The pandemic left many people thinking differently about work, its place within their lives and its impact on the wider world, and expectations of employers are higher than ever...
According to a recent study by Amba, 58 percent of employees are considering leaving their jobs in the next 12 months because their employer doesn’t share the same values as them.
Increasingly, your organisation’s attitude matters. From its stance on cultural drivers like sustainability and ethical practice, or more granularly, its approach to work-life balance, wellbeing and social engagement, your employees are keen to be on the same page.
So much so that more than half of people are willing to take a pay cut to work at a company that shares their values, another study revealed.
Be up front about your values
Most people think of EVP as something that is designed to attract talent towards your organisation. What they don't realise is that the most important function of an EVP is to help your organisation repel talent.
It sounds counterintuitive, but it’s true.
Think about how many dissatisfied workers bemoan that the reality of the job did not match up to their expectations. While recruiters happily regale them on the free-gym membership and birthday-off policy during the hiring process, they stay tight-lipped about long hours and the taxing levels of innovation and commitment expected. Candidates don’t receive the full picture.
In this scenario, nobody wins. The employee quits, your recruiters scramble to find a replacement and you have a disgruntled ex-employee on your hands, who feels misled by the whole business. Since employees can have as much of an impact on your employer brand after they quit as when they still work for you, this does your reputation no favours.
Start at the source
By getting crystalline about your employee experience and baking it into your employer brand pillars, candidates will be well-informed on what they can expect day-to-day, the benefits and harsh realities.
You will create a kind of smart filter that rests between your recruitment marketing and your recruitment, that will operate almost automatically to inspire your desired talent and help unsuitable candidates self-select out of the process.
Being honest about your company takes a considerable amount of courage, but if you can fix the expectation from the moment an applicant claps eyes on your careers site, it will unite each and every employee under a common set of values; an understanding of the need to strive, struggle, innovate, work long hours, whatever it might be, in order to improve the world through being at your company.
Provide applicants with all the facts and credit them with the intelligence to decide what is best for them. Not only will you receive higher quality applications, you will start professional relationships from a position of openness and mutual respect.
What if the needs of your company change?
While core values will largely stay the same, it may be sensible to tweak or introduce new values as you adapt to new circumstances. Being open about this as you go can help your company weather hardships or significant changes, without ruffling feathers.
When we worked with software company Guidewire, it was in a state of transformation, changing its product offering from an on-premise service to a complete cloud solution.
Guidewire had a prominent sense of its own values, particularly 'collegiality' which resonated with employees for their strong sense of collaboration, shared voice, and open opinions.
However, amidst the huge changes happening within the company, it became clear that employees needed to act quickly and decisively to keep up, and the level of back-and-forth collaboration was becoming a barrier to this.
To face the challenge, we created a pillar called 'Leap Further' which was designed to embed behaviours around courage, curiosity, and excitement, to show that people needed to take a leap, to brave the uncharted to get the company to where it needed to be.
Just to recap
Always sell the truth. It takes courage, but getting clear on your company values and articulating them fully to applicants and employees alike will reduce turnover, boost satisfaction and help your workforce to thrive.
