Your employer value proposition (EVP) should be grounded in truth. That truth starts with your employees.
An effective EVP reflects the lived experience of your workforce. If it doesn’t resonate internally, it won’t ring true externally. That’s why the most successful EVPs are built from the inside out, using real employee input gathered through thoughtful, consistent feedback methods.
Four ways you can leverage employee feedback to shape your EVP
Internal research ensures that the EVP accurately reflects the current employee experience, preventing surprises for new hires and showcasing the organization’s future goals.
Organizations that align their EVP with their specific workforce culture and priorities can build stronger teams, boost brand perception, and improve hiring outcomes. The most successful organizations approach an EVP in five steps: Discover, Define, Design, Deploy, and Data.
Here’s how to build an authentic EVP leveraging employee feedback in the “Discover” phase:
- Align with your organizational and talent strategy
Create a unified center of excellence to ensure your EVP aligns with your organization’s mission, DEI goals, and growth priorities. Your EVP shouldn’t be created in a vacuum or owned by HR alone. Involve internal stakeholders early and often. Their perspective helps you ensure the EVP is accurate and actionable.
Plus, including employees in the process drives ownership and engagement. Employees who see their voice reflected in your messaging become your most credible advocates. Organizations that manage their EVP see a 69% decrease in annual employee turnover.
- Use interviews to uncover personal truths
Employee interviews provide a rich, qualitative layer to your EVP research. These one-on-one or group conversations allow you to dig into personal stories, uncover shared themes, and identify the emotional drivers that connect your people to your organization.
You’re not just collecting quotes for testimonials, you’re listening for insights. What makes employees proud to work here? What moments define their experience? What would make them leave? These answers help shape the voice and tone of your EVP and ensure it reflects your culture with nuance and depth. TA teams integrating EVP messaging see a 41% lift in candidate conversion from interest to apply.
- Deploy surveys to scale sentiment
Quantitative data brings statistical confidence to your EVP development. Surveys help you measure perceptions, test EVP themes, and benchmark sentiment across departments, locations, and roles.
Use open-text fields to capture stories and language directly from employees. This raw, authentic input can inform everything from career site copy to recruitment marketing creative. Plus, organizations that measure EVP effectiveness regularly are twice as likely to improve candidate quality year over year.
- Build a feedback loop for continuous refinement
Employee feedback doesn’t end once your EVP is live. Instead, treat your EVP as a living system. Set regular check-ins to evaluate how it’s landing with current employees and new hires. Update messaging as your culture evolves, and continue to engage employees in refining the narrative.
A good rule of thumb is to plan to review and iterate on your EVP annually to keep pace with business evolution. Organizations that audit and realign their EVP annually see a 28% increase in offer acceptance rates.
Want to dig deeper into building an authentic, employee-led EVP?
An EVP articulates an organization’s culture, what it wants to represent as an employer, and its key promise to talent. Check out our KILOS Model for understanding talent motivation and to learn more about incorporating employee feedback to shape your EVP.
Or if you’re ready to chat with an EVP expert to discuss the nuances of your specific organization’s EVP evolution, speak to an expert today!
