Employee Value Proposition (EVP) Strategy for Culture Change

Organisational culture is the system of shared values, behaviours, and unwritten rules that shape how work gets done. It influences how people interact, make decisions, and respond to challenges across the organisation. Culture is not just what you say, it’s what people experience every day:

• It’s how teams communicate and collaborate
• It reflects leadership style, decision-making, and rituals
• It guides what’s rewarded, tolerated, or discouraged
• It exists whether you manage it or not.

When culture aligns with purpose and strategy, it becomes a powerful force for engagement, performance, and trust.

Culture change is the intentional effort to shift the beliefs, behaviours, and systems that define how an organisation operates. It’s about evolving how people think and act to support a new strategic direction or respond to external change. Effective culture change:

• Connects directly to the organisation’s purpose and goals
• Involves leadership modelling and systems alignment
• Requires consistent communication and co-creation
• Takes time and communication so it is well inculcated, not forced.

Brand Council helps organisations shift culture with authenticity, structure, and measurable outcomes.

Reviewing your culture means assessing the lived experience of employees and comparing it to your stated (or desired) values, strategy, and behaviours. A culture review may include:

• Staff diagnostic - surveys, focus groups, and interviews
• Leadership alignment workshops
• Observations of decision-making and communication styles
• Reviewing symbols, rituals, and ‘the way things are done’.

This review provides a baseline for change, highlighting where your culture supports or blocks strategy.

Culture development requires alignment between purpose, leadership, behaviours, and systems. It's not just about values posters; it’s about how your people lead, collaborate, and deliver the strategy. Key steps include:

• Define the cultural attributes needed to deliver your vision and bring your purpose to life
• Engage teams to co-create behaviours and mindset shifts
• Align leadership behaviours, policies, systems, and symbols
• Build in reinforcement through storytelling, recognition, and onboarding
• Track progress with culture diagnostics and pulse surveys.

When culture is aligned with purpose, it drives meaning, motivation, and consistency across the organisation. A purpose-aligned culture:

• Helps employees understand the “why” behind their work
• Inspires consistent decision-making and behaviour
• Builds trust with internal and external stakeholders
• Encourages innovation, ownership, and resilience.

Culture becomes your greatest enabler, or your greatest risk, when navigating growth or transformation.

Yes. Clearly defined values and behaviours are the blueprint for how your team works together and delivers on your purpose and brand promise. They help:

• Set expectations and drive accountability
• Create a safe, inclusive, and high-performing environment
• Guide hiring, onboarding, and leadership development
• Reinforce a consistent culture at every level.

Values should be authentic, actionable, and linked to purpose, not generic or performative.

Yes. A strong EVP defines what your organisation offers as an employer, and why the right people should want to work for you. It articulates your unique offer across purpose, people, rewards, growth, and workplace experience. An EVP helps you:

• Attract, engage, and retain the right people
• Stand out in a competitive talent market
• Build employee pride and loyalty
• Connect internal culture with external brand
• Link the worked experience to the organisational purpose.

Without a clear EVP, talent strategies risk becoming inconsistent and reactive.

A compelling EVP drives performance across the employee lifecycle, from attraction to advocacy. It clarifies what you stand for as an employer and strengthens alignment with purpose, strategy, and brand. Benefits include:

• Increased talent attraction and better candidate fit
• Improved retention and reduced turnover costs
• Enhanced employee engagement, productivity, and advocacy
• Stronger employer brand in market
• Support for transformation, culture change, and business growth.

At Brand Council, we design EVPs that are authentic, differentiated, and sustainable.

Developing an EVP is a structured, insight-driven process that blends research, co-creation, and alignment with your business strategy. Steps include:

• Internal diagnostics: staff interviews, focus groups, and surveys
• Market benchmarking: competitor analysis and employment trends
• Identify authentic strengths and cultural truths
• Define core EVP pillars and supporting proof points
• Align EVP with your brand and purpose strategy
• Test language and messaging with employee groups.

The goal is to ensure your EVP is credible, meaningful, and compelling.

A full EVP development process includes both insight and activation phases:

• Discovery : Research and diagnostics with employees and stakeholders
• Design : Define key EVP pillars and language framework
• Validation : Workshop and test messaging with staff
• Activation : Rollout across recruitment, onboarding, internal comms
• Measurement : Embed feedback loops and review annually.

The EVP should be co-created with your people, not invented by HR or marketing in isolation.

The best EVP partners combine cultural insight, brand alignment, and change expertise. They go beyond slogans to help embed your promise through employee experience. Examples include:

• Brand Council - Strategy-first, people-centred, sound data, B Corp certified
• Kincentric and Lippincott - EVP activation and employer brand.

Choose a partner who understands both brand and culture, and has experience across sectors.

EVP ownership typically sits between HR and corporate brand or strategy teams, depending on your structure. There should be engagement and endorsement across the executive team.

• HR or People & Culture : Leads development and rollout
• Brand/Corporate Affairs : Ensures alignment with external messaging
• Executive sponsors : Provide visibility and endorsement
• Line managers and team leaders : Bring the EVP to life day to day.

Governance should ensure regular review and integration into talent systems.

A strong EVP is more than a statement, it’s a strategic framework for delivering a consistent, compelling employee experience. It must be:

• Anchored in purpose and values
• Co-created with employees, not imposed top-down
• Differentiated and authentic, not generic or aspirational
• Supported by proof points and lived behaviours
• Embedded in communications, systems, and culture.

A great EVP is simple, clear, and deeply felt by your people.

EVPs should be reviewed every 1-2 years, or when there are major changes to your people strategy, culture, or business model. Triggers include:

• Mergers, acquisitions, or leadership shifts
• New strategic direction or brand refresh
• Competitive pressure or talent shortages
• Changes in employee expectations or engagement results.

Reviewing your EVP keeps it relevant, credible, and aligned with your evolving offer.

Yes. Whether you're a startup, enterprise, nonprofit, or public sector organisation, a well-articulated EVP is critical to building a strong workforce.

• Startups : Define your employee promise early to attract values-aligned talent
• Growing organisations : Differentiate in competitive sectors
• Established businesses : Align teams during transformation
• Government and healthcare : Improve recruitment and retention.

Your EVP is the internal companion to your external brand, it deserves just as much clarity and investment.