Now’s the Time to Develop Your EVP for Seasonal Workers

Seasonal workers are the lifeblood of many industries including, manufacturing and distribution, consumer goods and retail, restaurants and hospitality, agriculture, and many more. Capturing the attention of the right kind of candidates for these markets can be challenging. Employers looking for seasonal workers need to have everything they need to recruit the right volume of qualified talent to meet consumer demands in busy seasons. That means having a well-thought-out Employee Value Proposition (EVP). There are many employee value proposition examples out there, but developing your distinctive EVP is crucial to standing out from the crowd.

What Is an EVP?

An Employer Value Proposition (EVP) is the foundation of your company’s employer brand. It is the promise between an employer and potential candidates that outlines what your company and culture can provide in exchange for their talents, skills, and experiences. An EVP is the platform to effectively communicate the advantages of working for your organization, your culture, your people, and your values.

Your EVP will be unique to your business and tailored to your desired candidates. Exploring some popular employee value proposition examples can give you a feel for what EVP is, its effectiveness, and its impact on your seasonal hiring.

Examples Of Successful Employee Value Propositions

Some of the most successful employee value proposition examples come from big brands you’ll recognize.

1. &pizza

A US-based pizza restaurant chain with locations across the Northeast, it offers its diners fun oblong-shaped pizzas, and more importantly, it offers its employees a “No Ceiling” policy. This means each candidate and hire is offered the opportunity to rise as high up in the company as they want to go. They may be brought into meet seasonal peaks, but they’re offered the chance to stay on and achieve wider career goals with them. As career growth is not a benefit often offered in the restaurant industry, &pizza really make themselves stand out from their competitors with their great EVP.

2. Trader Joe’s

Trader Joe’s is an American grocery store chain with more than 500 locations across the country. Trader Joe’s is known for having a great example of EVP tailored to its employees, and they are very open about the benefits they provide. For example, they perform bi-annual reviews with the potential for employees to receive an average pay increase of 7%-10% every year. Furthermore, they prioritize career growth and promotion based on performance.

3. Starbucks

Starbucks’ EVP is based around offering equity to all employees. They highly value all employees, which is why they are referred to as “partners” in the shared success of the business. Every decision made is based on the value of their people, from providing the best quality coffee to engaging with customers in a responsible manner.

Starbucks offers generous rewards and benefits to its partners, including in-store discounts, a free Spotify Premium subscription, affiliate discounts, and even support for those competing in elite sports. Additionally, they provide commuter benefits, the opportunity to get a bachelor’s degree, parental leave, and stock options.

What Makes a Good EVP to Attract Seasonal Workers?

Seasonal workers aren’t just temporary additions to your workforce, they are vital to ensuring the success of your business through busy periods and you should be tailoring your EVP to address the concerns and needs of seasonal workers. To customize your EVP, it’s important to ask yourself what seasonal workers are looking for from their employer? Here are four insights into seasonal workers to build into your EVP:

Competitive Pay

When asked what the main reason they were attracted to a seasonal role was, 86% of seasonal workers said competitive pay, that was either higher than local minimum wage or higher than other jobs in their area. Economic pressures means that wages are likely to remain a major selling point for seasonal employers.

Flexibility

67% of seasonal workers are doing so alongside other full or part-time work. Often this is for economic reasons, others prefer the autonomy that seasonal work gives them. Either way, flexibility is an important aspect of work for seasonal employees especially for those with caring responsibilities for children or other family members.

Giving seasonal workers greater flexibility through the ability to pick up, or bid on, extra shifts when they need, supporting them with childcare or offering flexible time off can be an attractive part of your EVP, making employees feel more valued. Plus, these measures can help you mitigate scheduling conflicts in busy periods.

Chances to Develop New Skills

According to the US Department of Labor, 4.1 million Americans work part-time or seasonally because they are unable to find full-time employment. For these workers the chance to improve their knowledge, gain new skills and, potentially, be offered a permanent position is highly attractive. However many employers are under estimating the value of providing meaningful training can be when it comes to appealing to seasonal staff. As part of your EVP, you should emphasize the opportunities for employees to learn meaningful, transferable knowledge.

Safety

Safety is a major concern for seasonal workers. 61% have experienced a hostile situation involving a customer and 50% have experienced sexism or racism from a colleague. Taking employee safety seriously is critical to creating an environment where people feel comfortable and where they want to work. This should also be a crucial part of your diversity and inclusion practices.

Make sure your EVP puts employee safety and wellbeing front and center. Provide regular training on dealing with conflict alongside your wider customer service training. Develop clear incident response plans and provide channels for employees to report issues and instances of conflict.

You’ll notice that all the employee value proposition examples from big brands above, utilize one or more of these insights when developing their EVP such as &pizza’s emphasis on long-term career goals, Trader Joe’s performance-based pay increases and Starbuck’s generous parental leave allowance.

If you’ve been inspired by these employee value proposition examples to develop your own EVP tailored to attract and retain seasonal hires, we can help. By partnering with an RPO provider like Pierpoint you can access the insight and industry experience you need to create an attractive EVP that will capture the attention of the volume of talent you need. We can also help you create a wider recruitment strategy to ensure you hit your hiring quotas. Book a call with one of our experts to find out more.