At RecFest UK, our team joined over 5,000 passionate talent acquisition professionals at Knebworth Park for an innovative conference festival. The event featured a robust content program with actionable insights from leading minds in talent acquisition. Notable speakers included Craig Barnett, Head of New Client Strategy at Symphony Talent, and Dan Perkins, Global Head of Employer Brand at Sanofi, who discussed strategies for implementing a global employer value proposition (EVP) rollout. Continue reading for a recap of their presentation.

New EVP, now what? 

On paper, activating an EVP appears straightforward. However, real-world dynamics often disrupt even the most meticulously planned strategies. Organizational restructuring, stakeholder collaboration challenges, and the absence of a global employer brand strategy can derail your efforts. Add to that the complexities of teams operating in silos, unclear roles, and shifting priorities, and it's clear why EVP activation often falters.

Three pillars of a successful global EVP rollout

Your organization needs a robust roadmap for a smooth, global EVP rollout to navigate these challenges. To get it right, check out Sanofi's three pillars of success and real-world examples.

1. Laying the foundation: Understand the importance of building a solid strategic foundation to build your roadmap from.
2. Building the roadmap: Create an activation plan that aligns with organizational needs.
3. Reaching and engaging candidates: Leverage your roadmap to reach and engage the right candidates.
   

1. Laying the foundation

To set the foundation for EVP development, the Sanofi team had to answer the following:

• Where we’ve been: A different — and stronger — company than in 2020.
• Where we’re going: Becoming the world's leading immunology company.
• How we’ll get there: A best-in-class organization in everything we do.
  

With these answers, the team could create a clear employer brand vision. For Sanofi, that vision is, “By the end of 2026, we will be the go-to employer in bio-pharma, recognized for our extraordinary workplace experience, unparalleled career development opportunities, and unwavering commitment to nurturing early talent.”

Expert tips:

• Connect your employer brand strategy to your business strategy.
• Determine what you want to stand for as an employer in the marketplace and use it as the foundation of your roadmap.
• Understand the internal challenges that may cause roadblocks.
  

Related: Crafting Your Employer Value Proposition: A Step-by-Step Guide

2. Building a roadmap for EVP activation

Sanofi's Employer Branding team has achieved significant milestones in enhancing its strategic initiatives. These efforts focus on creating a unified center of excellence, enhancing creative capabilities, streamlining tools and training, and defining a go-to-market presence.

Unified center of excellence: The first milestone involves centralizing the employer brand team to streamline efforts and improve efficiency. This includes defining a clear employer brand strategy and team enablement, partnering with talent acquisition leadership and People & Analytics to gain insights into the talent landscape, data, and future skills/audiences, and collaborating with experts aligned with global goals.

Enhance strategic creative capabilities: Updating the employer brand design language to align with the corporate brand is essential. This milestone also involves developing and rolling out a Global Talent Value Proposition aligned with key business units and functions and creating a comprehensive global content strategy that includes hero, hub, and hygiene content.

Streamline tools and training: Sanofi has provided EVP rollout training for local markets and EVP copywriting training for recruiters to ensure effective implementation. Additionally, developing a brand portal facilitates collaboration between the employer brand team and recruiters, enabling the creation of new assets, templates, and toolkits.

Define go-to-market presence: The final milestone is launching a new global career website and bringing the EVP to market in an integrated manner. This involves identifying key go-to-market channels and paid strategy approaches, exploring global awareness campaigns to reach key talent groups, and building an influencer platform to train and engage more Sanofians in sharing their stories.

Expert tips:

• Spending time building the ‘basics’ pays dividends down the line — we all tend to want to focus on the shiny stuff first.
• Carefully determine which tools will be most beneficial for your activation teams and ensure they are fully engaged in the journey.
• Don’t overcommit to what you can achieve. Phased rollouts/builds are important when you have many competing priorities, stakeholders, etc.
  

3. Effectively reaching the right talent

Step three is to utilize your roadmap to effectively reach the right talent throughout the recruitment funnel. To do this, talent teams should consider the following:

Automate attraction efforts: Leveraging programmatic advertising can automate attracting and remarketing to the right talent at the top of the funnel. By tapping into geographic, occupational, behavioral, and contextual data, teams can continually track and optimize their activity to measure ROI effectively.

Ensure content relevancy: Talent teams should move beyond simple job alerts and adopt a consumer-led approach to their CRM. Automating relevant content based on candidate behavior and serving hyper-personalized communication can help build strong relationships with potential hires.

Use the power of your people: Employees can be a valuable resource in driving internal advocacy and external brand awareness. Building engaged communities within the organization and producing content trusted by target talent can significantly enhance recruitment efforts.

By implementing these strategies, talent teams can create a robust and efficient recruitment process that attracts the right candidates and fosters lasting relationships.

Expert tips:

• Track and optimize your campaigns to stay responsive to the evolving talent landscape.
• Use various formats such as videos, blog posts, and social media snippets to showcase employee stories and engage a wider audience.
• Encourage participation by highlighting the impact employee testimonials can have on attracting great colleagues and fostering a positive company culture. 
  

Global EVP key takeaways from Sanofi 

Sanofi concluded its RecFest UK presentation with key insights for managing a global EVP rollout. They emphasized the importance of establishing a strong strategic foundation to guide your activation roadmap, noting that addressing everything at once is unnecessary. Setting clear KPIs and metrics for success from the start is crucial to ensure focus and accountability throughout the process. Maintaining ongoing collaboration with stakeholders is also essential; their involvement throughout the journey helps foster alignment and support. By following these guidelines, you’ll be better equipped to navigate the complexities of a global EVP rollout effectively.

To learn more, check out additional insights from industry leaders.