should also partner with experts throughout the organisation to create a societal issues decision framework that prioritises how those issues align with the organisation’s goals. HR can then collaborate with the communications team to share the framework across the organisation to increase transparency and help employees feel invested.
