2025 is almost here, and with it comes an ever-competitive talent market. The great talent wars of the past are evolving, but one truth remains: your Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is your North Star. It's not just a statement on your careers page; it’s the heartbeat of your brand. But how do you bring it to life in a way that resonates both internally and externally? Before we get into showcasing, let’s first dive into some creative ways to activate your EVP that will make you stand out in a sea of sameness.
Think of your EVP as your company’s promise—what employees can expect when they join your organization. But promises don’t mean much if they’re not kept. Activating your EVP means embedding it into your culture, messaging, and actions so that it’s not just talked about but felt. In 2025, candidates and employees expect authenticity and alignment between your words and actions. If you’re not actively living your EVP, someone else will outshine you.
Before you can shout your EVP from the rooftops, it needs to be a hit with your internal audience—your employees. Here are some creative strategies to get the buy-in and excitement rolling:
Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all onboarding. Use generative AI to create personalized onboarding experiences that reflect your EVP. For example:
Healthcare Company: A hospital chain, "CareFirst Health," personalizes onboarding for nurses with virtual tours, AI-generated welcome videos featuring department leaders, and training modules tailored to their specific roles and schedules.
Gamification isn’t just for customers; it can make internal communications more engaging.
FinTech Example: "VaultPay" creates a team-based trivia game during town halls, where employees answer questions about their EVP values for prizes like extra PTO or branded swag.
Encourage employees to embody your EVP values by recognizing peers who live them out daily. A simple Slack bot or app can highlight "Employee of the Week" stories tied to specific EVP traits.
Take EVP activation beyond the PowerPoint deck.
Construction Example: "BuildRight Co." uses VR headsets to immerse employees in simulated job sites, showcasing how their EVP’s promise of "safety, innovation, and teamwork" comes to life.
Words matter. Developing a unique vocabulary tied to your EVP can help embed its principles into daily communication and culture. This vocabulary should reflect the core values and promises of your EVP, making them easy to remember and reference.
Implementation Tips:
Identify key phrases or words that encapsulate your EVP (e.g., "CareFirst Health" might use terms like "care champions" or "wellness warriors").
Incorporate these terms into internal communications, such as newsletters, Slack channels, or meeting agendas.
Encourage leaders to use this vocabulary in speeches and updates to reinforce the message.
Create a glossary or style guide that employees can reference, ensuring consistency across the organization.
When your employees naturally start using this shared language, it’s a sign that your EVP is truly resonating and becoming part of the cultural fabric.
A comprehensive employer brand playbook serves as a go-to resource for embedding EVP language and principles across the organization. It ensures consistency in messaging and provides actionable guidance for various teams.
Key Components:
Include sections on the core values, key messaging pillars, and EVP vocabulary.
Create tailored guidelines for how the Talent Acquisition team can infuse the EVP into external candidate outreach.
Offer scripts and templates for AI-driven automation touchpoints, such as personalized email sequences and chatbot interactions.
Integrate the playbook into onboarding materials so new hires understand how the EVP connects to their daily work and the broader mission.
By equipping your team with a detailed playbook, you create alignment and empower employees to become brand ambassadors in their own unique ways.
Once your employees are living and breathing your EVP, it’s time to take it outside. The key is to make it as dynamic and unique as your company.
Your employees are your best storytellers. Empower them with platforms and campaigns to share their stories authentically.
FinTech Example: VaultPay’s "Day in the Life" TikTok series follows team members, from developers to customer success reps, showcasing their workplace culture.
Who says guerrilla marketing is just for products? Bring it to talent attraction.
Healthcare Example: CareFirst Health sets up pop-up "Healing Stations" in urban centers, offering free wellness checks and branded swag, while subtly highlighting their EVP promise of "caring for caregivers."
AR can create buzz and leave a lasting impression.
Construction Example: BuildRight Co. designs an AR app where users can "build" skyscrapers in their city and learn about the company’s EVP values of innovation and sustainability.
Digital strategies shine, but don’t underestimate the power of face-to-face connections.
Host a "FinTech Family Day" where local families can experience fun, EVP-aligned activities, like coding challenges for kids.
Static job descriptions are so 2024. Use AI to create interactive, multimedia-rich job postings.
Highlight real employee testimonials, gamified application questions, and videos that reflect your EVP values.
