Unlocking employee success: Why you should focus on your EVP and salary benchmarking

Jo Roadnight

Director of Client Services

Jo Roadnight

Director of Client Services

When talking with clients, it’s clear attracting and retaining the best people in the market is becoming increasingly difficult. In the last few years, we’ve seen ‘The Pandemic’, ‘Great Resignation’, ‘Quiet Quitting’, return to ‘Business as Usual’ post-pandemic and ‘Brexit’.

Recent changes to Working Visa's (Working Holiday Maker Programme) for young British nationals have made it easier to relocate, age has been extended from 30 to 35 years old and from July 2024, young British nationals will be able to gain a 3-year Visa without needing to fulfil any specified working requirement.

What this has meant for British employers is a talent drain that has been slowly building for years. Now is a great time to review your Employee Value Proposition (EVP).

What is it that you offer that will retain and attract the best?

What makes you stand out from the crowd?

Depending on your organisation it may be a focus on salary. Although that is a key component to your 'offer' it is usually not the be-all-and-end-all for retaining staff. How many people have left organisations within 12-months of a salary increase? If someone isn’t happy money won't keep them for long.

What else do you offer?

Do your employees know?

Do you even know?

Many clients do not know what their 'Total Reward Package' is and if you don't know how you can expect your employees (and prospective employees) to know what you offer.

Where to start? – EVP!

One of the most important things you can do is promote (and clearly document) your EVP and remind, remind, remind your staff of this, put it in all your recruitment packs.

What benefits do you offer? Flexible working, enhanced annual leave, maternity/paternity leave, health insurance, wellbeing, corporate discounts, car allowance etc.

What is your culture? – Why do people want to work for your organisation?

What is the career path? What learning, and development do you offer? Can you track how to move through your organisation? How do you retain that ambitious staff member?

What is the Work Environment? – Back in the office or fully remote or hybrid? What is it like to work for your organisation?

What is the compensation? – What salary do you offer? How do you get increases? Do you have competency frameworks linked to pay progression? Are the reviews ‘Fair and Transparent;’

All of the above forms your EVP and needs highlighting as part of your ‘Total Rewards Package.’

We have collaborated with many clients to create EVP documents that capture the above.

So, you have your EVP offer, how do you know if your EVP is competitive in the market?

The solution is Benchmarking. To know if you are competitive you need to know what your competition is doing, and you need to review it regularly.

Salary benchmarking gives an independent and accurate reflection of the hiring market so organisations can make informed and effective remuneration decisions.

How can Benchmarking help?

Competitive Recruitment: To attract top talent, you need to offer competitive salaries. Salary benchmarking helps you understand the prevailing market rates for specific roles and adjust your compensation packages accordingly.
Retention: High turnover can be costly and disruptive. Offering competitive salaries and benefits, can reduce turnover rates and retain skilled employees. When employees feel they are fairly compensated, they are more likely to stay with your company.
Market Research: Benchmarking provides valuable insights into the compensation practices of industry competitors. This information helps you align your strategies with industry norms and adapt to changing market conditions.
Equity & Fairness: Salary benchmarking helps ensure that compensation within your organisation is fair and equitable. It minimises the risk of pay disparities, which can lead to dissatisfaction and potentially legal issues.

Turning Point HR Solutions offer both LIVE in-depth bespoke salary benchmarking as well as our own world class Orbit Software Suite.

Uniquely positioned to provide organisations from SME to Enterprise, access to the most comprehensively validated salary database in Europe with an international version available for global benchmarking needs. You select which jurisdictions you require.

Enabling you to search over 16 million individual data points, by region, sector, seniority, company turnover, qualifications, and specialisation.

The choice between live data and software depends on the specific needs and resources of the organisation. Most use a combination of both, leveraging live data for critical roles or when rapid adjustments are needed and software for ongoing benchmarking and data management.

The goal is to maintain competitive compensation practices that support recruitment and retention efforts while aligning with the organisation's strategic goals.

It is research. At Turning Point, we can also help you expand that research, in line with your organisational strategy and goals, and enable you to develop attractive reward packages that will compete within your sector.

We are here to support you and your organisation both now and in the long term. To find out how contact us.

Turning Point HR Solutions produce sector reports on a quarterly basis and have completed our UK Remuneration Overview Report for Q3 2023. We have a full market trends and a sector specific housing option. This is a free product, available now. If you would like to sign up to receive these insightful reports visit: https://turningpointhr.com/remuneration-report-request/

Turning Point HR Solutions Ltd are a UK based international reward consultancy, with offices in the UK, Dubai, Lisbon, and Manila. Collectively we provide strategic International HR, Compensation & Benefits advice for both private and public sector companies. We also provide a wide range of inhouse developed software to help our clients with their reward strategies including organisational charting, job evaluation, gender & equal pay audits, and salary benchmarking.