How to Build Employer Value Proposition for a Full Return to Office
Trying to balance the benefits of working in-office such as collaboration and culture without negatively impacting employee satisfaction from increased commuting and lower work/life balance?
Post-COVID, office mandates remain one of the biggest workplace questions of our time – so much so, that we wrote a report on the topic to find out how employees and employers really feel about them.
And the data that emerged in our UK report makes vital reading, with 69% of UK employees expressing a need for higher pay to cover commuting costs and 58% an increased desire to leave due to in-office expectations.
To ensure that your employees are getting the most from their time spent in office, we spoke to Florence Edwards, Associate Director of C&I Accounting & Finance at Morgan McKinley UK for how to improve your employer value proposition (EVP):
1. Align RTO Goals With What Candidate Values
Most businesses moving back to a full office model are looking to strengthen collaboration, speed up decision-making and create a stronger sense of culture, says Florance. And it’s vital that you communicate these values before they even arrive in the door, during recruitment:
“When speaking to candidates, it's important to focus on the benefits they will experience including a greater exposure to leadership, more coaching, and better opportunities to learn from colleagues, rather than simply stating a five-day office requirement.”
2. Build a Core EVP With Meaningful Incentives
Florence warns against using cheap incentives such as the classic ‘table tennis’ perk. Instead, get the fundamentals right, before you layer other benefits in: “Ensuring an employee has a clear sense of purpose and a visible, tangible career path are primary, followed by competitive rewards and compensation, and a culture where people feel valued.”
In fact, your biggest lever for growing your EVP may not concern salary or expensive benefits at all: “The employers winning the war for talent are typically those that invest in development and create genuine long-term career opportunities and are less reliant on ‘office perks’”, says Florence.
3. Avoid Creating a Trust Gap With Transparency
One of the most effective ways to ensure that you’re hiring someone who will continue to be satisfied in their role is to ensure that you’re promising what you can deliver, says Florence: “Whether it's flexibility, culture, or career progression, candidates quickly lose trust if the reality doesn't match the message.”
For this, you’ll also need to look past just hoping that higher salaries will be enough to attract and retain your talent, without considering what they will need long-term to feel fulfilled in their roles: “An EVP also falls flat when it focuses purely on compensation and overlooks what employees actually want from their careers.”
4. Sell In-Person Value in a Hybrid Market
One of the other most common mistakes Florence sees in the market is not framing office mandates the right way: “The conversation needs to be about opportunity rather than attendance. Employers should focus on the advantages of being in the office—faster learning, greater exposure to leadership, stronger mentoring, and the chance to build relationships.”
This is particularly true for those who are earlier in their career who need their colleagues to provide development opportunities that are harder to replicate remotely. This is the key: “The most successful employers clearly articulate the value of being together, making the office feel like a place where careers are built rather than simply where work gets done.”
5. Understand How Candidates Evaluate Your EVP
Be prepared for the questions candidates who are looking to find a new company with a great EVP will have. Her advice to candidates is: “Don't just look at the careers page. Ask questions about retention, promotion rates, leadership accessibility and employee development.”
Even if they don’t ask, they may be researching online, looking at employees’ Linkedin pages, specifically focusing on how long they have been there, how quickly they have progressed, and how positively they talk about the business. Or if they have mutual connections with employees already in the business, they may be having ‘off the record’ conversations.
6. Offset the Commute With Growth Levers and Lunch
If you’re asking people to be in the office five days a week, they need to receive something meaningful in return, says Florence: “Structured career paths, investment in learning and development, mentoring, leadership exposure and attractive incentive schemes can all help make the proposition far more compelling.
Alternatively, small perks can make a big difference in keeping costs low for employees, even if salary increases aren’t possible. For example, a company Florence knows gives their staff £10 for lunch each day that they’re in. She says: “Employers should think about ways to ease the financial impact through travel support, season ticket loans, free lunches, expensible one-day travel a week or other practical benefits.”
Want to learn what employees really think about office mandates? Download our new report – or speak to one of our consultants about your hiring.