If you’re not leveraging the latest trends, you’re leaving opportunities on the table. Here are some tools and tactics to push boundaries:
Generative AI: Personalize communication at scale.
Gamification: Make employer brand activation fun and engaging.
AR/VR: Deliver immersive, memorable experiences.
Social Media Storytelling: Turn your employees into influencers.
Community Partnerships: Combine your EVP with grassroots engagement.
Your Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is more than just a slogan; it’s the foundation of your employer brand. Activating it effectively requires creativity, authenticity, and a mix of digital and physical strategies. Here are 15 innovative ideas to showcase your EVP both internally and externally, ensuring it resonates with your employees and future talent.
We've done this for years when conducting EVP research with clients where we ask employees to give a song that represents what it feels like to work at the company, then add them all to a Spotify Playlist that goes out to employees when unveiling the EVP, but it's still one of the most creative and effective ways to communicate beyond words what the experience working at a company can be like. Music brings people together and gives employees and potential candidates the ability to truly "feel" the culture and energy of working at your company. You can also create Spotify playlists reflecting your EVP values, such as themes of innovation, teamwork, or inclusivity. Share them with employees to set the tone during work hours or team-building events.
In today's competitive workplace, it's essential to engage employees in a meaningful way. Instead of simply providing standard items like stickers or keychains, consider creating unique interactive swag kits that truly resonate with your team.
These swag kits can incorporate a variety of innovative elements such as puzzles, which encourage team bonding and problem-solving skills, as well as QR codes that link to engaging content, such as videos, articles, or challenges related to the company. Additionally, think about including augmented reality (AR) enabled objects that, when scanned with a smartphone, reveal the company's core values, mission, or fun facts about the organization. This technology not only captivates employees but also makes the learning process about the company immersive and enjoyable.
Overall, these thoughtfully designed kits provide memorable and interactive experiences that align with your Employer Value Proposition (EVP), fostering a deeper connection between the employees and the company’s culture.
Immerse employees in your culture with state-of-the-art VR tours that bring your EVP to life. Design experiences that highlight specific values in action, such as:
Collaborative Workspaces: Allow employees to virtually explore dynamic office layouts or collaborative tools in use.
Sustainability Initiatives: Showcase green practices like renewable energy usage, recycling processes, or eco-friendly office designs.
Wellness Programs: Create VR experiences of yoga sessions, mental health resources, or virtual fitness programs that employees can interact with.
Example: A global tech company could create a VR experience showing their innovative R&D labs, employee collaboration zones, and eco-friendly practices, making employees feel connected regardless of location.
Immerse employees in your culture with VR tours. Highlight specific EVP-aligned values in action, such as collaborative workspaces, sustainability initiatives, or wellness programs, through this engaging medium.
Empower employees to host a podcast series that brings authenticity and relatability to your EVP. Employees can share stories about their roles, career journeys, and day-to-day experiences that align with your core values. To make it more engaging:
Feature Diverse Voices: Rotate hosts to include employees from various departments and levels.
Tie Episodes to EVP Themes: Align podcast topics with EVP pillars, such as innovation, inclusivity, or career growth.
Encourage Audience Interaction: Include Q&A sessions where employees respond to listener questions.
Example: A retail company could host a podcast episode titled "From Storefront to Strategy" where frontline employees discuss how their roles evolve into leadership opportunities.
Empower employees to host a podcast series where they share stories about their roles, career journeys, and how they experience the EVP in their day-to-day lives. This adds authenticity to your messaging.
Transform your EVP values into a thrilling, interactive experience with on-site or virtual escape rooms. These themed challenges encourage teamwork and creative problem-solving while reinforcing company values. Add elements like:
Mission-Based Scenarios: Design escape rooms around core EVP themes like innovation or sustainability. For example, solving puzzles to "power a green city" using renewable resources.
Role-Specific Challenges: Include puzzles that reflect day-to-day tasks employees might face in their roles.
Rewards: Offer small prizes or recognition for teams that complete the challenge.
Example: A healthcare company could create an escape room where employees work together to "save a patient," using clues based on teamwork, empathy, and precision.
Create a fun, engaging activity with on-site or virtual escape rooms designed around your core values. Employees solve puzzles tied to teamwork, innovation, or creativity, reinforcing the EVP in an interactive way.
