Great expectations: Happiness is the new EVP
The past two years have seen a decade of change but one positive shines through: as a society, we have begun to prioritise our health and wellbeing. From the way we work, to how we consume products and spend our time, there’s a renewed focus on what keeps us happy and productive.
In response, businesses are looking inwards; increasingly cognizant of their responsibility as caretakers of the workforce, and of the commercial benefits that a successful Employee Value Proposition (EVP) can cultivate.
Yes, much of this is triggered by the war for talent. Candidates finding new roles post-pandemic are increasingly demanding flexibility in their new contracts. But to think that a successful EVP in 2022 is just about permission to WFH would be a missed opportunity. How can businesses keep up with the new-found demands of a recognisably slippery workforce and create the conditions for their people (and therefore profit) to thrive?
The place and time equation
9 days WFH + 1 day in office = more wellbeing but less culture?
Flexibility is the wellbeing initiative UK workers believe has the biggest impact on their health and wellbeing, leaving employers wrangling the right stance for their business. From 50% ‘in-office’ mandates, to total freedom on when, how and where you work — as yet, there is no normal, and no magic formula for success.
One Head of Talent at a start-up told us, “The idea that we need to craft people’s roles to enable more wellbeing feels like a leap of faith at the moment”. But doing just that is clearly the proposition employees want.
With huge numbers of hours spent WFH, opportunities to cultivate the USP for employees are slim. Office perks such as free food, yoga classes, and table football that once felt synonymous with a great place to work, have lost their allure. Nobody is commuting for a free coffee. Employees in 2022 would rather have a contribution to their home broadband, making the office a minor partner in the EVP. There is a gap to fill with new ‘perk’ offerings (both in-office and out) but these won’t be as simple as a well-stocked beer fridge.
Distributed workforces have thrown up a further dilemma for employers: how to create a consistent, equitable pay structure?
In 2021, Big Tech firms (including Alphabet, Meta, Amazon and Apple) provoked a Twitter backlash by announcing pay cuts (~10–20%) for any employees previously based at their Silicon Valley hubs who have decided to move away. Their argument was a cost of living adjustment.
With the potential for a class system to develop separating office, hybrid and fully-remote employees, whatever approach taken needs to be handled with sensitivity in recognition of broad, conflicting views and different lifestyle needs.
The personalisation challenge
EVPs that make everyone feel like VIPs
The bigger the organisation, the broader range of demographics and lifestyles it needs to cater for, but even in small organisations employees can have very different needs. The impact of COVID-19 has accelerated the desire and diversity of need further.
Broad, multi-faceted EVP’s allow employees to “pick’n’mix” and get access to the right tool or service at the right moment for them. But in many cases, they don’t even know what that will be until the need occurs (like an accident or sudden breakdown in mental health).
The availability of the right provision is essential to making the employee feel supported. It doesn’t matter what the EVP offering is if it isn’t “right for me”. The growth of customisable subscription and pay-as-you-go services is also changing consumer expectations of what a minimum term commitment for a product or service should be. Companies that previously offered “benefits windows” when employees could make their annual selections will likely see a more flexible model desired.
If understanding what your employees want was a customer question, you might consider how big data would provide you the answer. There are ever more services available to actively (and even passively) survey the employee base. Is it appropriate to treat employees like you would customers if it means greater personalisation of EVP products and how they are marketed?
Whatever the package you offer, it faces one final hurdle. While 98% of CEOs believe their companies offer mental health benefits, only 55% of employees agree — a statistic demonstrative of the importance, and challenge, of internal comms. Creating an environment of trust in which employees expect to be provided for because they already feel nurtured, is pivotal.
The power of happiness
Happiness has been identified as attributing to high performance, but not everyone has the same natural happiness level. At the age of 21, 30% of happiness is due to genetic traits which decrease in prominence as we age and experience other influences — especially our work environment.
Within the workplace, happier employees are more likely to emerge as leaders, earn higher scores on performance evaluations, and tend to be better teammates. Happiness (and unhappiness) is also contagious.
This suggests that cultivating more happiness in employees should lead to stronger business performance, but also that not supporting all employees to live happy lives puts employees with a lower level of natural happiness at a disadvantage and perpetuates negative experiences.
How can you cultivate purpose, belonging, and even fun, in an equitable way to activate the happiness superpower?
On 6th October we are inviting a select group of cross industry leaders to explore this topic. If you’re interested in joining, get in touch with Natalia Walters — Natalia.Walters@wearemagnetic.com
Author: Nicky Ashwell is a Consultant at Magnetic, a company that uses experiments to understand customers, helping clients to build better products. We work with The Economist, Mars, Bupa, Condé Nast, National Grid, BEIS, Severn Trent Water and others. You can get in touch with Nicky at: nicky.ashwell@wearemagnetic.com
