If you’re familiar with the Business Model Canvas, you know the central component is the Value Proposition.
a value proposition makes a case for why a customer should pick one product over another, citing the unique value the product provides over its contenders.
Business model canvas: Creating a Value Proposition …
I was sitting in a McDonald’s over the weekend while some work was being done on my car at the shop next door. I’m officially the old guy drinking coffee at MickeyDs. On the tray they were promoting their hiring and education program.
I looked it up and they launched this program in 2016. So it’s not new, but I thought it fairly unique. Own the fact that most of your employees won’t retire from your company. Be great at being an entry point into the workforce. Charlie Munger has called McDonald’s a better educator of America’s workforce than most universities. This isn’t a proposotion that works for most companies, but it seems to fit McDonald’s.
If there is a value proposition for the customer, then shouldn’t there be one as well for the employee? In our current economy unemployment is low and employees have lots of options. Any employee/employer relationship is a transaction. The employer gets the value created by the labor of the employee and the employee gets a wage. But possibly other things as well like health insurance benefits, college tuition reimbursement, or social status of working in a particular field or company.
It got me thinking about what the unique hiring proposition is for any Little Engine Ventures company. In some cases I think hiring has happened because the company was part of something larger, newer, and growing. An LEV company can offer a track record and history that a startup can’t offer. It can also offer growth opportunities within either that individual company or another portfolio company that a typical independent small business of a similar size couldn’t offer.
But many of these offers are unstated and left to the mind of the employee. Some people can’t see the opportunity unless told explicitly. Conversely, some people see opportunities that aren’t there and are disappointed when they don’t materialize. Others can see the opportunity but not the difficult work that will need to be done to achieve it together.
As a business owner employer, what unique hiring proposition does your company offer? Are you explicit about it or is it an exercise left the (potential) employee?