What an employee value proposition is
The business advice site run by Invest Northern Ireland describes an employee value proposition as everything you offer as an employer in return for the work your staff do. It can include money, such as pay and bonuses, and other things, such as a healthy work-life balance, the working place, the culture and chances to grow.
NHS Employers, a body that supports health employers in England, wrote about it on 21 November 2024. It draws on a description from the CIPD, the UK's Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development: what an organisation stands for, requires and offers as an employer. Note the word requires. An honest EVP says what you ask of people as well.
The same NHS page makes a useful point for small firms. The aim is not to invent a new package. The aim is to make what you already offer easy for current and future staff to see. So you are not starting from zero.
What an EVP is not
- A slogan such as "Where talent grows". A line that cannot be checked tells a reader nothing.
- A list of perks. Free tea does not answer the question of whether a person can build a career with you.
- A copy of another firm's page. Your people and work are different.
- A job that HR does alone. Founders and managers deliver it every day.
- A promise you cannot keep. Staff will say so on review sites and to their friends.
Why asking people what they want is not enough
Mark Mortensen and Amy Edmondson wrote about this in Harvard Business Review in January 2023. Their site, integratedevp.org, says a common plan is to ask people what they want, such as perks, flexible work or bonuses, and then try to give it. They call that a trap. It fixes both sides on whatever single items come to mind first, and it makes the bond between employer and employee transactional.
They suggest treating the offer as one system of four linked factors. Their steps for a company are plain. Check what you offer, what your staff need and where the two do not match. Use that information to start a talk and make changes. Then come back to it again and again.
That fits how this guide works. We ask about real events, we sort what we hear into parts that link to each other, and we review the result every year.
The nine steps to your EVP
Work through these in order. Steps 2 and 3 matter most, and they cost time, not money.
Step 1. Pick the people you want to reach, and one goal
An EVP for a machine operator is not the same as one for a sales executive. Start with the one role group you find hardest to hire or keep. Then write one goal with a number. Say a sweet shop chain with eight outlets loses six of every ten new counter staff within three months. The figures are made up. The goal could be: bring that down to three in ten within two quarters.
Step 2. Ask people who work for you now
Invest Northern Ireland suggests asking current staff why they enjoy working for you and what could improve, through surveys or small groups. Do it in person where you can, and ask about the past. People are polite. If you ask, "Do you like working here?", most will say yes.
Ask these questions instead.
- How did you find this job, and who else did you speak to?
- What nearly stopped you from joining?
- Which week last year did you enjoy most, and what made it good?
- What did you tell your family about this job when you joined?
- When did you last think of leaving, and what made you stay?
- What would you tell a friend who is thinking of applying?
Speak to at least ten people from different teams, ages and sites. Ask a neutral person to run the talks if staff may fear speaking to their boss. Promise that no answer will be linked to a name, and keep that promise.
Step 3. Ask people who left, and people who said no
Invest Northern Ireland points to exit interviews for this, where you ask why people are leaving and what would have made them stay. Add people who left a few months ago, since they speak more freely after they have gone. Also call candidates who turned down your offer.
- What made you leave, or say no?
- What did the job turn out to be, compared with what you were told?
- What was the one thing we could have changed to keep you?
- Would you send a friend to us? If not, what would you say to them?
Write down the exact words, not your summary. Do not argue. A leaver you disagree with still shows what other candidates may hear.
Step 4. Sort what you heard into the five parts
Put each answer under pay and benefits, growth, the work, the people or purpose. Then mark two things on each line. How many people said it? Can you show proof, such as a pay slip rule, a promotion list or a shift plan?
Keep the lines that many people said and that you can prove. Park the lines that only one person said. Fix the problems that keep returning before you write anything. If staff say the shift plan changes at night, a fine paragraph about balance will only draw anger.
Invest Northern Ireland adds a point on pay. If you cannot match the salaries of bigger rivals, use the other parts of the offer to make up the gap. Our view is to be open about pay, even so, because candidates will ask. The same site says that explaining how salaries are decided can build trust.
Step 5. Write it as one plain paragraph
Use this template: For [kind of person], we offer [pay and benefits, in words]. You grow through [a name or a number]. The work is [a real day]. You work with [the people, and who you report to]. It matters because [purpose, in one sentence]. We ask for [one honest demand]. You can see it in [proof].
Say a sweet shop chain wrote this made-up paragraph for counter staff: "New counter staff get a fixed salary paid on the 5th. A festival bonus rule is printed on the offer letter. For the first month, you stand beside a senior who has been here five years. Most of our shift leads started at the counter. You work eight hours with a rotating weekly off, and our busy weeks are Diwali and Raksha Bandhan. We ask you to be on time, because customers queue early."
Notice what it leaves out. There are no words like "dynamic" or "family". Every line can be checked. Keep the paragraph short enough to read aloud in one minute.
Step 6. Test it before you publish it
- Read it to ten staff from different teams. Ask which line is untrue, and which one they would not say to a friend. Cut or fix those.
