CIOs recommend reinventing the IT executive vice president to attract and retain key talent

Employment value propositions are no longer new to companies; the COVID-19 pandemic has been a catalyst forcing companies to confront major shifts in work preferences and employee expectations. The rise of remote and hybrid work, and increased pressure to balance work and life, has led to a deeper understanding of EVP. While many organizations are still in the early stages of structural change to EVP, the focus on work-life harmony has become a core part of the talent management discussion.

Businesses have been actively taking steps to boost their perceived EVP, directly or indirectly. Organizations around the world are racing to be more competitive, compressing a decade of digital transformation and technology adoption into a year or a few years. This has dramatically changed the talent search. Countries are competing against each other for talent. Talent is being lost from the public sector to the private sector. All other industries are no longer competing for talent within their respective industries; instead, they are competing under one banner: technology.

Gartner found that only 32% of IT employees are willing to stay with the company, while the willingness of non-IT employees is 39.9%. If CIOs are not responsible for designing a people-centric EVP, their key IT/technical positions will have increased turnover, which will jeopardize the company’s digital transformation. To address this issue, CIOs should consider taking the following actions.

1. Articulate the EVP strategy to current and potential employees

Many organizations have not consciously articulated an EVP strategy at the enterprise level, and the pressure and responsibility to address talent risk falls on CIOs. This means taking actions to help address immediate issues while developing responses to talent expectations.

76% of candidates said they dropped out of the hiring process because of a mismatch in at least one EVP preference. Compensation, benefits, work-life balance, and flexibility were the top reasons for dropping out of the application. When it comes to recruiting new talent, CIOs should work with HR to promote employee referral programs focused on recruiting technology and digital talent and incentivize employees to participate.

2. Reshape EVP and focus on humanized transactions

Traditionally, EVPs have been defined around employees, designed to deliver a superior employee experience, and focused on delivering features that align with employee needs. But ongoing engagement and attraction challenges, and the human crisis of 2020, have proven these fundamentals outdated. Employees are people, not just workers, and work is part of life, not separate from it. Value comes from feelings, not just features. Building a more humane employment agreement requires EVPs that focus on the whole person, their life experiences, and the emotions that ultimately humanize the agreement.

Humane treatment consists of five elements, each designed to inspire a specific emotion in employees:

1. A deeper connection: How technology leaders can help employees strengthen family and community connections, not just work relationships.
2. Radical Flexibility: How technology leaders can provide flexibility in all aspects of work, not just when and where employees work.
3. Personal Growth: How technology leaders can help employees grow as individuals, not just professionals.
4. Overall Health: How technology leaders can ensure employees use holistic health services rather than just provide them.
5. Purpose: When organizations intentionally take collective action rather than just make corporate statements, employees feel engaged.

When organizations make progress in any part of the people transaction, they see clear benefits — including growth in areas such as:

• Employees who are highly likely to recommend the organization.
• efficient general manager.
• Intend to stay.
• Physical, financial and mental health.

3. Meet personalized needs and strengthen EVP

Companies that capture what their employees care about most and align their messaging and investments will be more successful. While it’s tempting to create an annual EVP review program, this approach is slow and insufficient to gain a competitive advantage over competitors. To build a set of relevant attributes that people perceive as the value they get from their jobs, CIOs need to recognize the cues and triggers that influence people to change.

As economic uncertainty increases, IT employees appear to be more inclined to choose organizations with a growth trajectory. Understanding this, organizations can adjust their communications and clarify the most important elements of their EVP.

The trend from working from home to working from anywhere is clear. With this shift, the IT talent market is now borderless. People are responding differently to the future of work. People of different ages, regions, and seniority levels have different expectations. This means CIOs now also need to consider segmented EVP drivers for attracting and retaining talent to stay competitive.

CIOs focused on leadership, culture and talent who want to attract and retain top talent through a compelling EVP should address the talent loss/shortage issue by taking the lead in developing IT talent and working with HR. Reframe EVP components by adopting a human transaction—people-centric, based on life experiences and centered on feelings. Make EVP more adaptive by capturing changes in preferences and responding quickly to individual needs based on factors such as career moment, work area, tenure and experience level.

Gabriella Vogel is a Vice President Analyst in the Digital Business Executive Leadership practice at Gartner, Inc. She provides practical guidance to executives on C-suite dynamics, effective leadership during times of change, and is skilled in improving leadership effectiveness, managing corporate politics, resolving conflicts, and developing strategies to address these issues.