Jobseekers in 2025 spend a lot of time finessing their résumés, compiling their portfolios, and brushing up on interview questions—but the labor market is not a one-way street. Companies need solid employees as much as candidates need jobs.

How do you, as an employer, attract suitable candidates? The most effective approach is developing a strong employee value proposition. An employee value proposition (EVP) is the combined benefits a company gives an employee in return for their performance, experience, and commitment—serving as your company's sales pitch to prospective employees. According to SHRM research, companies with strong EVPs see 69% lower turnover and can reduce hiring costs by up to 50% while attracting 3x more qualified candidates.

What is an employee value proposition?

An employee value proposition—a.k.a. an employment value proposition, employer value proposition, or employer branding—is the combined benefits a company gives an employee in return for their performance, experience, and commitment.

An EVP is a company's sales pitch to prospective employees. An effective EVP gets job seekers excited about the prospect of working at a company and gives an idea of compensation, benefits, and company culture.

What value does having an EVP add to a company?

A strong EVP attracts quality candidates and helps your company stand out from competitors in today's competitive talent market. A well-crafted EVP attracts good candidates who understand your company's benefits, culture, and work-life balance, lowering the odds that they will be surprised or disappointed if they accept your offer.

Research from Gallup shows that organizations with engaged employees experience 23% higher profitability and 18% higher productivity. Ultimately, this can mean lower annual employee turnover, resulting in higher productivity and significant cost savings—with companies reporting up to 40% improvement in retention rates after implementing comprehensive EVPs.

Key Elements of an EVP

According to HR industry frameworks and talent acquisition research, the most effective employee value propositions incorporate five core elements:

Material Offering

This encompasses compensation, benefits, and financial rewards that form the foundation of your value proposition.

Growth and Development Opportunities

Career advancement paths, skill development programs, and learning opportunities that invest in employee futures.

Connection and Community

The relationships, teamwork, and sense of belonging employees experience within your organization.

Meaning and Purpose

How the role and company mission align with employees' personal values and desire to make an impact.

Respect and Recognition

The acknowledgment, appreciation, and professional respect employees receive for their contributions.

Key components of an employee value proposition

A great employee value proposition highlights the benefits of working for your company and usually gives prospective employees an idea of the following elements:

Compensation

The most crucial element of any employee value proposition is compensation. As much as prospective employees value a positive work environment or career development opportunities, most only consider roles that meet their salary expectations.

Money is, after all, the main reason we go to work. Being transparent about compensation—including bonuses and raises—streamlines your hiring process and ensures your employees are fairly remunerated.

Benefits

A strong employee value proposition includes a comprehensive list of benefits, from the essential (such as health insurance and retirement plans) to the extra (such as company-sponsored holidays, paid parental leave, and discounts at local fitness studios).

A solid benefits package can help ease your company's financial burden while improving the employee experience.

Career development

Investing in your employees' career development is valuable to them and your company. Whether you offer education reimbursements or host in-house leadership development workshops, advertise these development programs to current and prospective employees.

If your employees stick around, the skills they learn can benefit your company in the long run.

Work environment

An enjoyable work environment can be just as important to job seekers as financial rewards. If you have an office space, make it safe and comfortable for workers.

Consider offering relocation benefits and assistance to new employees moving from elsewhere. In today's labor market, many candidates are looking for the flexibility of remote or hybrid work. Be sure to outline your business's work-from-home policy in your employee value proposition.

Company culture

Defining your company culture is critical to building your employer brand and differentiating from competitors. According to Quantum Workplace, a positive company culture can nearly quadruple employee engagement, or their commitment to your company.

Name the values that guide systems and behaviors in your company. It could be respect, strong communication, diversity, or innovation. Your company culture can link to your company's mission, both of which influence systems and behaviors in the workplace.

Work-life balance

Maintaining a positive work-life balance is essential to many jobseekers and can help prevent burnout or turnover.

Outline how your company protects employees' time outside work, including paid vacation days, sick leave, flexible hours, remote work options, and paid parental leave.

How to create an employee value proposition

Get feedback from employees
Consider the competition
Lead with unique selling points
Describe your company culture
Cover the basics
Be accurate

Creating a solid EVP is about identifying your company's unique selling points and conveying them to prospective employees. Here are a few strategies to get you started:

1. Get feedback from employees

Your current employees are your most valuable resources when developing your company's EVP. No one knows more about working for you than they do.

Ask them: What, from their perspective, are your company's unique selling points? (While you're at it, why not take some time to identify areas for improvement?)

Use employee surveys or conduct focus groups to gauge satisfaction in these areas:

Compensation
Employment benefits
Career development
Work environment
Company culture
Work-life balance

2. Consider the competition

Prospective employees are probably looking elsewhere, too. Find out what your competition offers to know what the job market looks like for your candidates.

If most employers in your industry let employees work remotely, you may want to tweak your work-from-home policy accordingly. Or, if you think your company's paid time-off policy is better than average, highlight it in your value proposition to stand out from competitors.

3. Lead with unique selling points

Once you've identified your strengths, start formulating your employer value proposition messaging. Make a strong case for your unique selling points.

If your current employees agree that your company offers a healthy work-life balance, flaunt it. Be specific about achieving this equilibrium (i.e., flexible hours might allow employees to pick their kids up from school; a sabbatical once every five years empowers them to travel to bucket-list destinations) and why it's important.

Consider including current employee testimonials.

4. Describe your company culture

A healthy work environment goes a long way. According to Quantum Workplace, a positive company culture can nearly quadruple employee engagement, i.e., their commitment to your company.

With the help of current employees, name the values that guide systems and behaviors in your company. It could be respect, strong communication, diversity, and innovation.