- Give it to five people outside the company who match your target role. Ask what they think the job is like. If they get it wrong, your words are unclear.
- Hold it up against what leavers said. Does it ignore any complaint that kept returning?
- Ask each line, "What is the proof?" If there is none, take it out or make it true first.
NHS Employers says the work is to make what exists easy to see. A line that fails the test is a sign that the offer needs fixing, not the words.
Step 7. Use it in job posts and on the careers page
Invest Northern Ireland suggests stating your EVP on your company website and backing it with short videos of why staff enjoy working there. It also suggests using it in recruitment materials and at job fairs. Here is how to do that with a small team.
- Open each job post with two lines from your EVP that suit that role. Then list the duties.
- State the shifts or hours, the place, the steps in hiring and how long each step takes.
- Write what pay includes in words, even where you cannot print a figure.
- Put a short, true version on the careers page, with proof next to each line, such as the promotion list or a photo of the training corner.
- Keep the page light and easy to use on a phone, with the apply button in plain sight.
If you want Google to show your jobs in its job results, Google's page on JobPosting structured data has rules. The job must be real, with one job per page. Anyone must see the details without logging in, and there must be a way to apply. Pay shown in the markup must also be visible on the page. We read that page on 13 October 2026, and its rules can change. Your web developer can add the markup.
For the writing, our content writing team can help. For pictures and film, see corporate photography and video marketing.
Step 8. Let staff share it: employee advocacy
Employee advocacy is the promotion of a company by the people who work for it. LinkedIn's marketing blog said so on 13 March 2018. A post about a good lunch at work counts. So does sharing the company's latest post. The same blog says a proper programme should be strategic, sustainable and voluntary, and that you inspire advocacy and do not order it.
Why does this matter for an EVP? A claim made by the company can sound like an advertisement. The same claim from a person doing the job sounds like news. But it only works when it is true and freely given.
What to ask for.
- Share open jobs with friends who may fit, and make the referral rule simple.
- Post a short note after an event, a training day or a festival at work, in their own words.
- Say yes if a colleague asks to share a good moment from the day.
- Tell newcomers they can write about their first month if they wish.
What not to force.
- No targets for posts or likes, and no public list that ranks staff by sharing.
- No scripts that make everyone sound alike. Offer a draft, and let people change every word.
- No asking for only good things. Staff can tell, and readers can tell too.
- No asking anyone to share on a personal account if they would rather not. Saying no must cost them nothing.
- No posting a person's photo or video without clear, written consent. Ask your lawyer about the data protection rules that apply, and see our employer branding guide for the points we read.
These rules are our view. They follow the point in the LinkedIn blog that sharing should be a choice. Start with the staff who already like to post, and let others join later.
Step 9. Measure it and review it every year
Write down your starting numbers before you change anything. Invest Northern Ireland lists staff turnover, staff satisfaction, performance, the number of people who apply for jobs and offer acceptance rates. It also says to ask staff for feedback and to review the EVP often.
- Early leavers: the share of new joiners who leave within three months.
- Offer acceptance rate: the share of offers that people accept.
- Applications that fit the role, not only the total.
- Hires through staff referral.
- In each joiner's first week, ask them what they were told and whether it is true so far.
- Number of staff who share posts about work by choice.
Give it two or three quarters. Hiring has seasons, and results take time. Do not claim every change as the work of your EVP.
The small business version
You do not need a survey tool or an agency to begin. You can do it in two weeks.
- Days 1 to 5. Talk to eight current staff and four people who left. Use the questions above and take notes.
- Days 6 to 8. Sort the notes into the five parts. Underline the lines that repeat and can be proved.
- Days 9 to 10. Write one paragraph, as in step 5. Read it to five staff and change what they say is untrue.
- Days 11 to 14. Put two lines at the top of your next job post. Update your careers page or Google business listing with the same lines.
- Every quarter. Re-check the numbers in step 9 and talk to two new joiners.
Common mistakes, and the fix
- Writing it in a meeting room. Fix: start with talks with staff and leavers.
- Using the same text for every role. Fix: write a short version for each role group.
- Using big words with no proof. Fix: add a fact or a name to each line, or cut it.
- Hiding pay and hours. Fix: say what you can in words.
- Promising growth you do not give. Fix: show the last few people who moved up.
- Forcing staff to share. Fix: ask, thank and let people choose.
- Publishing it once and forgetting it. Fix: review it yearly, and when pay, shifts or managers change.
When to ask for help
Ask for help when you hire in large numbers, when you have many sites or roles, or when staff leave and you cannot find out why. An outside team can run the listening, write and test the paragraph, rewrite job posts and the careers page, and set up the monthly numbers. Your HR team and managers stay in the talks with people.
Founders and managers have to speak up for the proposition, or it will not hold. See the employer branding page, our wider guide to employer branding in India, and workplace branding for office and site walls.
