Employee Experience is evolving...

This year’s World Changers report captures a world of work that is moving in the right direction. It reflects greater awareness of the value of a positive Employee Experience and plans to increase investment in areas that will help close the established gap between intent and execution. Whilst it’s encouraging to see increased budget and focus on the infrastructure of good employee experience, Scarlettabbott’s Paul Bennun cautions against organisations missing the big opportunities that still exist to maximise strong Employee Value Proposition (EVP) foundations. 

Building the foundations of employee experience paves the way for a great employee value proposition, and vice versa. 

2026 is clearly the year where organisations dialed up the focus on investing in employee experience, with 63% of people surveyed saying EX budgets had increased and heavyweight areas like performance management, leadership development, and recognition taking center stage as investment priorities.   

These are all key elements of great employee experience. They’re also all key components of a compelling Employee Value Proposition, meaning the current proposed investments could lead to a host of organisations establishing market-leading EVPs. Yet the report tells a contrasting story on EVP specifically: just 34.6% of organisations have one that is clearly articulated and actively embedded. Nearly two-thirds are still evolving theirs, haven’t widely embedded it, or have no defined EVP at all. That’s a big miss. 

This is surprising, and the data makes it more so. The report shows 81% of leaders believe employees are clear on their organisation’s long-term vision, yet only 29% are extremely confident that their organisation knows which specific behaviours need to change to get there. A strong EVP can bridge this gap, clearly defining what it is that organisations and employees need from each other to make their enterprise a success. Make that into an explicit value proposition, and suddenly you have a powerful tool for changing behaviour and driving progress. So why, when investment in the foundations is growing, are so few organisations making the strategic connection? 

EVP: the competitive differentiator many are still missing 

It’s not just about behaviour change, though. Research shows organisations with an effective EVP can expect a 30% increase in profitability, 10% increase in productivity, and 69% reduction in employee turnover,2 a 23% increase in employee engagement,3 and 50% increases in both the number of qualified candidates applying to roles and in reduction of the cost to hire.4 

Those are pretty compelling numbers. So, with all that in mind, it’s worth reminding ourselves: what even is an EVP, and how can you secure the right level of investment 

Lack of clarity about what a good EVP is and does is getting in the way.  

To reap the full benefits of an EVP, you need clarity on what it is, how it creates value and how to implement it effectively - and to get buy in from the right stakeholders around this. But right at the outset we hit a problem - ask any five execs what an Employee Value Proposition actually is, and you'll probably get five different answers. We need to make sure there is clarity and alignment.  

Ultimately, your EVP is the promise (or unwritten contractual agreement) between the organisation and the employee: what will each give to the other, and what will they get in return. But this isn’t your standard contract of employment – it’s driven by the experience an employee has, an experience which underpins the psychological contract between employee and employer.  

This psychological contract can be influenced by many factors, including your culture, your reward mechanisms, your career and development opportunities, and work/life balance and arrangements. But good EVPs go much deeper. They capture the essence of what makes your organisation unique, what it is truly like to be part of your org, what you and your people aspire to, and the more intangible value of working at your business, like alignment to purpose and pride in the organisation. 

There are many factors in play here, all influencing each other, so it helps to break it down simply: Promises, Practices, and Proof.  

What do you promise about: 

• your culture? 

• how people grow and develop? 

• how you reward people? 

• how and where people can work? 

How do working practices affect your promise, e.g.: 

• onboarding design 

• performance management 

• reward and recognition structures 

• leader and manager behaviours 

• role design and career pathways 

• internal communications practices 

Where’s the proof? What is the lived reality of being in your organisation? What do you find when you measure: 

• internal mobility / promotions 

• retention rates & DEI trends 

• development investment 

• flexibility norms & benefits uptake 

• employee sentiment 

• case studies and stories 

Understanding all of these will help you define, design, and deliver your Employee Value Proposition.  

How do you actually bring your Employee Value Proposition to life? 

The first step is research: understanding the lay of the land in your organisation, speaking with your people, analysing your processes and practices, and finding out about the new starter and potential recruit experience. Pull in as much information as you can about your people, their experiences, your organisation and your ways of working. 

The next step is to take that information and refine it into a meaningful value proposition, one which resonates with your people and your leadership, and which carefully balances who you are with whom you aspire to be. Easy to put that in a sentence, but much more difficult to capture it in a framework. And the framework is key: great EVPs have a robust, pillar-driven framework with associated proof points and focus areas. It's a process which requires a lot of thought, testing, revisions, and creativity.  

Finally, you need an execution plan of how and where your EVP will be articulated and embedded and to deliver that plan over the short, mid, and long term. This should look at both launching your EVP and the longer-term maintenance and health of it. And as with any plan, you'll need clear metrics to understand the impact of your work, continually asking: what problem were we trying to solve, and are we solving it?  

An EVP is much more than a recruitment website, an employer brand campaign, or a strapline alongside your values. 

Those things are all part of it, but the whole is considerably greater than the sum of its parts. The investment organisations are already making in employee experience is laying the groundwork. But investment without a connecting framework delivers infrastructure, not culture. With 81% of leaders confident their vision is understood, yet only 29% certain their people know what to do differently as a result, the gap is not one of awareness. It’s one of activation. A strong, embedded EVP is what closes it. 

The process is straightforward: research, refine, and execute. The work is not.  

If you’re ready to build and activate your own EVP, get in touch with us to find out how we can help you define, design, and deliver an EVP that gives your organisation a genuine competitive edge. 

Sources 

1 ScarlettAbbott (2026). World Changers. 

2 EY (2022). Reframing your employee value proposition. 

3 Deloitte (2025). Employee Value Proposition: Creating a Human-Centred and Experience-Driven Organisation. 

4 Samoliuk, N., Bilan, Y., Mishchuk, H., Mishchuk, V. (2022). Employer brand: key values influencing intention to join the company. Management & Marketing: Challenges for the Knowledge Society.