Tailoring your Employer Value Proposition to Gen Z

An Employer Value Proposition (EVP) provides employers with an opportunity to clearly define their identity as a company while strengthening their brand. It essentially highlights the unique set of benefits each employee receives in return for their talent, skills and experience.

With top talent spoilt for choice when it comes to prospective employers, the need for an attractive EVP is more important than ever before. Also, now that Gen Z are taking up more of the workforce, it’s important to adapt your EVP to attract up-and-coming talent to your company. The following sections will enable you to ensure that you have constructed an EVP that will mean Gen Z won’t think twice about joining your company.

Competitive Salary

Top talent expect their value to be reflected in the salary they receive. Because of this, the salary is one of the first parts of the job advert that your potential employees will be drawn to. Therefore, it’s important to offer a salary that’s equal to your competitors, if not higher.

It can also be worth offering a monetary bonus system or other benefits to persuade those who are motivated by receiving recognition for their achievements. Of course, money alone isn’t going to be enough to attract and retain top talent. But, it’s a good place to start.

Company Culture

Before applicants go ahead and apply for a job they want to know that the company culture is conducive to their personal beliefs and values. According to research conducted by Randstad, 49% of Gen Z said they wouldn’t join a company who had social and environmental values that didn’t align with their personal ones. A similar proportion of Gen Z participants had the same views on inclusivity and diversity, meaning that you have to be clear on your attitudes towards these issues to create a culture that people want to be a part of.

With values shifting slightly in comparison to those of previous generations, it’s important that you tailor your company culture to meet the evolving expectations of those entering the workforce. If you don’t consider these issues then you run the risk of losing out on Gen Z talent to your competitors. To counteract this, it’s important to clearly outline the systems and processes you have in place to show that you are committed to improving your company’s diversity, inclusion and equity.

Flexible Working

Since the pandemic, the expectations around the way we work have changed. Working from home is now a viable option for many workers who value a healthy work-life balance. This is especially true for much of Gen Z, who completed their university degrees and entered the workforce in a remote environment. Employers who are too rigid and fail to implement a flexible, hybrid working schedule, run the risk of being viewed as out of touch by Gen Z.

If you require your employees to be in the office for at least a couple of days a week then you need to make sure that you provide an engaging workplace where teams can come together to collaborate. The office needs to be equipped with all the relevant technology, comfortable furniture and a selection of hot drinks, soft drinks and snacks. You essentially have to create an experience and atmosphere that makes your employees want to come into the office. It should be an engaging environment that inspires new starters and motivates those who have been working for your company for longer periods.

Meaningful Work

With much of Gen Z prepared to leave jobs due to stress and a lack of intrinsic value, it seems that a healthy work-life balance is an important component for those entering the working world for the first time. Simply finding happiness and meaning in projects is becoming more of a priority for employees. Although this might make the job of finding suitable applicants more challenging, employees who have a sense of self-purpose linked to their work will be far more engaged and therefore, perform to a higher standard. In fact, employees who can find meaning in their work are more likely to come up with new ideas and solve problems, helping to drive innovation for your company.

Mental Health Support

According to the World Health Organization, the pandemic sparked a 25% global increase in anxiety and depression. With work-related stress being compounded during the first year of the pandemic, employees have since resigned in droves and taken time to reflect on their preferred working processes. As a result, Gen Z are more willing to take action than Millennials and Gen X when they are feeling stressed in the workplace.

With mental health becoming more of a prominent topic in recent years, companies who provide genuine support are a far more attractive prospect in comparison to those who don’t. It can be as simple as providing free access to health and wellbeing apps, gym facilities and therapy services. More importantly, Gen Z employees want to feel assured that there is the relevant mental health support in place should they need it.

Training

Gen Z are a generation of young people that are driven to succeed, despite all the challenges they have faced over recent years. Therefore, training and career progression opportunities should form a part of your EVP. However, it’s important to be transparent about the reality of what you can deliver, otherwise you may fail to retain talented employees who are in search of development opportunities.

To ensure you deliver on your EVP, it can be helpful to promote a learning culture. This can be a combination of structured training and on-the-job learning where new starters are given an increasing amount of responsibilities as they progress through an external course. You can express your commitment to providing career opportunities by creating case studies of employees who have progressed up the career ladder within your company. Not only will this act as a motivator to applicants, your employees are far more likely to stay loyal to your company in search of training and promotion opportunities.

For those of you who are ready to act now and provide training for your team, we have the solution. With a range of online and in person training courses, we can help to develop your new starters or upskill your more experienced employees.