Foster ongoing engagement by introducing monthly challenges that tie directly to EVP values. These challenges can encourage creativity, collaboration, and alignment with your company’s mission. Ideas include:
Pitch Contests: Have employees propose ideas for improving work processes or products that align with the EVP.
Value Showcases: Encourage teams to create videos or presentations highlighting how they embody a specific EVP value.
Cross-Departmental Collaboration: Design challenges where employees from different teams work together on a shared project.
Example: A FinTech company could host a monthly "Innovation Sprint," where teams compete to design the next big app feature.
Set up monthly challenges where teams can pitch or execute projects tied to EVP themes. Reward efforts with recognition, bonuses, or extra PTO to encourage ongoing engagement.
Build a vibrant, interactive virtual wall of fame where employee achievements and contributions are celebrated. This digital space can showcase:
Employee Spotlights: Highlight individuals who exemplify EVP values like leadership, innovation, or inclusivity.
Team Achievements: Share milestones and successes from collaborative efforts.
User-Generated Content: Allow employees to nominate peers for recognition, adding an interactive element.
Example: Use a platform like Slack or Microsoft Teams to host a "Kudos Corner," where employees can upload photos, videos, or shout-outs celebrating their peers’ accomplishments. Complement this with a dynamic display on company intranets for broader visibility.
Build a virtual wall of fame where employees’ achievements are showcased. Highlight contributions that exemplify your EVP’s core values. Use Slack channels or dedicated intranet spaces to keep the wall alive and visible.
Harness generative AI to craft personalized recruitment messages and videos that speak directly to candidates. Tailor stories to highlight specific EVP attributes that align with their professional goals. Share your EVP pillars in ChatGPT to train it on your voice and tone and the pillars and vocabulary of your employer brand to help with drafting recruitment messaging and video scripts.
Use it to build recruiter tool kits based on your EVP messaging or train your recruiters to use GenAI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini to infuse EVP vocabulary into their candidate outreach.
This technology has come a long way since I wrote about it here in 2016.
Back then, AR/VR applications in recruiting were often experimental, limited to clunky headsets and niche use cases. Today, advancements in hardware and software have made AR/VR more accessible, immersive, and cost-effective for businesses of all sizes. Companies now use AR technology to create dynamic job previews that allow candidates to virtually explore roles and workplaces from anywhere in the world. With lightweight and mobile-friendly devices, this approach breaks geographical barriers and provides candidates with a realistic sense of your work environment. Highlight EVP values such as innovation, inclusion, and collaboration through interactive simulations, showcasing real-world applications of your company’s culture and mission.
Host projection mapping events where company buildings or public spaces are transformed with light displays showcasing your EVP. These dynamic and interactive projections can include employee testimonials, company milestones, and visual representations of your values. This approach not only highlights your EVP but also creates a memorable and shareable experience that resonates with both employees and potential candidates.
Collaborate with local artists to create murals representing your EVP in hiring hotspots. This not only markets your brand but also contributes to the local community, reinforcing values like social responsibility.
Hiring heavily in one department more than others? Move beyond the standard employee social media takeover with a "Department Swap Takeover." Instead of an individual employee, an entire department takes control of your social media channels for a week. For example, the engineering team could share their work processes, highlight innovations, and showcase team-building activities, while the marketing team might focus on creative campaigns and collaboration. Add an interactive element by allowing followers to submit questions that the department answers in real-time through stories or live sessions. This approach not only humanizes your teams but also demonstrates how various departments embody your EVP values.
Build an AI-powered app that allows employees to create personalized social media and internal profile pictures inspired by your EVP values. Employees take a quick survey within the app, which captures their interests, work styles, and alignment with specific EVP themes. Based on their responses, the app reimagines them as characters or avatars representing these values—such as a "Sustainability Champion," "Innovation Architect," or "Collaboration Catalyst."
Benefits:
Encourages employees to showcase their connection to your brand on social platforms and internal tools like Slack.
Provides engaging data insights into how employees perceive and interact with your EVP, which can help refine it over time.
Offers a fun, creative outlet that doubles as a branding opportunity.
