Employee Value Proposition – The Broader Story
Employee Value Proposition is a casual term that describes a broad category of elements which define the deal between the company and the employee. When you go to work for an organization you become a part of a team, whether it is a business venture or a community organization or something else, you are part of a group. With all positions there is either an expressed or implied value proposition to participting there. In a paid position it is called the Employee Value Proposition. This is all the attributes that go with being affiliated with a particular company, organization or venture. From the employee standpoint this includes the reputation of the company, how the company is regarded in its industry or in the world at large, dependent on the scale of community you are looking at. It is similar to how you consider a sports team. You know the team’s record and how the team is regarded in its particular arena.
If it is a company, is that company considered one of the best employers to work for? If you are an employee, being affiliated with a company that is acknowledged in the ‘Fortune 500 Best Companies to Work For’ has a value proposition to the employee simply by being affiliated with it. In addition, the more tangible aspects of the deal can help a company earn a particular distinction in the eyes of potential employees and the wider public. Aspects of the Employee Value Proposition can be tangible or intangible benefits, reputation and things like that are elements of the intangible benefits.
The more tangible aspects of the Employee Value Proposition include the culture. Companies with a culture of excellence are places where the employee feels they will be challenged and encouraged to grow. They know that their career, their skills and their knowledge will expand. So there is an element of the Employee Value Proposition from being in a learning environment, in a culture where you know it is part of the company ethos or lifeblood, always learning, always growing, where people are challenged. Being in an environment like that provides many opportunities for enrichment and that is a very strong value proposition from the employee standpoint.
Other aspects can be around flexibility in the environment. An extremely attractive Employee Value Proposition for many people is to have the flexibility to work in the way they wish to, in a way that fits their lifestyle, to work from home and work flexible hours. Employees also value cultures where they are judged more on their outcomes than “face time” or the number of emails they send late at night. Having an Employee Value Proposition where employees can determine the location and timing of their work and exert some degree of control over the structure of their work week is highly valued in today’s workforce.
Other elements that have a very practical application for the Employee Value Proposition include things like; the employee’s physical work situation, the degree of autonomy in their role and the scope of responsibilities specifically, the level of decision making capacity or the need to build consensus in order to be able to move forward on an initiative. The amount of autonomy or team work etc. all figure into the culture, the environment and ultimately what the employee is signing up for when they come on board with a particular company or organization.
