This is adapted from a presentation I recently gave at aWorldwide Employee Benefits (WEB) Chicago West Monthly Meeting. Thetopic of this meeting was, “Becoming an Employer of Choice throughStrategic Benefit Design & Communication.” I was excited forthis event, because I don’t usually meet with an audience made upentirely of benefits professionals. My audiences typicallyconsist of human resource professionals across the various HR disciplines, so I had to be in a benefitsstate of mind for an all-benefits group.

When we work with our clients to develop a solution or make animprovement, my team and I like to use the phrase “better practice”rather than “best practice.”

By that I don’t mean that you should settle for a mediocresolution for the HR issues you’re addressing. On the contrary,“better practice” means continuously improving.

The phrase “best practice” can cause people to forget that thebest solution at the moment will not always be the best over time.Times change, organizations change, and most importantly, theworkforce changes.

The phrase “better practice” takes all that into account,emphasizing the importance of continuous evolution. It’s key toimplement the “better practice” mindset, especially in the contextof employee benefits and the employer-employee relationship.

EVPs

In the past, the employer-employee relationship has heavilyfocused on salary and benefits in exchange for work. However, it isnow becoming increasingly clear that employers cannot stop attangible benefits if they expect to be able to attract and retain the right talent.

What’s the better practice here? Improving your EVP—yourEmployee Value Proposition.

An EVP is defined as everything, both tangible and intangible,that an employer provides its employees in exchange for the valueemployees contribute to the organization. That means, inaddition to compensation and benefits, also providing thefollowing:

Challenging and meaningful work

Opportunity for personal achievement

Appealing organizational culture

Career development

Pride-inducing set of workplace values

And more

In other words, compensation and benefits, in the traditionalsense, are just the beginning. By providing your employees withmore than traditional benefits, you give them the additional toolsthey need in order to succeed at work and life.

A comprehensive EVP can do these things:

Help attract and retain talent

Foster employee engagement

Give the company a competitive edge

Create a strong people brand

Establish a line-of-sight culture

And more

With a good EVP—one that clearly lays out what you expect ofyour employees and what your employees can expect from you—yourcompany will be able to achieve much more than it otherwisecould.

Creating your EVP

Although that all might sound complicated, the good news is,your organization already has an EVP! The bad news is that your EVPmight need some TLC.

However, refining your EVP may not be as daunting a task as youexpect.

Assess: Start by reviewing the total rewardsyou are currently offering your employees.

Ask: Figure out what your employees reallywant. Are you offering the right benefits to your workforce? Areyou offering the ones you think they want or the ones they actuallywant?

Prioritize: Consider your priorities: What’s atthe top of your list—attracting new talent, retaining proventalent, building your brand (either employee or company, or both)or something else? The key is to decide on the desired outcome,then start building out the steps you’ll have to take to getthere.

Putting your EVP in action

Test it: Talk to stakeholders—Leadership, HR,Marketing, Communications and a selection of existing employees.Since the EVP will impact a variety of people, it’s crucial toreceive feedback from a diverse group of stakeholders, those peoplewho represent both your present and future workforce. Thisevaluation process will help you determine what to do to refineboth the content and the communication style of your message,making it a better fit for your current and future employees.

Communicate: Once you establish your EVP, makesure the team and the workforce are aware of what it is and how itwas created through their feedback and suggestions. It’s importantto let them know you listened before you acted, and that they feelgood about the process.

What happens now?

Now comes a crucial aspect that is often overlooked: keeping theEVP up-to-date. An EVP is a living thing that you have to feed,water, walk and care for.

It can be all too easy to let years pass without re-evaluatingthe EVP, so it’s important to find a good system for stayingaccountable. That might mean instituting a schedule forre-examining the EVP and making adjustments.

Even though shifts, especially in the intangibles offered toemployees, might not always occur on a neat, quarterly or yearlyschedule, it’s critical to keep the EVP front of mind. Because,even though at this point you’ve established a best practice, thegoal is to always be making it better.

As it turns out, the all-benefits audience was excited andreceptive to hearing a fresh perspective on total rewards. We had agreat discussion, and I look forward to more strategic and creativeWEB meetings in the future.