Nearly three-quarters of employees believe now is a good time to look for a new role. And according to Sonder’s latest survey*, more than half (54%) of Australian and New Zealand employees say access to wellbeing programs is a key factor when deciding where to work next.
But while employees see wellbeing as a high priority, many businesses are failing to meet the expectations of top talent. Our survey data* reveals that only half of employees are satisfied with the wellbeing support offered by their current employer.
With challenge comes opportunity. By doubling down on your wellbeing strategy, your company has huge potential to differentiate its Employee Value Proposition (EVP) and position itself as an employer of choice.
In this blog, three talent acquisition experts share their advice for integrating wellbeing into your EVP so you can attract and retain top talent. They are:
Agata: There are quite a few challenges we all face these days, including limited budgets, increased demands, and the need to keep doing more with less. Everybody is hiring and there’s constant pressure on talent acquisition teams to deliver results and find quality candidates.
EVP is an extremely useful tool that doesn’t have to cost a lot and can have significant impacts on the business when it comes to attracting and retaining talent.
By definition, a strong EVP gives employers a competitive edge in engaging top talent. This sometimes however, is taken at face value: “strong EVP = the best EVP” or in other words “top of the market salary + benefits”. I often hear “We can’t compete with X, because we don’t pay as much or they offer Y”. But in reality, an effective EVP is so much more, and rarely means just that.
We know that candidates often look beyond salary and benefits, and it is a real opportunity. They look for ways in which their next career move and next employer align with their values, career goals, and personal interests.
In my opinion, a strong EVP does exactly that: when designed with a clear purpose for who it is for, it’s also differentiated enough to allow any brand, no matter its size or benefits package, to be considered. The problem is that it’s super subjective and can mean so many things to every single person, so it’s extremely difficult to scale.
Hannah: Although the hiring market hasn’t been as strong as prior years, hiring and retaining the right talent continues to be a challenge for employers, they still need to stand out from the crowd.
A clear employee value proposition is vital, giving applicants an insight into what it’s like to work for your organisation and the unique experience that you offer to staff. It’s not dissimilar to a shop window in that you want to attract potential talent to buy into your organisation and what they could achieve there.
Your EVP should reflect your company’s culture and values and be showcased at all the touchpoints an applicant has with your organisation during the hiring process, such as your website, job adverts and social media.
Steve: 2024 is a mixed year. In the start up/ scale up space, at one end of the market (senior roles) there is a total oversupply, massive amount of candidates, anywhere from 200-600 applying for every role. This is driven by an ageing population, redundancies (often made at the more senior end for greater cost saving), and the cost of living crisis, which is prompting people to look for a new role to gain a greater pay raise than they could achieve normally and smaller amount of jobs. A perfect storm of sorts.
At the other end there are no candidates. Only 5-25 people apply, driven by a belief in startups, side hustles, content creation culture and working multiple part time roles that fit into their life.
A strong EVP is super important, more so in the younger demographic, but since COVID the desire for this has gone up significantly and does factor, not only in their decision to work for someone, but to even entertain or apply for a role.
Steve: Interesting data, I see this in the corporate space, but not so much in startups or SME. Yes it is very important if they get it right, but most do not.
We don’t see people wanting a wellbeing program that is defined by someone else that could never meet everyone’s needs. They want the freedom to be able to create their own wellbeing program that changes constantly as their life does. I see people being fed up being told what to do by their employer and have more control over themselves, these programs need to be about empowerment, less about a bunch of discounted offers and services.
Agata: Today’s work environment is not only fast-paced but also highly competitive, and sadly the stress-inducing pressures also extend to non-work related aspects of life (cost-of-living crisis, high mortgage rates etc.). Job-seekers often face the challenge of managing work-life balance and are interested in knowing what their future employer offers in that aspect.
For Australians specifically, work-life balance is very important. Several research and employment survey results highlight that. Organisations increasingly recognize that providing a wellbeing offering is crucial for supporting employees’ wellbeing and job satisfaction.
Wellbeing offerings promote work-life balance, improve employee satisfaction, and foster a positive work environment because a healthier and happier employee can be their best self at work and at home.
Those programs often extend far beyond mental or physical support (it’s not only about fruit in the office or access to an EAP). The wellbeing programs are often designed as a holistic solution, and most importantly – one that can be bespoke to an individual. Not everyone may benefit from a stress management seminar, but flexible working arrangements, financial advice, access to subsidised partner offers, and more can make it attractive and, most importantly, very responsive to individual needs.
Hannah: At the start of my career employers were focussed on health and safety. The aim was to prevent the risk of a cost of physical incidents in the workplace and employees certainly had low expectations of their employers as a source of improving their wellbeing. At this stage, work and life were still seen as two separate entities and many employees had no appetite to share with their employer what was going on outside of work. It was the era of leaving the rest of your life at the office doors.
