To many organisations, communicating their EVP takes the shape of a carefully worded statement, a careers page refresh, or a few well designed slides that talk proudly about culture, values and purpose. This is all well and good, but what weight does that communication carry if what your employees experience day-to-day doesn’t match up?
The truth is this: An EVP is no longer about you, your organisation or even your competitors. It’s about the lived experience of your people from hire to retire.
Shared ownership is central to this shift. When employees can influence policies, behaviours and the experience of work, they’re more invested in the outcomes. This co‑creation makes culture more consistent, strengthens trust and ensures the EVP evolves with employee expectations.
Why the EVP needs a reset, not a refresh
Most EVPs were designed for a world where the organisation dictated the offer and employees accepted it. However, today’s workforce is now more informed, more mobile and far less tolerant of disconnects between promise and reality.
A reset means asking deeper questions:
- Does our EVP truly reflect the day to day experience of our people?
- Are we involving employees directly in shaping what the EVP becomes?
- Is our EVP flexible enough to meet a multi generational workforce where needs vary dramatically?
Incremental change doesn’t close these gaps. A reset demands a shift from employer led design to shared ownership, ensuring your EVP is not aspirational but authentic.
The EVP as a driver of employee experience from hire to retire
A modern EVP must be woven into every stage of the employee lifecycle. From recruitment and onboarding to learning, wellbeing, recognition, redeployment and retirement, employees should feel a consistent, people first experience. It may seem a waste to invest in outplacement support for your leavers, but with the power of word-of-mouth and the existence of tools like Glassdoor, what your leavers say about your business is everything. Everyone expects a business to say they’re great, but if even the people that no longer work for you are saying it too, then that’s a great way to prove you also walk the walk.
Shared ownership strengthens this alignment. When employees have a voice in shaping these touchpoints, experiences become more coherent and credible. This translates into tangible outcomes for organisations, including:
- Faster attraction of the right talent
- Higher engagement and productivity
- Reduced turnover in critical roles
- Stronger internal advocacy and employer reputation
When expectations are co created and consistently delivered, trust grows - and trust is one of the most important currencies in today’s workplace.
Talent, EVP and long-term resilience
EVP is often seen as a branding or HR initiative, but it is increasingly a business strategy. Skills gaps slow growth, high turnover increases cost and risk, and disengagement weakens performance. A co created EVP directly impacts resilience by building stability, adaptability and capability through shared commitment.
When people feel supported, valued and involved in shaping their future, they’re more likely to stay, grow and adapt—even in uncertain times. Organisations with a credible, lived, shared ownership EVP are better placed to:
- retain critical knowledge
- redeploy and reskill as needs shift
- maintain morale during change
- respond confidently to disruption
EVP becomes both a leadership tool and a risk management asset.
Why an EVP isn’t about your competitors, either
Benchmarking can be useful, but your EVP should not be built around what others offer. Copying benefit packages or employer messaging often leads to misalignment and a lack of authenticity.
The most effective EVPs are grounded in employee insight:
- what people value at different life stages
- what drives performance and wellbeing
- what support they need to thrive
This is where shared ownership is most powerful. By designing EVP through listening, collaboration and continuous feedback, organisations create something distinctive, credible and difficult for competitors to imitate.
Resetting your EVP for the future
Resetting your EVP doesn’t mean starting from scratch. It means being honest about what your people experience today, where expectations are shifting, and where your organisation needs to be tomorrow.
The future ready EVP is:
- co created, not top down
- adaptive, not static
- experienced, not simply communicated
- a partnership, not a proposition
In a competitive talent market, the winners won’t be those with the best statements, they’ll be the organisations whose people feel the EVP every day because they helped build it. And when employees choose to stay, grow and perform with you, that is the ultimate competitive advantage.
