Senior Client Partner
Leadership
5 Simple Steps to Improve Your Company’s EVP
Here’s how to create a stronger employee value proposition to attract top talent and keep your employees engaged.
May 29, 2025
Is Your EVP Putting Off Top Talent? Here’s How to Fix It
Consider this—your top employee gets an offer from a highly desirable employer, like Apple or Google.
How quickly do they drop everything and run? Or do they get enough from working at your company to stay?
The answer could lie in your employee value proposition (EVP). That’s the suite of benefits, both tangible and intangible, that employees get from working at your company. While salary is an important part of an EVP strategy, your employer brand encompasses much more.
An EVP typically includes health benefits, additional financial rewards, opportunities for career development, and work-life balance, for example. It should also spell out your organization's values, mission, social purpose, and company culture.
Essentially, it summarizes the "give" and the "get" of what it means to work for you—that is, the (largely unwritten) promise that organizations make to employees and candidates alike.
And that promise could determine whether they stay put...or jump ship.
Importance of a Strong Employee Value Proposition
A strong EVP pays dividends in multiple ways:
- EVPs can help attract top talent
In a recent Korn Ferry survey of recruiters, 42% said their candidates' decision to accept an offer was determined by the company reputation and EVP as opposed to any specific elements of the job offer.
What's more, when you attract workers based on your EVP, you’re attracting people who are motivated and aligned with your company’s culture and mission.
- Keeps employees engaged
Our research shows that when employees believe their company delivers on its employee value proposition, 80% of them are highly engaged. Engaged employees fuel innovation, stay longer, and perform better.
- Stronger customer experiences
Employees who believe in their company’s mission create more authentic interactions with customers, says Korn Ferry’s Maria Amato.
But according to our 2025 survey of chief HR officers, well over half feel they need to update their EVPs to create the right culture for future success. The risk for the minority of CHROs who aren’t focused on their EVP isn’t just that their employer brand becomes dated and uncompetitive, but that their EVP fails to become a strategic advantage for the business.
How to Develop a Strong Employee Value Proposition
Improving your EVP framework takes effort, but it’s worth it. Here are some simple ways to get started.
1. Assess Your Current EVP
The first step is to find out what people currently think of you. There are several ways to do this:
- Ask recruiters from outside your organization what they tell candidates about your company and what candidates are saying to them.
- Find out from recruiters about the salary bump candidates are receiving to join your company. For most industries, if they’re asking for more than a 10% premium over their last position, it could be a sign that your EVP isn’t strong. In our recruiter survey, Korn Ferry found that when companies have a weak EVP, compensation is the number one reason candidates accept an offer.
- Check what people are saying about your company on platforms like LinkedIn, Indeed, Glassdoor, and TikTok.
- Conduct exit interviews to learn more about why people are leaving. If they’re heading to a new job, find out what enticed them to make the switch.
- Give current staff the opportunity to provide feedback through employee listening.
2. Offer What People Want
It’s not rocket science. The more your company offers the benefits and culture people desire, the more likely it is they will accept a job at your firm or, in the case of current employees, stay.
What types of things do employees want? In a recent Korn Ferry survey of 15,000 office workers around the world, we asked what people value most in a potential new employer.
Here are the top five answers:
- Flexible working hours
- Generous compensation
- High job security
- Excellent learning and development opportunities
- Hybrid working options
3. Practice What You Preach
It’s one thing to talk big in the recruitment process about your employer brand and what your company values, but if reality doesn’t match expectations, employees will leave as fast as you were able to hire them.
In fact, according to Korn Ferry research, the most common reasons employees leave in their first six to 12 months can often be traced directly to talent attraction and EVP communication—specifically, how organizations present their employer brand and articulate job roles.
The reality, though, is that fewer than 60% of employees feel like their employer’s external reputation matches reality.
“That gap isn’t just a challenge—it’s an opportunity,” says Amato.
4. Leverage Your Existing Employees
Korn Ferry research shows the sources candidates turn to most when researching a potential employer are either fully controlled by current or former employees or heavily influenced by them, such as social media. Employees who feel aligned with their company’s EVP are far more likely to recommend their workplace.
“When you match expectations with reality, your people become your greatest brand ambassadors,” says Amato.
You can formalize the process with an employee ambassador program, where employees get resources and guidelines for promoting your company, in return for special swag and activities. The most successful organizations have embraced the role of their employees as social media influencers and use the opportunity to ensure that their messages are on-brand and in compliance with corporate guidelines.
5. Measure Your Success
A strong EVP isn’t just a feeling. You should have specific criteria for your EVP and a way to measure whether you’re hitting your goals.
For example:
- If one of your value propositions is that you invest in your employees’ career development, then tracking internal promotions compared to external hires would be a helpful metric.
- If you promise an empathetic culture, you should be asking what employees actually experience—especially in exit interviews and anonymous surveys.
This might seem obvious, but at most organizations, it’s not happening. Three out of four CHROs say their HR analytics capabilities maturity is basic or descriptive only.
Is It Time for an EVP Refresh?
Building and delivering an EVP that inspires, retains, and attracts isn’t just about making employees feel good—though that’s a great side effect, says Amato.
“It’s about driving real business results—higher engagement, stronger performance, and a workforce that amplifies your brand in the best way possible.”
Is now the right time to update and refresh your organization’s EVP? Are you experiencing any of the six danger signs that your EVP is falling short?
Our EVP guide helps organizations figure out if their employer brand is at risk. Find it here.
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