As an employee, you spend more time in your relationship with your employer than you do with your family, friends, spouse, or children. The experiences you have at work, therefore, have an outsize impact on your happiness and fulfillment. Yet few job candidates truly know how to identify the potential for a positive and enduring experience.
If you are a skilled and talented candidate, the thriving economy of 2018 offers a terrific opportunity to raise your employee experience expectations. In its most recent Global Workforce Study, Willis Towers Watson says that retention risk is driving companies to keep up with employees’ changing expectations.
“Companies across all industries globally are developing more agile employee listening strategies that go beyond exclusive reliance on the traditional employee survey. Today, advancements in technology make possible quarterly, monthly and even daily polls along with always-on tools, exit/onboarding surveys and a range of qualitative/unstructured alternatives.”
Indeed, employers are paying closer attention than ever to the employee experience. This includes all of the experiences you have in your work environment, all of your interactions with colleagues and customers, and all of the rewards of being an employee, from your salary and bonuses to benefits, perks, and PTO. The companies that do a good job of engaging and retaining employees in an employee’s market excel in creating positive experiences in all of these areas.
Your job as a candidate is to determine which of your prospective employers is delivering a truly great employee experience. To do this, there are four primary areas that comprise what Willis Towers Watson refers to as the Employee Value Proposition (EVP):
Purpose: Company mission, vision, values, and reputation
People: Leadership, manager/employee relationships, and peer relationships
Work: Job content, work environment, tools, and resources to do work
Total Rewards: Salary, bonuses, performance-based rewards and recognition
With the four components of the EVP in mind, a good start to finding the right employer match is to evaluate and compare them based on key experiences. We recommend the following:
The Candidate Experience (CX): Many studies have shown the candidate experience rates poorly at most companies, and this can be indicative of the employee experience. Conversely, a superior candidate experience suggests the company is keen on listening to feedback and treating its people well. There are three facets of a great candidate experience:
Communication: The employer uses a combination of communication channels to keep candidates in the loop through every phase of the hiring process. They express interest in learning about your motivations and needs, and their correspondences and discussions with you show that they have done their research. The communication experience feels personalized.
Organization: The HR department and hiring manager set your expectations early on for how the hiring process works. They do this because they sincerely care about keeping strong candidates engaged and invested.
Job Descriptions: Serious candidates want to know precisely what the job qualifications and responsibilities are—and serious employers oblige them. Job descriptions must be thorough and accurately reflect the position. One of the worst experiences occurs when a job does not deliver on the expectations set by the description. Also, if you are a highly skilled candidate, you should feel free to suggest how any additional skills you have may be incorporated into an expanded description.
The Work Arrangement: Digitization has changed the work arrangement expectations of many employees, especially Millennials’. Many candidates now prefer (or need to work with) employers who offer the flexibility to work from home, at least when necessary. Often, mothers with young children, people who would otherwise have intolerable commutes, and employees who don’t regularly interface with others need this option. The technological resources are there to support it, from VPN access to video conferencing.
If an employer does have this option, you will want to ask how they handle manager-employee relationships and if they offer as many professional development opportunities to remote employees. You don’t want to become disengaged because you are not in the office with on-site employees.
The Performance Review Process: Willis Towers Watson reports that 48 percent of employees report that their performance reviews have been constructive. Just 52 percent think that their reviews were accurate reflections of their performance, and just 45 percent think there is a clear link between performance and pay. Even worse, only 46 percent believe that high performers are justly rewarded for their performance.
To deliver a better performance review process, reviewing managers must have more time to evaluate their direct reports, and must have training in coaching and feedback in order to make the process constructive. Just 35 percent of employers say their managers are effective at giving regular coaching and feedback. A majority of them have already taken action to increase the frequency and quality of performance reviews. If this is important to you, ask about it during the interview process.
Leadership Development Training: According to the 2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey: Winning over the next generation of leaders 63 percent of respondents say their leadership skills are not being fully developed. 71 percent are likely to leave in the next two years because of their dissatisfaction in this area. During your interviews, ask about whether the company has transparent career tracks, professional development opportunities, and specific leadership training.
Leadership development seminars, workshops, and mentoring will do more than accelerate your career arc. They also facilitate communications between different levels of leadership within your company, and between people who don’t normally communicate in their roles. This enhances every facet of the Employee Value Proposition (EVP) for you as well.
We are in a new talent economy now and employers must compete with one another to attract, retain, and engage their most valuable asset – you! Only a full commitment to delivering world class talent experiences can ensure a long-term match.