Explain these values in your value proposition. Before committing to your organization, potential employees may want to confirm they'll belong in your company.

5. Cover the basics

Although your most unique selling points—your newly renovated office or your emphasis on work-life balance—might be the most eye-catching to jobseekers, they will also want to know the basic but essential facts if they're interested.

Include critical points about compensation and the company's core benefits, such as health care and retirement plans. The nitty-gritty details are not usually the flashy selling points—most other companies also offer these things—but they're the backbone of your EVP.

6. Be accurate

The goal of your EVP is to persuade potential employees to come to your company, but take care not to exaggerate or mislead.

You may receive more applications and even accepted offers with an overly rosy depiction of your business. However, if new hires come in with expectations you can't meet, it will lead to disappointment and ultimately result in more turnover.

Whatever your message, be honest—the point is to create lasting, gratifying employment.

How do you promote your EVP?

Once you've created your value proposition, broadcast it across your channels to reach potential employees. Here's how to make connections:

Careers pages

Create a careers page on your website to post your value proposition. Prospective and current employees can browse job openings and learn about your company's benefits.

Job boards

One of the best ways to connect with potential employees is through job boards like LinkedIn, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and Glassdoor. Include your EVP on your company profile. Add a condensed version on individual job listings.

Recruitment events

Bring your EVP to life at recruitment events like career fairs. Staff your booth with enthusiastic, knowledgeable employees.

Offer print-outs and business cards (why not try Shopify's free business card maker) and collect contact information to reconnect with candidates after the event.

Referrals

According to Zippa, hiring new employees through referrals costs less and increases retention compared to hiring through job boards.

Encourage employees to recommend people in their network for open roles at your company. Consider creating a strong employee referral program, which rewards existing employees when their referral accepts an offer.

How do you measure the success of an EVP?

When measuring the success of your company's EVP, consider both your short-term goals for talent acquisition and your long-term goals for employee turnover. Then, create key performance indicators for both.

Industry benchmarks from Deloitte talent reports suggest that companies with effective EVPs achieve 50% more qualified applicants and 29% lower turnover rates compared to industry averages.

Short-term goal: attract top talent

An EVP's main purpose is talent acquisition. You probably crafted your company's value proposition to attract potential employees. How can you tell it's working?

Here are three key performance indicators for measuring the effectiveness of your recruitment efforts:

The number of qualified candidates who apply
Percent of offers accepted
Duration and cost of the hiring process

Harvard Business Review research indicates that companies with strong employer brands see offer acceptance rates increase by up to 50% and reduce cost-per-hire by an average of $7,000.

Long-term goal: decrease turnover

While new hires are essential, assessing your EVP shouldn't end there. A strong EVP ultimately increases employee engagement and decreases turnover.

Track the success of your hires over time using industry-standard KPIs such as 90-day retention rates, employee Net Promoter Scores, and annual engagement survey results. It can be helpful to set regular check-ins with employees to discuss performance and job satisfaction.

Don't hesitate to solicit feedback from new, long-term, and departing employees on whether your company's EVP is accurate and useful.

Examples of good employee value propositions

Feeling stuck? Don't hesitate to look to other companies for inspiration when drafting your EVP. Here are four great employee value proposition examples:

Shopify

Shopify's employee value proposition starts by outlining what we do—"our product enables entrepreneurship to create new value for the world and unlocks unlimited personal growth for the people who build it"—and how we do it—"We all get shit done by taking risks, deciding what work to do, shipping fast, and learning."

Shopify's EVP highlights our remote work policy, hiring process, and compensation system, Flex Comp, which gives employees the ability to choose how they want to balance their base salary and equity. Shopify also values fresh perspectives; our EVP explains our early career programs to help prospective employees get their foot in the door.

Pinterest's colorful careers page highlights its mission, "to bring everyone the inspiration to create a life they love—and that includes our employees." It lists the company's values, inclusion efforts, and benefits, including fitness reimbursements, meals and snacks in the office, and family-building benefits (on top of standard health insurance and retirement plans).

Pinterest allows employees to work in the office or remotely, including up to three months abroad. It also offers various early career opportunities.

Visa

Visa markets itself to prospective employees as a company trying to improve the world: "We're on a mission to give everyone a chance at financial success." Its employee value proposition focuses on diversity, inclusion, and social impact.

Visa is transparent about its workforce and leadership demographics and highlights its many employee resource groups, including Visa Black Employees, Visa Pride, Visa Women's Network, Visa Employees with Disabilities, and more.

Visa also offers volunteer benefits, including 16 hours of volunteer time off and matching gifts of up to $10,000 annually per

Employee Value Proposition FAQ

What is an Employee Value Proposition (EVP)?

An Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is a unique set of benefits, rewards, and experiences that an organization offers to attract, engage, and retain employees. It encompasses everything from compensation and career development opportunities to company culture and work-life balance. A strong EVP clearly communicates why talented individuals should choose to work for your company over competitors.

How do you create an effective Employee Value Proposition?

Creating an effective EVP involves four key steps: 1) Research your current employees through surveys and interviews to understand what they value most, 2) Analyze your competitors' offerings to identify differentiation opportunities, 3) Define your unique benefits across five key areas: compensation, benefits, career development, work environment, and company culture, and 4) Test and refine your EVP messaging with focus groups before launching it externally.

What are the main benefits of having a strong Employee Value Proposition?

A strong EVP delivers multiple business benefits including reduced recruitment costs (up to 50% according to some studies), improved employee retention rates, enhanced employer brand reputation, increased employee engagement and productivity, and better quality job candidates. Companies with compelling EVPs also see faster time-to-hire and higher acceptance rates for job offers, making the entire talent acquisition process more efficient.

How To Create an Employee Value Proposition, With Examples

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