“You gain strength, courage
and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the
face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can
take the next thing that comes along.’ … You must do the thing you think you
cannot do.”
- Eleanor Roosevelt
As new CDC guidelines relax isolation constraints, there is a glimmer of hope that a reprieve from the COVID 19 Pandemic is nigh. A call for return to office policy, amplified hiring efforts and emphasis on employee retention tactics will now fill the Human Resource megaphone. After so much adaptive work, we've been rewarded with a whole new set of responsibilities. The question as to whether HR leaders will get their own "time out" can only be met with the promise that a new day creates new opportunity.
So, as the new normal becomes the old normal again, it's time to focus on taking the learnings from the pandemic to lead us into a new tomorrow.
Pre-pandemic saw many organizations focusing on defining their Employee Value Proposition (EVP). The COVID derailment sidelined the focus on EVP. As opposed to picking up the aforementioned rough draft, why not start anew (more educated and better equipped)?
It's time to redefine your organization's EVP!
There are three levels to an all-inclusive Employee Value Proposition:
1. Practical
2. Tactical
3. Measure of Inclusion
Mission, Vision and Values
Maybe your organization began in 1920 and the original vision and values continue to serve as the foundation for responsible business practices. Other organizations may feel a need for a reset to better address the current state of their employee population.
Whether you are seeking a re-brand or a reminder of your organization's founding principles, the company's EVP should be grounded in your mission, vision and values.
Audience Adjacent Objectives
This is where the theoretical meets departmental goals. Here, it is imperative that your EVP has open objectives that can be applied directly to specific goals: The ability to scale ideology directly into the elements that make performance specific to one's personal gain.
Too often, we see executive speak float above the trenches with an inability to have a real impact on engaging employee perspective. The second rung on the EVP ladder has to feed systematic performance responsibilities (individually and for each group).
The ethical perspective now feeds the core elements of each job function.
Redefining Culture
Where organizational culture was once defined by ping pong tables and napping pods, the extension of the professional collective has taken on a much different significance. The emergence of social justice awareness, attention to employee well being and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion mandates have created a cohesive work identity that is not left at the office.
Passing one a beer is no longer a meaningful act of inclusion. Teams are being built through diverse skillsets and mindsets to create well-rounded approaches to project completion and revenue production. Not only is respect for fellow employees forming a more legitimate employee experience, the strategic relevance of work has reached an amplified dynamic.
As companies remain in hybrid mode we've seen a strong emphasis on collaborative technology that serves as the backbone of production while allowing in-person interaction to compliment progress.
Indeed, your organization's Employee Value Proposition is the focal point of what employees value.
In simple terms, core values are just words on a wall unless they have divine meaning to an employee's ethical compass. The company mission needs to scale to performance objectives unique to each employee. Employees are no longer concerned with happy hours; true inclusion is driven by professional interaction with merit in one's social perspective.
As we seek to define the next phase of workforce engagement there is a massive opportunity for Human Resource leaders to author objectives backed by systems to support and track progress. This is the only way to truly engage everyone!
Don't Forget to Remember,
Dave
