Author: employerbrandingadvantage

You want a responsive, dynamic EVP, but, equally, you realise that the more often you replace your EVP, the less strategic it becomes. 

The maturing of the EVP

Happily, the era of an EVP being purely the catalyst for recruitment marketing is, largely, a thing of the past. Today’s EVPs have more influence and impact. EVPs have evolved from the tactical to the strategic. They are becoming increasingly more recognised around the organisation they serve, becoming part of the internal lexicon and communications infrastructure. Your employees will be aware of your EVP, they will understand what it means and the context in which it operates. Done well, done authentically, done consistently, they are a growing source of pride, of unity, of belonging. 

Its relationship with organisational strategy

And, increasingly, an EVP does not function independently. Rather it has a symbiotic relationship with both organisational and people strategy – it should play a key role in helping to support and drive both. Its essence and message should outline how both employees and candidates can play a role in helping influence their organisation’s direction and trajectory. 

The more you change your EVP, the easier it is to ignore

But to achieve such awareness and recognition, to be seen to align with both organisational and people strategy, an EVP cannot be chopped and changed. Changing an EVP too regularly casts doubt on its methodology and its credibility. Audiences, exposed to too many iterations, develop change fatigue. Impact is diluted. 

A stable EVP within a changing world

That’s not, however, to suggest there isn’t a temptation to evolve an EVP.  ‘May you live in interesting times’ could very well have been coined for the current era. Employees’ relationship with work, the workplace and their employer has been challenged constantly over the last five years. 

Covid saw everyone adapt quickly to unprecedented circumstances. We got our heads around working from home, only for it to be replaced by a return to office mandate. From the very fragile labour market of 2020, a much stronger one emerged. Rampant inflation and soaring interest rates took its toll on the economy, heralding a much weaker jobs outlook. The workplace has been embracing AI and what this might mean for the shape of work, as well as the number of people in it. If that wasn’t enough, there’s no shortage of geopolitical uncertainty.

With so much change, shouldn’t an organisation’s EVP evolve to address some of the events shaping how it lands? 

A tactical or strategic EVP?

And that’s the point, whatever the temptation, to change an EVP risks rendering it more tactical than strategic. More disposable and throwaway than permanent. More forgettable than memorable. More anonymous than recognisable. 

Much might be learned from consumer marketing examples. If we take organisations such as Nike (Just do it – 1988 to the present), L’Oreal (Because you’re worth it – 1973 to the present), Tesco (Every little helps – 1993 to the present) and KFC (Finger lickin’ good – 1956 to the present day, albeit with an understandable Covid pause). Over the lifetime of such brand essences, their messaging campaigns will have changed significantly, but their starting point, their North Star remains the same.

Why have such brands retained a key element of their branding DNA over decades? Much is down to the recognition, awareness, reassurance, clarity and trust their consistency inspires.

So, if we consider retaining the EVP for longer, rather than have a 3-4 year knee-jerk assumption that change is necessary, what are the implications?

There are two key ones for me. 

Greater internal employer brand curation

One is the enhanced importance of internal employer brand management and curation. The use of an EVP in order to inspire internal awareness, pride and performance has been maturing for some years, but probably remains patchy from one organisation to another. Gaining internal attention, impact and communications real estate is not easy – and it is made more challenging if the essence of the message changes regularly. AI enhances our capacity to measure how communications are functioning and landing with far greater confidence than ever before. There is far more sensitivity around what is working and what needs fine-tuning. There is both the opportunity and necessity for internal employer brand professionals to take on a broader, more far-reaching responsibility. 

Let’s look at the second implication of a more consistent, longer-lasting EVP. 

Armed with a near real-time understanding of how the EVP is performing, how can we achieve the optimum balance of EVP consistency whilst being able to respond effectively to the pressures it will face – a fluctuating labour market, competitor activity, corporate performance, global conflict, AI, WFH/return to office, etc?

We experience work

The second implication, then, is the evolution from static, objective employee stories into the delivery and communication of employee experiences. 

This is about demonstrating how people experience an organisation’s EVP through the lens of both external and internal events. About updating those employee experiences to reflect how your organisation is responding to micro and macro challenges.

For example, how does an organisation’s commitment to its people provide reassurance around the labour market? How does this commitment cover the WFH/return to office balance? How is such a commitment impacted by AI investment? How are real people experiencing these initiatives and how is your organisation supporting this?

How much more effective, real and convincing is it to hear such responses from the people working at your organisation? Reading about their experiences joining the organisation. Understanding their experiences making the most of AI within the workplace. Grasping how they experience a balance between personal and professional life. Appreciating the experiences of colleagues based out in Kuwait, Bahrain or Dubai and how their organisation is reassuring them. 

There is so much that is emotive and personal around the workplace. We feel and experience work, much more than work is something we can put into neat little boxes or stories. 

Make those experiences front of mind across the organisation

People internally and candidates externally want to understand about workplace experiences – how they’re changing, how your organisation supports this, how your people are benefiting from this. Make sure such experiences are updated to reflect today’s challenges – on intranets, careers sites, screen savers, town halls and meeting rooms. 

EVP as a strategic workplace anchor

The way we experience an employer changes constantly – promotions, secondments, departures, joiners, new products, new competitors, mergers, etc. Our experiences of the workplace are in constant flux, everything is in motion, little is fixed. As a consequence, the stability and consistency of your EVP plays a key role, providing reassurance and dependability. It is, or should be, a strategic workplace anchor. 

We have a choice. We could choose to change our EVP every three years – a lot, after all, will have moved in those three years. 

But unless your organisational strategy has changed during that time, a new EVP will struggle to support overall corporate direction if the previous one was doing so. Keep faith in your EVP – see it as the workplace anchor or North Star. But measure it and keep it under constant observation. Respond to the changes your metrics pick up across both your workplace and the overall labour market through your people and their experiences. 

Keep your EVP strategic but convey change through the people experiencing it.