In the early 2010’s we saw organisations begin to focus on more than just physical health and safety, realising that supporting better physical and mental health could be a source of competitive advantage. As the rhetoric on DE&I began to become mainstream, so did the idea that we needed to encourage people to be their authentic self. However, the 2010’s were a time of “one size fits all” wellbeing, offered through the lens of reward and benefit e.g. offering an EAP or offering discounted gym membership, office fruit bowls and workplace yoga classes.
What really changed the game was when COVID hit. This was transformational for employee wellbeing. Employers stepped up to take care of their employees in a way they never had done before, and lockdown forced all organisations to WFH. This created a boundaryless world, we couldn’t unsee what we saw – as people juggled work and life simultaneously. Working age health shot to the top of the public health, business, and policy agenda simultaneously and the workplace quickly became one of the priority settings for health promotion in the 21st century.
Employees now had an expectation that employers cared and that there is no such thing as work/life balance, just life! We’ve now moved to an era of workplace wellbeing as an imperative ingredient to enable individuals and organisations to achieve and sustain high performance. Not only should work do no harm to an employee’s health and wellbeing but if organisations get it right it could actually nurture it!
Employees now expect a model where wellbeing is integral to all parts of a business culture, it’s no longer just about wellbeing benefits. Organisations cannot ‘do ‘wellbeing to its employees, instead they can create an environment conducive to all employees being about to make the positive choices they need for their individual wellbeing, whatever that might mean. We now know that one size doesn’t fit anyone and we have to think about wellbeing through the lens of intersectionality, life moments that matter and positive role modelling.
Hannah: I think communication is key. Despite employers’ best efforts, employees don’t know what’s available or how to access it. Workloads are higher than ever, and employees often miss emails or comms which might launch a new form of wellbeing support.
Bringing wellbeing support to life, showcasing real life examples on how and when employees have accessed support is the best way to communicate this. Storytelling is powerful and messaging needs to be continuous and consistent. Quite often, employees only seek wellbeing support when something has gone wrong, at this point resources need to be extremely simple and straightforward to access.
Employers should be clearly defining what wellbeing means, who is responsible for it and encouraging employees to be proactive in making positive choices to support their own wellbeing. Employers should be ensuring they consider not only providing reactive support for those moments where things do go wrong, but also in going upstream to identify and proactively mitigate any work-related factor which might be impacting employee wellbeing.
Agata: Effective communication is a hard nut to crack, but I always refer to 3 simple and proven strategies:
One of the key elements of successful marketing is consistency. When promoting your amazing offer, it is crucial to establish a consistent message that is conveyed through various channels. This includes leveraging online and offline platforms like social media, email marketing, content marketing, and search engine optimization. Maintaining a consistent tone, style, and message can reinforce your brand image and build credibility with your audience over time.
Employee advocacy is another powerful strategy for promoting your offer. You can create a win-win situation for your business and employees by encouraging and empowering your employees to become brand advocates. By leveraging their networks, expertise, and personal stories, your employees can effectively share your offer with their personal and professional connections. This increases brand visibility and reach and, at the same time, enhances employee engagement and satisfaction.
Lastly (and this is my favourite reason for advocacy), the message has the most credibility when it’s not coming from the brand but from someone who can talk about their own experience. As humans, we are interested in what other humans do and how they can do what they do. When we hear about someone being supported and happy at work, we can’t help but wonder – can I have it too?
Storytelling is a powerful communication tool that can make your offer come to life and resonate with your target audience. The best way to create a compelling narrative that resonates with your audience is to find authentic, real-life examples and testimonials coupled with engaging visuals and multimedia elements. Storytelling can significantly improve your marketing success by humanising every brand and offering.
Our new guide delves further into the full survey data of Australian and New Zealand employees, with powerful insights, best practice strategies and even more expert commentary from People and Culture leaders. Download it here.
Sonder provides comprehensive support for companies looking to position themselves as an employer of choice.
Our platform provides employees with 24/7 support with personal wellbeing assessments, self-serve wellbeing resources, medical advice, safety support and a live chat with registered health professionals. All of this ensures that holistic, preventative employee care is at the forefront of your EVP.
Get in touch with Sonder today to chat about how our platform can benefit your organisation and help you attract and retain talent.
*Sonder data: September 2023, McGregor Tan survey of employees in Australia and New Zealand who were working a minimum of 30 hours per week.
Sonder is a technology company that helps organisations improve the wellbeing of their people so they perform at their best. Our mobile app provides immediate, 24/7 support from a team of safety, medical, and mental health professionals – plus onsite help for time-sensitive scenarios. Accredited by the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS), our platform gives leaders the insights they need to act on tomorrow’s wellbeing challenges today.
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