Key takeaways:
- Francesca McCaffrey at MassMutual, Danny Francisco at Bristol Myers Squibb, and Keri La Ra at U.S. Bank shared insights on how talent leaders can gain leadership buy-in for employee value propositions.
- Data and research can help show the impact of EVPs to leadership teams and understand how you compare to competitors.
- Employees that feel connected to EVPs naturally become ambassadors for their organizations, which can help with hiring goals that can be highlighted to executives.
Your employee value proposition (EVP) success relies on senior leadership teams understanding and buying into how they help larger organizational goals — specifically, how your EVP brings in and retains top talent.
When it comes to getting buy-in from senior leaders, how can talent leaders best explain the benefits of EVPs and how it advances larger organizational goals?
Talent Marketing Board members Francesca McCaffrey, Employer Brand Marketing Consultant at MassMutual, Danny Francisco, Digital Project Manager of Strategic Talent Attraction at Bristol Myers Squibb, and Keri La Ra, Head of Talent Attraction and Experience at U.S. Bank, shared insights on gaining leadership buy-in for EVPs at large organizations during a leadership panel discussion.
Here are some of their insights on how to relay the importance of an EVP for talent acquisition, educate executives on the value of an EVP, and how critical collaboration across business lines is for EVP success.
Data and Research Showcase the Importance of EVPs
“When it comes to senior leaders and laddering up the importance of the EVP, we find that research and having data is the foundation,” Danny said. “Before we kicked off our project, we scoped out a good six to eight months of research. We needed to do research internally and externally with our teams and take that back to our leaders as we executed and planned for the scope of work that we had ahead of us.”
Danny explained it helps to not only do internal research on your organization for the unique benefits employees receive, but to complete competitor analysis to understand where you can improve.
She explained how identifying the areas that motivate employees to stay is part of their research. Her team also identifies critical areas candidates value when applying to their organization and how their branding can highlight those benefits.
“Your branding is very niche when you think about an EVP,” Danny said. “We have a very specific audience. How do you speak to them? What is motivating them? What’s motivating them to make changes? What’s motivating them to stay? Understanding which companies are doing it well and showing how it all ladders up, that was something that drove our conversations and our ability to succeed through the rest of the project.”
Danny Francisco at Bristol Myers Squibb talks about how critical research is in gaining leadership buy-in for EVPs.
EVPs that Connect with Employees Create Value
Francesca shared how creating EVPs that connect with employees can help senior leaders see its direct value and achieve hiring goals. She also noted that employees naturally become ambassadors for your company if they feel that connection.
“That will help with hiring in the end because you’re having candidates hear directly from employees themselves,” Francesca said. “Employees are energized about telling that story.”
She also explained how you need your employer brand team in place to help facilitate content creation for employee storytelling. This content can help leaders understand what employees value working across your enterprise and highlight the critical areas in your EVP.
“Mention language about your EVP in an interview or something that sparked their interest, or the fact that they’ve heard directly from a candidate,” Francesca stated. “It’s the research beforehand, but also the communication during the whole process with leaders of what this lifecycle can look like with employees talking about your company, and what they can talk about as leaders on EVP.”
Your EVP is Bigger Than Just HR
Talent leaders must show senior leadership teams that EVPs require collaboration across all business lines. Keri added insights on working with partners to help explain the importance of an EVP.
“I would say it’s really important for the leaders to understand that this isn’t something that just sits within HR,” Keri said. “It’s an all-hands-on-deck approach.”
She added how it can be easier for consumer brands to showcase the value of their EVPs because it highlights the various areas of your value propositions.
“It’s not necessarily just this one thing; it’s behaviors that sort of make your organization,” Keri said. “If we do it right, and if we are making sure that at the top of the organization everyone’s on board with this, we’re hopeful that we keep employees because the sentiment matches their experiences.”
Working with partners across your enterprise can help establish an EVP that matches employees’ values to the organization’s. Keri also noted how if you can explain to senior leaders how to identify all values across business areas, you create better opportunities to bring in talent.
“Take time to be crystal clear on what it’s like to work at your company and be sound with those points,” Keri added. “It’s bigger than just HR. It’s laddering up to the consumer brand of the house and thinking about the idea that it’s more than just a product. It’s more than just messaging that has helped in our journey and gaining buy-in.”
Benchmark Your EVP with Senior Talent Marketing Leaders
Francesca, Danny, and Keri shared these insights during a Talent Marketing Board panel discussion on activating EVPs across your enterprise. They provided further insights on gaining leadership support and buy-in for your EVP, equipping recruiters with your organization’s EVP, and more.
They have ongoing leadership discussions in the Talent Marketing Board, where senior employer brand and recruitment marketing leaders at the world’s largest companies get unbiased peer insights daily on emerging topics.
If you’re a senior talent leader, you can join your peers in our confidential, vendor-free community to discuss best practices around employee value propositions.
