Is your EVP actually yours?

Is your EVP actually yours? Of course it is..... right? But how sure are you of that?

By doing nothing about your EVP, or letting your existing one slip into the shadows, the perception and reputation of your organisation as an employer could be being damaged by the day. Now’s the time to take control – to create and/or shape an authentic EVP that’s meaningful to talent both inside and outside your organisation.

We’ve always got our finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the world of EVP, so here are a few themes and hints to help you craft and cultivate something that’s truly yours.

Theme 1:
Real is the ideal

The best EVPs in 2026 aren't the most impressive. They're the most remembered and authentic. Your own people should read it and think ‘yes, that's us’.

Your EVP story needs to be polished, but not perfect. Because ‘perfect’ reads like it was written by a machine. And increasingly, it was. Candidates know it. Employees know it.

The gap between a flawless proposition and a lived experience that doesn't match it, is where trust goes to die.

Sure, you can ask AI to write you the “perfect” EVP. However a perfect EVP means nothing without the human truth to underpin and support it.

Don’t shy away from AI assistance where and when it makes sense, however. Embrace it to accelerate your insights, surface your themes, and organise focus group findings.

But shape your own story, authentically.

Theme 2:
Kind vs Nice: why the difference actually matters

Nice is easy. Kind drives change.

‘Nice’ is the feedback that's so carefully wrapped, it lands as nothing. ‘Kind’ is the truth - delivered with enough respect to actually change something.

What we're seeing across every sector is that as performance pressure increases, the tolerance for ‘nice’ is fading. Businesses who are clear - even when it's uncomfortable - are building more trust than those who smooth everything over.

EVP sits right in the middle of this. Because if your people proposition promises growth, but your managers won't have hard conversations, the gap between what you say and what people experience destroys trust faster than any competitor can.

In an economic environment where ‘do more with less’ remains a core theme, it’s vital to have clear focus and direction.

Theme 3:
Family to Team - one is unconditional

"We're a family here."
In a team you earn your place. In a family, you inherit it.

This isn’t about minimising pastoral care and supportive cultures - it’s about being real. Too many workplace ‘families’ became disposable the moment the numbers shifted in the economic environment. Which begs the question: isn’t family meant to be forever?

Team is different. Team is conditional in the best sense - you earn your place, you know your role, and everyone is clear on what you're trying to achieve together.

In a world where employees are more discerning than ever about where they invest their working lives, honesty wins.

The EVP that holds is built on what the team is actually trying to achieve, not on a feeling that evaporates the first time things get challenging.

Theme 4:
The Anchor.....when everything else is moving

We are drowning in content. There is more communications swirling around than any workforce can absorb, more initiatives than anyone can track, and more change than most cultures can metabolise.

In that environment, an EVP isn't a branding exercise. It's an anchor.

And it’s not just the ‘why’ that matters. It’s the ‘what’ and the ‘how’. What does great look like here? How do we make decisions? How do we treat people when things are hard? An anchor brings people back to something constant when everything else is shifting.

This is where EVP stops being a recruitment tool and starts being a leadership tool. The organisations navigating change well aren't saying more and more, they're saying one thing clearly, consistently, across each touchpoint.

Theme 5:
Don’t be late to the early careers party

The organisations that will be in the best shape in five years are the ones building deliberate early careers pipelines now.

New Zealand's youth employment rate for those aged 15-24 (not in employment, education, or training) sits at 14.4%.

At the same time, the number of New Zealanders aged 65 and over is growing by more than 500 people a week. One in six New Zealanders is now in this age group.

This means an experienced workforce is leaving, and a young workforce is waiting. Most organisations are not strategically planning for this.

Your EVP has a role here that most organisations miss. Young people aren't just asking about salary. They're asking about growth, about being seen, about whether this place will invest in them before they've even had a chance to prove themselves.

Theme 6:
Inside out & outside in

The starting point for any EVP we work on, is the inside.

Alignment to the strategy, understanding what people will help move the organisation forward, and what do the current stakeholders say when they describe working here? What would make them stay? How do they describe the business to friends and family?

Get that right first, so it’s recognisable to those inside the organisation. But don’t put aside the need to engage those on the outside, who have never heard of your organisation before, aren’t as close to it as you are, and can give you insight that you simply don’t see from the inside.

We live in an age where gathering market insight on mass has never been easier.