Defining your EVP? That’s easy – it’s simple three step programme, right? Well, not so fast. Of course, there is a pretty formulaic process most would follow:

  1. Do your research.
  2. Craft some lovely words and phrases that capture the findings of that research.
  3. Test and validate it with your people (and perhaps some external folk).

Then, once everyone’s happy, you can move on to producing some glossy creative work which you can use to tell your employer story.

But life is never that linear when it comes to defining your EVP! Depending on the size, scale and type of organisation you belong to, you will come across hurdles, disagreements and challenge at every stage. And it’s no surprise.

Let’s think about it in consumer marketing terms.

If jobs were products and employees were customers, how could you possibly find a one-size-fits all value proposition? You’d end up with the lowest common denominator, resulting in dull, bland EVP.

So here are some of the things we think you should consider…

Global v. Local – if you’re a global company, look at your different geographies separately, considering local societal/cultural norms too.

What about different job roles and working environments? Clearly people working in a factory/warehouse v. call centre v. financial/city office v. fully remote home set-up have different motivations and needs. And some organisations have all of these under one ‘roof’ (as it were).

One way to tackle both of these challenges is to ensure your EVP is values-based. If you base it firmly on the foundations of brand and company culture, then you have a chance of creating a distinctive, unifying message. But consider how you can adapt it for your different regions and employee segments after that.

Finally, if you go to all this trouble, USE IT. Don’t produce a beautiful document that then just sits on the shelf gathering dust. Great EVPs can be transformative for your people and culture, so make it work hard for you. Check out how we’ve worked with Hyundai to do just that. Or, if you’d like to talk about defining your EVP, get in touch – we’d love to hear from you.