Behind the EVP, what really makes employer branding work

Employer brand work often starts with a vision: let's find our Employee Value Proposition (EVP), create killer content, launch the brand, and watch the engagement roll in. But what happens when you're a team of one, your Glassdoor score is tanking, and your CPO wants results by Friday?

We spoke to Ben Levine, an employer brand leader who's built brands at Salesforce, Alteryx, and now runs Internal Comms at Unily. From adapting employer messaging in Europe to managing retention during a layoff-heavy year, Ben shares what actually works when it comes to closing the gap between what a company says and what its people experience.

Ben didn't fall into employer brand by accident. He was working in PR, realising it wasn't his long-term game, when a recruiter from Salesforce reached out in 2015 with a job on a barely-formed employer brand team. Suddenly, he was knee-deep in award submissions, stock imagery, and unflattering Glassdoor reviews being forwarded to the C-suite.

That early work wasn't glamorous. It was about fixing what was broken, creating processes where none existed, and proving the function had value, and it worked. Within a few years, Salesforce had climbed to number one on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For, Glassdoor scores had hit 4.4, and the employer brand was a trusted part of the people team.

But it wasn't strategy first. It was survival first.

When Ben relocated to Amsterdam with Salesforce, he got a new view on employer brand, and a reminder that copy-pasting from HQ doesn't work internationally.

The lesson learnt: if people don't recognise themselves in the story, it's not their story. Employer branding works best when it's localised and transcreated, not just translated. It needs to reflect cultural norms, values, and attitudes.

A lot of employer brand thinking starts with the same prescription… build an Employee Value Proposition (EVP), then build your campaigns, then launch.

Ben takes a different view. When you're under pressure to drive hiring, reduce attrition, or improve internal engagement, the EVP process can feel indulgent. And if the employee experience isn't mature yet - no meaningful development programmes, few rituals, no formalised values - then the EVP will struggle to stick.

In early-stage companies, EVPs often get built from aspiration rather than evidence. Ben's approach is to earn credibility by solving real problems first. Fix the onboarding journey, refresh the careers site and tackle your reputation on Glassdoor. Understand what your CPO is worried about and offer practical help.

That creates room to talk strategy later.

"I've seen so many brands put all their energy into launch day. But if that's the only place your EVP shows up, it's already failed."

There's a reason so many EVPs fade after launch. They never really lived in the business to begin with.

A strong EVP doesn't just sit on a careers page. It shows up in how team updates are written, how leaders speak at town halls, how the business talks about itself in interviews and reviews.

It's about making the employer brand part of the everyday operating system. The language, the values, the stories, they all need to live beyond the People team. Otherwise, it's performance without substance.

When asked about the biggest misstep companies make in employer brand content, Ben doesn't hesitate: over-polishing.

It's tempting to script every word, light every video perfectly, and build glossy stories that show a shiny culture. But those stories usually fall flat. Candidates don't believe them, employees don't recognise themselves, and the result is a brand that doesn't build trust.

Ben argues for content that feels real, even if it's a little rough.

If you're trying to build a connection, perfection works against you.

Ben's latest move is into internal comms at a company that sells internal comms software, so he's surrounded by people who know comms inside and out. And in that environment, he's seeing just how connected employer brand and internal communication really are.

But too often, those two worlds operate separately. Employer brand launches the EVP. Internal comms focuses on announcements. And the culture story sits awkwardly between them.

For Ben, the best work happens when they blend - when the same voice runs through external content, onboarding, team updates, and internal storytelling.

Retention issues often spark panic. But Ben encourages companies to pause and reflect - because the problem usually starts before the first day.

When a company over-promises and under-delivers, new hires notice fast.

Early attrition is usually a symptom of expectation mismatch. Which means the fix starts with reviewing your candidate journey: from job descriptions to interviews to onboarding. What are you saying, and how are you backing it up?

Ben's view is refreshingly straightforward. You don't need to wait for the perfect EVP, launch with a bang, and you definitely don't need a 12-month plan before you start delivering value.

Start with what's broken, fix something that matters, find the story your people already believe in, and start telling it well. The trust, traction, and strategy will come.

His final thought?