Example Scenario: A retail company with an EVP centered around "creativity and inclusivity" could use the app to generate avatars of employees as artists or community builders. One employee’s profile might feature them as a vibrant illustrator surrounded by symbols of inclusion, while another might show them as a community leader in a bustling market. These images can be shared on LinkedIn or used as Slack avatars, reinforcing the company’s EVP every time someone interacts with them.
Elevate traditional advocacy kits by integrating personalized tools tailored to each employee’s role and network. Instead of generic templates, provide employees with:
Custom Content Suggestions: AI-driven recommendations for articles, posts, or case studies that align with their professional interests and your EVP values.
Interactive Social Media Graphics: Branded graphics employees can customize with their own photos or quotes to make their posts more authentic and engaging.
Dynamic Email Signatures: Personalized signatures that update dynamically to highlight ongoing campaigns, achievements, or EVP themes.
Example Scenario: A tech company emphasizing innovation and inclusion provides advocacy kits with personalized LinkedIn banner templates featuring employee achievements, an AI tool suggesting industry-relevant posts, and branded AR filters for Instagram stories. Employees use these tools to share how their work embodies the company’s EVP, creating an organic ripple effect across social media.
Provide employees with tools to advocate for your brand, such as branded templates, social media posts, and email signatures. This equips them to share EVP-aligned messaging in their networks.
Take traditional volunteer days a step further by incorporating a co-creation model with local communities. Instead of a one-off event, organize ongoing partnerships where employees and community members collaborate to solve a specific challenge over time. For example, if your EVP emphasizes sustainability, partner with a local neighborhood to design and implement an urban garden project.
Employees could work alongside residents to build garden beds, host workshops on eco-friendly practices, and even create a "green market" day where the community can sell or share their produce. Document the journey through storytelling on social media and local press coverage to highlight how your company’s values drive meaningful change.
This approach deepens connections between employees and the community while showcasing your EVP in a truly impactful way.
Create spaces where potential candidates can immerse themselves in your EVP through:
Interactive EVP Walls: Allow visitors to write or digitally submit what resonates most with them about your company’s values, creating a live, evolving display.
Real-Time Problem Solving Challenges: Incorporate role-specific challenges or hackathons where candidates can tackle real-world problems your company faces, showcasing their skills and learning about your work environment.
Live EVP Feedback Surveys: Set up stations where visitors can share their impressions of your EVP and receive instant personalized responses or career insights using AI.
Example Scenario: A technology company hosts a pop-up at an industry conference. The experience center features an "Innovation Lab" where candidates explore AI demos tied to the company’s EVP of innovation. Visitors can engage in hands-on activities, such as programming a small task on an AI-powered device, while sharing real-time feedback on their experience. Their input is displayed on a live dashboard, showing how attendee interactions align with company values.
Maybe I've been playing too much of the new Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on Xbox over the holidays (I love a good, immersive, story-driven game and am a huge Indiana Jones Fan). Still, it's teaching me so much about history and geography, and it got me thinking about how this could apply to hiring.
Perhaps you could reimagine job applications as immersive, story-driven experiences. Instead of standard forms, create gamified applications where candidates progress through levels or chapters tied to your EVP values. Each level could include challenges or scenarios that simulate tasks they might encounter in the role, allowing them to showcase their skills while gaining insights into the company’s culture. With GenAI, I imagine creating something like this would be much easier and cheaper than ever before.
Example Scenario: A company with an EVP focused on innovation and teamwork develops a gamified application called Mission Innovation. Candidates navigate a fictional story in which they join a team tasked with launching a groundbreaking product. Along the way, they complete tasks like problem-solving puzzles, collaboration challenges, and creative brainstorming sessions. Each level highlights EVP values and culminates in personalized feedback, reinforcing the candidate’s connection to the brand. This approach not only engages applicants but also sets the tone for their potential journey with your organization.
Turn the job application process into an engaging experience. Use gamification to align applications with your EVP values and create fun and memorable interactions for candidates.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Activating your EVP isn’t about slapping a tagline on your website. It’s about living it—internally and externally—through creative, innovative strategies that connect emotionally with your audience. As you embark on this journey, don’t be afraid to take risks. Think big. Think bold.
At Proactive Talent, we thrive on helping companies like yours push creative boundaries and stand out in competitive markets. Ready to take your EVP activation to the next level? Let’s make it happen—together.
Contact us today to learn how we can help you bring your EVP to life in ways you never imagined.