If you’re a brand, marketing, or HR manager, you already know that attracting and retaining top talent is tough. People today have more choices, higher expectations, and are drawn to workplaces that align with their values. But here’s something you might not have fully considered: your Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is one of the most powerful tools in your brand’s arsenal. As a branding agency, we believe the strongest brands are driven by the experiences your customers have with you. Therefore your EVP is effectively the catalyst for putting your brand promise into action.
An effective EVP doesn’t just help you recruit great people, it strengthens your brand reputation, builds trust, and ensures that how you position yourself to the outside world aligns with how your company actually operates when customers and stakeholders engage with you. And in a world where authenticity is everything, that alignment can make or break your brand’s credibility.
Attract and retain the right people
An EVP is the unique set of benefits, rewards, and experiences your company offers employees in exchange for their skills, effort and commitment. Think of it as your brand promise to current and future staff. It’s what makes your company a great place to work and why someone would choose (and stay with) your company. A strong EVP typically includes:
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Compensation and benefits (salary, bonuses, insurance, etc.)
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Career development opportunities (training, mentorship, internal promotion, etc)
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Work-life balance (flexible hours, remote work, wellbeing support, etc.)
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Culture and values (how employees are treated, leadership style, diversity & inclusion, etc.)
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Purpose (the impact the work has on society)
When well-defined and communicated, an EVP becomes a magnet for the right talent and a foundation for retaining a strong, engaged and aligned workforce.
EVP matters beyond HR
A compelling EVP doesn’t just help with recruitment and retention, it directly impacts your external brand reputation. Many companies say their people are their greatest strength, and having a well-communicated EVP is one of the best ways to turn this strength into commercial results.
There’s nothing worse for a brand than saying they are one thing but customers experience something completely different. When there is alignment between the promise and the experience, customers are more likely to return and recommend your brand. An EVP that aligns with your external brand message ensures consistency, reinforcing trust with both employees and customers.
Your employees are the living, breathing embodiment of your brand. If they feel engaged, supported, and valued, they’ll naturally deliver better service, create better products, proactively look for innovative new solutions and positively represent the brand. Customers notice when employees genuinely believe in the company they work for. Happy employees create better customer experiences, and a great EVP fuels that positivity.
In today’s social world, every customer interaction can be shared widely, shaping brand perception. An EVP that is lived by employees every day builds a stronger brand and that directly translates to dollars on the bottom line.
What makes an EVP effective?
We’ve worked with many private and public sector clients across most industries - finance, property, energy, agriculture, logistics, and more - to define and embed their EVPs. Here’s five key things we’ve learnt are essential to a great EVP.
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Employee-centric. Not employer-led
A great EVP isn’t just what leadership thinks employees want, it’s shaped by employees themselves. To capture an EVP for the people, by the people, use surveys, focus groups, and exit interviews to capture what truly matters to your workforce. Reflect their views and voice in your EVP so they can see themselves and the way they work with others in it. -
Aligned with your purpose and values
Your EVP should reflect your company’s mission and brand identity. If your external messaging is about sustainability, your EVP should show how employees contribute to that mission. When there’s misalignment in messages, employees become unclear about what the real priorities are, and act in an inconsistent way as well. -
Communicated and reinforced
An EVP that isn’t clearly articulated might as well not exist. Embed it into job ads, position descriptions, induction programs, internal communications, career pages, intranet content, office design, KPIs, health and safety, diversity and wellbeing programmes, and in your performance and reward structures. If employees don’t know the EVP and aren’t encouraged to live it, it won’t become part of company culture. -
Consistently delivered every day
A well-worded EVP means nothing if it’s not lived daily. If your EVP highlights work-life balance but employees are overworked, trust erodes. Leadership must champion the EVP in their actions, decisions, and the behaviours they reward. Managers must be held accountable for making it a reality. -
Regularly reviewed and evolved
The workplace is constantly changing, and so are employee expectations. What mattered five years ago (like office perks) isn’t what matters today (flexibility, mental health support, career growth, etc). Just like you refine your brand to align with changing customer expectations, revisit your EVP regularly to stay relevant and competitive.
EVP = Brand in action
A well-crafted EVP is more than an HR initiative, it’s a strategic brand asset. The world’s most valuable brands all invest in a well-communicated and consistent EVP. Done right, it not only helps them attract and retain top talent and drive a brand-aligned culture but it also enhances their credibility, builds trust with employees and customers, and ensures internal and external brand alignment.
If you can’t clearly articulate why your people should choose to work with you, or if there’s a disconnect between your internal and external brands, now is the time to refine your EVP.
The last five years have been turbulent, with the pandemic, changing consumer and work patterns, and economic uncertainty. It’s likely that your EVP, (and probably your brand) may need realignment to the current reality. After all, in today’s world, the companies that win are the ones that genuinely connect with customers and employees by truly being what they say they are.
We have nearly 50 years of helping our clients capture, launch and embed meaningful, brand-aligned EVPs. We know what a huge difference a good EVP can make to a business. If you’d like to know more, we’d love to share some of our experience, insights and results with you.
