Designing an EVP for the future higher education workforce

With population growth, a retiring workforce and skills shortages, U.S. higher education institutions recognize the growing demand for top educators and faculty staff.

Institutions can no longer assume that the American workforce will consider higher education a great industry to work in. In fact, a recent CUPA-HR study showed that most millennials and Gen Z have poor perceptions of the industry’s culture and compensation.

The study also found that 70% of Black Americans and 60% of LGBTQ+ Americans aren’t convinced higher education can offer a diverse, inclusive, and equal opportunity work environment. These perceptions pose huge challenges for colleges and universities looking to diversify their workforce and build strong teams.

In today’s global, competitive job market, higher education institutions must offer and communicate meaningful reasons for people to work for them.

After all, your employee value proposition is the foundation of your employer brand. It communicates the unique combination of values, culture, rewards, and benefits your company offers.

But most importantly, your unique proposition turns employees into engaged, loyal brand ambassadors who will reward you with the skills and experience your company needs.

Whether you’re creating an EVP from the ground up or are looking to refine your existing EVP messaging, here are 3 key steps to understanding, improving, and developing a truly inspiring EVP.

Gain insights from your existing employees

Don’t rely on “gut feelings” to make important decisions about what defines your employee experience. Just ask.

Conduct a survey to gain meaningful insights from your existing employees to understand what prospective employees look for in an employer. What you uncover may surprise you and will help define your unique offering.

Keep in mind that a strong EVP isn’t all just perks and flexible work. Employers should offer a healthy mix of work, rewards and recognition, culture, relationships and opportunities, like the following:

Work – Do you offer work that is challenging, fulfilling, and rewarding? How does the work align with people’s personal career goals?
Rewards and recognition – What rewards, such as bonuses, training, or skills development, speak most to your staff and faculty’s needs? Will they be recognized for their efforts?
Culture – What makes your institution’s workplace a happy, safe place to be?
Relationships – How do you help people form productive relationships with team members, senior management, and external stakeholders? How do these relationships encourage mutual success?
Opportunities – What opportunities are there for advancement and personal development?

Invite your team members to complete employee surveys. Select people from a range of positions, locations, tenures, and levels of seniority.

Understand your institution’s current skills gaps by talking to your leaders and recruitment team about your talent strategy.

Define your employee personas

Knowing who your ideal candidates are and their value is a critical step in shaping your EVP statement. Like any good branding or marketing strategy, developing your employer brand and EVP involves defining key personas.

Create your ideal employee personas by assessing your overall talent strategy and the insights gained from existing employees. Outline the experience, personality, skills, and behaviors you’re looking for to drive your company towards its strategic vision.

You may have a number of employee segments with a unique set of skills, from academics and faculty to tech talent and entry-level roles. Understanding the backgrounds, needs, and concerns of these different groups is a useful way to ensure your EVP messaging speaks to their requirements.

Articulate and amplify your EVP

In crafting your EVP statement, outline the EVP elements that are unique to your company. Pay special attention to the rewards, learning experiences, cultural elements, and career development opportunities your company offers.

While salary can be a strong motivator for candidates to pursue and accept a new role, top talent are often looking for growth, development, and a supportive culture. Do you offer meaningful employee engagement experiences and an attractive company culture or work-life balance?

Your EVP statement should be inspirational and unique, as well as focused and aligned with your company’s strategic vision and goals. It should define why people would want to work for your institution, excel in their role, and stay with you over competitors in other sectors.

Test your EVP with existing employees to confirm it aligns with their lived experience. Validate it with your leadership and talent acquisition team to ensure it supports the institution’s talent strategy.

When it’s time to amplify your message, incorporate it into each stage of the recruitment journey, including recruitment advertisements, careers website, interview process, social media, videos, and more.

Cultivate brand ambassadors by promoting your EVP messaging internally. Incorporate it into induction plans, reward and recognition schemes, internal communications, policies, and business plans to ensure it is reflected in daily operations. Review your messaging annually, so it continues to reflect the changing employee experience.

The culture and values you present in your EVP should be a holistic representation of every team members’ experience in your higher education institution. Not only will it help you attract top talent and strengthen your employer brand, but it also gives you the best chance of retaining your best performers.