8 Steps to Develop an Effective

Employer
Employer
Value
Value
Proposition
Proposition
(EVP)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Goal Segmentation
The Key to EVP Success | 2
Part
Part
Part
Part
Part
Part
Part
Part

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

Why you need an EVP | 3

EVP vs. Employer Brand | 4
Tomatoe / Tomato | 5
One Branding | 6
Team Sport | 7
The Strength Stretch Challenge | 8
The Differentiation Challenge | 9
The Global Local Challenge | 10

About the Author

Richard Mosley is widely recognized as one

of the leading world authorities on employer

brand development and management. Author

of the books The Employer Brand (Wiley)

published in 2005, and the sequel: Employer

Brand Management: Practical Lessons from

the Worlds Leading Employers, published by

Wiley in September 2014.

Richards thinking draws on over 25 years

experience in both brand management and

HR consulting, and has led global employer

brand development projects for a host of
leading companies including Bacardi, BP,

Coca-Cola, Ferrero, GSK, HSBC, Lafarge,

LEGO, LOreal, JTI, Met Life, Nokia-Siemens,

PepsiCo, Santander, Unilever and Verizon.

Today Richard serves as Global Vice President

of Strategy at Universum and Senior Advisor
for the Employer Branding Academy.

Richard Mosley
Global Vice President
of Strategy and Advisory

GOAL SEGMENTATION
The Key to EVP Success
One of the toughest challenges a brand faces is understanding who specifically youre
targeting, how theyre different and then deciding the best way to market to them.
The Employer Value Proposition helps to provide a similarly consistent point of
reference for everything you say and do to promote a positive brand reputation and
experience among the talented people you wish to attract, engage and retain within
your organization.
Defining your EVP requires segmentation, and getting it right is no small accomplishment.
We provide the framework to do it properly, and the tools for your company to glue
the segments together.

S
S
E
C
SUC

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Developing an effective EVP | Part 1

WHY YOU NEED AN EVP

Strong brands are founded on consistently positive associations, built through consistent
brand communication and experience.The only way to achieve this is to be crystal clear
about what your brand stands for and the benefits your brand promises to deliver.

The Employer Value Proposition helps to provide a consistent point of reference for
everything you say and do to promote a positive brand reputation and experience among
the talented people you wish to attract, engage and retain within your organization.

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Developing an effective EVP | Part 2

EVP VS. EMPLOYER BRAND

The term Employer Brand describes peoples perceptions of you as an employer (good,
bad or indifferent). The term Employer Value Proposition (EVP) defines how youd like to
be perceived as an employer. Employer Branding describes the activities an organization
undertakes to communicate this desirable employer brand image.

And finally the phase Employer Brand Management describes the full spectrum of
activities you orchestrate to deliver both a consistent brand image and experience.

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Developing an effective EVP | Part 3

TOMATOE / TOMATO
Over the last few years there has been a rising interest in personal branding, by
which I mean people marketing themselves and their careers as brands. This has led
to the Employee Proposition becoming more ambiguous, because it could refer to the
employees proposition rather than the employers.

Its not a big deal, but since there is no room for similar confusion with the term
Employer Value Proposition we suggest its the clearer of the two terms.

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Developing an effective EVP | Part 4

ONE BRANDING
No one would deny the importance of maintaining a consistent overall perception of
the brand, nor would they deny that core values should be reflected in everything an
organization says and does.

However, its important to point out that brand integrity does not mean brand uniformity.
The corporate brand should set the parameters within which brand relationships are
established and maintained, but it also needs to provide enough breathing space for brand
communication and experience to be tailored to the needs of different stakeholders.

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Developing an effective EVP | Part 5

TEAM SPORT
The first fundamental lesson of effective EVP development is that it pays to involve
a wide range of stakeholders. The core development team, or steering group as it is
sometimes called, should include representatives from HR, Talent Management and
Resourcing, Marketing and Communications, and where possible, line management.

While EVP development can be seen as a task for functional specialists it is important to
ensure that business leaders get the opportunity to shape the employer brand as their
commitment to the proposition will inevitably key to its lasting success. Involvement of key
line managers in the process is best achieved through stakeholder interviews, participation
in EVP development workshops, validation meetings and sign-off presentations. Most
of the EVP development projects we have been involved in have been led by HR with
the support of the corporate brand team, marketing and communications, rather than
the other way round. This makes sense from our perspective. While they tend to have
less brand management experience, HR ultimately takes accountability for most of the
processes that shape the employer brand experience. In a global EVP development
project, early regional representation is also a critical factor in both getting to the right
proposition and ensuring local management acceptance.

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Developing an effective EVP | Part 6

THE STRENGTH
STRETCH CHALLENGE
The most effective EVPs combine credible here and now strengths solidly grounded
in the current employment experience and more future focused stretch aspirations,
underpinned by tangible leadership commitments and planned investment. Playing to
current strengths builds credibility, which provides the essential underpinning to any
brand.

Playing to future aspirations builds brand vitality, which is also critical in maintaining a
brands forward momentum and competitive edge. The challenge is avoiding an EVP /
employer brand that is solidly credible but lacks forward momentum, or leans so heavily
on future aspiration that it loses touch with current reality and appears to be no more
than wishful thinking.

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Developing an effective EVP | Part 7

THE DIFFERENTIATION
CHALLENGE
For many years the major objective of most global employer brand development
projects has been employer brand consistency and internal buy-in. This was set against
a back-drop of fragmented regional and local recruitment communication which failed
to build marketing synergy and brand equity. To achieve internal buy-in and acceptance
the resulting propositions were often fairly generic.

The game has moved on, and the more pressing challenge for those who have now
achieved sufficient global consistency is not only standing together internally but standing
apart from the competition externally. This requires more creativity, more courage and
more stakeholder management to ensure everyone feels comfortable with a more
distinctive and potentially disruptive EVP and employer brand.

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Developing an effective EVP | Part 8

THE GLOBAL LOCAL CHALLENGE

The most effective EVPs and messaging platforms balance global consistency with local
relevance. Your core EVP pillars should work everywhere, but that doesnt necessarily
mean they will be played out in the same way, or that they cover the complete spectrum
of things you may need to communicate at the local level.

The key challenge is to achieve an effective balance between consistency and relevance,
sensitively translating the corporate brand into the employment context to ensure it
matches the needs and interests of potential candidates, and translating the global EVP
into a local messaging platform to ensure it meets the needs and interests of specific
target groups whilst simultaneously maintaining sufficient consistency to maintain
overall brand integrity.

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Join our 8 week training

program is youd like to master
the tools and techniques
required to become an
employer brand specialist
- Richard Mosley

Advisory board, Employer Branding Academy

Unique insights
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best practices.

=
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youll hold a
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Branding
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World Class Employer Branding

starting October 2016!

Strategic Human Resources is a key to success no matter what industry you are in, but one thats
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Training goal
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