The Nonprofit EVP: How to Optimize your Organization’s EVP
Is your organization looking to attract and retain talent in this competitive labor market? If so, then this post is for you! In my previous blog post “The Nonprofit EVP: How to Think Outside the Box,” I provided an overview of Employee Value Propositions (EVP), explained the benefits of having an attractive EVP, and shared some “out of the box” ideas that can be used to build an attractive EVP without breaking the bank. Since that post focused on the WHY of EVPs, I thought it might be helpful to write a post focused on the HOW. In this post, I provide a step-by-step guide for developing an EVP that will help your organization attract and engage top talent.
In this post, I provide a step-by-step guide for developing an EVP that will help your organization attract and engage top talent.
1. Conduct EVP Scan in order to determine your organization’s current EVP as well as its strengths and weaknesses.
Examine Benefits & Policies: Review what you are offering your employees on paper. This can include PTO, health insurance, retirement, work from home policy, dress code, etc.
Conduct Employee Interviews: Conduct interviews with employees to find out what they think about your current EVP. This could be current employees, employees who are leaving, or employees who turned down your job offer.
Scan External Reviews: Explore how current and past employees are rating your organization on sites like Indeed and Glassdoor. Themes identified through reviews can be validated with your current employees.
Conduct Employee Survey: Utilize survey data (either past data or new) to understand what keeps employees working at your organization and what they are unsatisfied with.
2. Identify Desired State to determine the EVP that will attract and retain the talent that will ultimately help your organization execute its mission and achieve its vision.
Stay Future Focused: The EVP scan has already provided information on the current state, so the desired state should focus on the future.
Don’t Make Assumptions: It’s important not to assume what you think employees and candidates want, but instead to do research and find out from the employees themselves.
Cover All Groups: Feedback from employees in all departments and groups should be included as certain groups may value things differently.
Stay Data-Driven: Utilizing data will help make sure you’re making the best decisions possible. A combination of quantitative and qualitative data can be used.
Conduct a Survey: An employee survey is a beneficial way to gain the necessary data. Surveys can be time consuming and require extra capacity. Utilizing a third-party can be beneficial.
3. Identify Current Gaps by examining your current EVP in comparison to your desired EVP in order to determine where you are aligned and where gaps exist.
Look for Larger Discrepancies: Identify the components with the biggest discrepancies between current vs. desired state, as identified through the EVP scan and desired state steps.
Consider Size and Feasibility: Before prioritizing the gaps, it’s important to consider the size of the gap and how feasible it will be to implement changes.
Assess Cost: Consider the costs associated with implementing solutions that will close the gaps. Keep in mind the “thinking outside the box” options when solutioning.
Prioritize Gaps: Once the gaps have been assessed for cost, gap size, and feasibility, they can now be prioritized based on those that seem the most advantageous.
Pick No More Than Three: It’s important to only pick a few at a time. By picking no more than three gaps, the organization can dedicate its focus to implementing those few components well.
4. Develop Gap Closure Plan by determining the who, what, how, and when details that are required to close the gap between current and desired state.
Determine Who Should be Involved: Determine who the main players are that need to be involved and who will be affected. Including individuals from all levels of the organization is recommended to help gain buy-in.
Identify What it Will Entail: Consider what will need to happen in order to make the change. Does it require leadership coaching, a small policy change, board approval, or a major culture shift?
Document When it Will Happen: It is important to consider the timing of when the change should be implemented. It is best to avoid implementing changes during the busiest times when employees may be more stressed.
Consider How it Will Be Implemented: Will the change happen all at once? Or will it need to be rolled out slowly? It’s important to document the steps and how they will be communicated.
Plan Ahead to Gain Buy-In: Considerations for how to gain buy-in should be made during all steps of the process. One of the best ways to gain buy-in is to involve staff input throughout multiple points of the process.
5. Execute the New EVP by implementing the Gap Closure Plan, assessing progress, and evaluating impact.
Communicate: Let new and current employees know what your organization’s EVP is, what changes are being made, and why you are making those changes. Connect it back to what they asked for.
Give it Time: Give employees time to learn about your EVP and experience it. You will also want to factor in how long it will take for a new policy, benefit, or procedure to be put into practice.
Measure & Track: Collect data regarding the implementation of your new EVP and gather feedback from employees. This can include employee data, surveys, focus groups, interviews, etc.
Evaluate Implementation & Impact: Analyze the collected data to determine if your EVP components are in place and if they are having any impact on employee perceptions, attitudes, retention, hiring, etc.
Adjust Where Needed: Review your findings and determine if additional communication is needed or further changes are warranted.
I hope this step-by-step guide provides some useful information for anyone looking to up their EVP game. If you would like additional support assessing and optimizing your organization’s EVP, feel free to reach out!
