Employee Value Proposition (EVP)

At PartnerComm, a strong Employee Value Proposition (EVP) isn’t just a slogan. It’s a promise people can feel on a Tuesday afternoon. The best EVPs explain why people choose to work somewhere — and why they stay. They’re distinctive to your company. They’re honest, specific and grounded in reality. When done well, EVPs help attract the right talent, align expectations and strengthen performance.

A great EVP brings your culture to life.

The approach

Here’s how to create an EVP people recognize, believe and live every day.

Start with what the business needs.

Begin by getting clear on what’s happening in your organization and why the EVP matters right now. Is your company growing? Changing? Competing for hard-to-find talent? How do your employees feel? Trying to retain top talent and re-engage your workforce? This step keeps the EVP focused on solving your real problems in the work environment — not just sounding good.

Listen carefully and honestly.

Strong EVPs start with learning. Know how to ask the right questions and hear what’s really being said. Talk with employees and leaders, look at data and study the market to understand what people value, where there’s pride and where there’s tension.

Get real about what’s true and different.

Separate what’s real from what’s aspirational — what’s truly distinctive from what’s just table stakes. Integrity, career growth and benefits matter, but they must be defined so they differentiate you from your competition. Look for what makes your organization stand out and what employees would miss if they left.

Define a clear, specific promise and pillars.

This is where many EVPs fall apart — by staying vague. Define the core promise and a small set of supporting pillars in clear terms. Each pillar has a meaning employees recognize and a reason it’s true there and not everywhere else. No generic claims. No borrowed language. Just a promise that reflects the real experience and sets your organization apart.

Use language people actually recognize.

An EVP should sound like your organization, not a template. Craft language that’s human, concrete and easy to understand. Every word should be chosen to reflect how work really feels and how leaders actually talk. The result is an EVP people nod along with, not roll their eyes at.

EVP buzzword check

How unique is your EVP?

Most companies use the same handful of promises (hint: that’s not a good thing). Quick check: Which ones show up in yours?

Tap the words you use or see in your EVP and we’ll tell you how strong your EVP is:

Growth Innovation People-first Collaboration Inclusion Belonging Career paths Empowerment Learning & development Flexibility Work-life balance Great benefits Transparency Impact Purpose

Your score:

0-3 selected

You’re in the “does not sound good” zone — but you may not sound distinct.

Your score:

4-7 selected

You’re in the “sounds good” zone — but you may not sound distinct.

Your score:

8-11 selected

You’re in the “sounds really good” zone — but you may not sound distinct.

You don’t want an EVP that sounds like everyone elses.

We can help. Here’s what sets us apart.

We won’t let you be generic.

We push you to uncover what’s truly unique about your organization — the truths, tensions and strengths that are core to your DNA. Not borrowed language. Not generic promises. We help you define what sets you apart, why it matters and why employees choose you over anyone else. Because a strong EVP doesn’t try to be all things to all people — it captures the one thing that makes you unmistakably you.

Employee communication is our home turf.

We know what resonates internally. Because employee communication is our core, we help you create an EVP that make sense to your employees, leaders and candidates. We understand where skepticism shows up and how credibility is earned.

We have all the skillsets needed in-house.

There are several parts to creating a strong EVP — research (our team includes several PhD-level researchers!), strategy, writing and branding. We do it all in house and that lets us easily collaborate to create an EVP that’s thoughtful, distinctive and easy to bring to life across the employee experience.

We had an amazing outcome — more than 90% of our eligible associates enrolled and we had significant movement to the HSA plan which we didn’t expect.

Heather at ScottsMiracle-Gro