Leverage Employee Preferences to Identify Total Rewards Trade-offs | Gartner

Organizations invest significant time, resources, and effort into developing a competitive employee value proposition (EVP) that attracts, engages, and retains top talent. However, as employee preferences evolve, it becomes increasingly challenging for organizations to stay informed and ensure that their EVP aligns with workers’ preferences. This article offers ideas for adopting a more systematic approach to understanding workers’ preferences and using these insights to inform EVP investments. Table 1 provides examples of four data sources, including exit interviews and candidate surveys, that can assist organizations in gathering both quantitative and qualitative data to gain insights about worker preferences. Additionally, the article introduces a four-component decision-making model (Figure 2) that aids total rewards leaders in evaluating options for shifts in EVP. The categories range from “Sunset,” where resources are eliminated or divested to prioritize higher-level priorities within the EVP, to “Invest,” where organizations expand their budget or offerings to enhance the EVP. It is also advisable to establish triggers that prompt a reevaluation of EVP decisions in case of shifts in business or economic conditions. These triggers may include sudden changes in organizational financial performance, market disruptions, turnover of critical talent, or new legislation. As a bonus, I am resharing a one-page summary I created on employee preferences, which combines information from four different resources.