What does... "EPP" actually mean?

Just in time for the elections, an abbreviation is causing havoc in marketing departments and agencies, and above all in the HR departments of these companies: EVP. While its big sister, the CVP, has long since trimmed its name to mainstream and simply calls itself the EVP. The center the EPP (Evangelical People's Party), founded in 1917, remains true to its Reformed Christian orientation and name. Both paths, however, have so far led to continued moderate electoral success. But that is not the point here. With EVP is the Employee Value Proposition, which is currently on everyone's lips.

Money and fame alone do not make happy

In the past, a generous salary and the prospect of winning a few marble cubes were enough to attract good people. Today, the whole package - the EVP - has to be right if a company wants to attract highly specialized professionals. Of course, there are still people who want to earn a lot of money quickly and win awards, but this breed is slowly dying out. Today's workforce demands different incentives from companies. "What's in it for me?" they ask themselves, meaning that money is just one aspect among many (and one that is less important in the affluent country of Switzerland than elsewhere). What counts today is flexibility in the choice of time, place and workload, as well as the amount of space to develop one's own skills and personality. To ensure that all this is guaranteed, the company culture plays a major role in the package. This means that values and appreciation from the team and managers are more important than the salary. This is no easy task, especially for those managers who define their self-image in terms of the latter. And in an industry in which hierarchy and titles are almost as deeply rooted as in the conservative financial industry - albeit in a more casual way - it is more difficult to establish an EVP in practice than it is to simply recite it on a few slides. It's not enough to throw a few rooftop parties and think that's it. No, an attractive employee value proposition demands everything from a company and its organization. Transparency, flexibility and curiosity. If you don't offer this, you may still have orders, but no more employees to carry them out. Today, good specialists choose their employers. Which brings us back to politics: The "people" choose the politicians - and not the other way around.

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* Benno Maggi is co-founder and CEO of Partner & Partner. He has been eavesdropping on the industry for over 30 years, discovering words and terms for us that can either be used for small talk, pomposity, excitement, playing Scrabble, or just because.