Employee Value Proposition Training: Learn the Give and Get EVP Method (2027)

Employee value proposition (EVP) training teaches you to define what an organisation offers and expects, in a way people can believe. The Give and Get method, from Give & Get Employer Branding, designs one EVP for each employer brand pillar as a value exchange: what people give, and what they get. This guide explains the method with chapter references, shows how to research it, and sets out which lessons on the Happydance Academy Employer Brand Strategy course teach it, using only what the course page states.

• Key takeaways
• What EVP training should teach
• Traditional EVP vs Give and Get
• The Give and Get method
• How to research it
• Bringing it to life
• A five-question EVP check
• The Academy lessons
• EVP examples to study
• FAQ
• Related reading
• Sources

What employee value proposition training should teach

Good EVP training does more than show you a template. It should teach you to find the truth inside your organisation, express it as an honest exchange, and test whether it holds. It should also teach you to tell it as story, because a value proposition that is only a statement is rarely remembered.

The book is clear that being right is not enough. In its introduction:

“Even if it’s true, your strengths, benefits, and opportunities aren’t enough on their own to constitute an effective employer brand and employee value proposition (EVP).”

Give & Get Employer Branding, Bryan Adams (2020), Introduction.

Strengths, benefits and opportunities are half the picture. The other half, the demands and realities, is what makes the proposition credible. That is the principle behind the whole method.

Traditional EVP versus the Give and Get

Here is our summary of the contrast. The first three rows follow the book. The last two are our reading.

The book makes the contrast explicit in the chapter that compares the two frameworks:

“Rather than offering one EVP, we design one EVP for each employer brand pillar.”

Give & Get Employer Branding, Bryan Adams (2020), Traditional Employer Brand Framework vs. the Give and Get Framework.

“In the Give and Get framework, the EVP is never a slogan or a snapshot of an area of strength within the organization; we offer a clear value exchange that is taken from a common theme that can be found within the employee experience.”

Give & Get Employer Branding, Bryan Adams (2020), Traditional Employer Brand Framework vs. the Give and Get Framework.

The book adds that each pillar’s EVP is made up of its own value exchange, defined by a give (what an employee must be prepared to provide, commit, or sacrifice) and a get (what an employee can expect in return).

The Give and Get method, step by step

The book defines an employer brand pillar as follows, in its chapter on defining the terms:

“Employer Brand Pillar: An overarching, universal common theme of the employee experience.”

Give & Get Employer Branding, Bryan Adams (2020), Employer Brand and EVP Defined.

From there, the practical sequence is: find the pillars, then, for each one, state the Give and the Get as a pair, with a credible consequence linking what is asked to what is gained. The book also gives the purpose of an EVP in one sentence:

“Our approach to EVP is to identify the Give and the Get to articulate not only the benefits, strengths, and opportunities someone receives from working at your organization but also the demands, expectations, and realities of what it takes to really thrive.”

Give & Get Employer Branding, Bryan Adams (2020), Employer Brand and EVP Defined.

Being honest about demands is not a risk to attraction. It is how you attract the right people. The preface puts the aim in one line:

“This is how you “repel the many and compel the few” with the same message.”

Give & Get Employer Branding, Bryan Adams (2020), Preface.

And it adds the reason this honesty is valuable:

“After all, it’s your specific brand of difficult that makes you different.”

Give & Get Employer Branding, Bryan Adams (2020), Preface.

How to research your Give and Get

Both halves of the exchange come from listening. The book is specific that the heart of the research is emotional. In the Research Steps chapter:

“For both the Give and the Get, it always comes down to how people feel.”

Give & Get Employer Branding, Bryan Adams (2020), Research Steps.

“The most important insight you can hope to glean is a collective sense of what sacrifices and commitments must be made and why they make them.”

Give & Get Employer Branding, Bryan Adams (2020), Research Steps.

Here is a simple way to run the research, adapted from the principles above. It is our practical suggestion, not a lesson from the course.

1. Listen widely. Talk to people across teams, levels and tenures. Include people who thrive and people who have left.
2. Ask about pride. The Catching Truth chapter says your job is to find out what people are proud of and why.
3. Ask about sacrifice. What does it take to succeed here that nobody puts in the job advert?
4. Sort the answers into themes. Each recurring theme is a candidate pillar.
5. Write the Give and the Get as a pair. One sentence each, in plain words, with a real consequence linking them.

“Your job is to find out what people are proud of and why.”

Give & Get Employer Branding, Bryan Adams (2020), Catching Truth.

See the Strategy course Module 2, Expectations, covers auditing your EVP, the Give and the Get, and rollout.

Bringing the EVP to life with story

An EVP only works if people can feel it. The book recommends story structure for exactly this. In the chapter on using story architecture to build your employer brand story, it describes the And, But, Therefore technique as:

“This story technique is the simplest to use and the most valuable means of bringing your brand pillars to life by storifying each value exchange found within the pillar to a Give and a Get.”

Give & Get Employer Branding, Bryan Adams (2020), How to Use Story Architecture to Build Your Employer Brand Story.

The Academy Strategy course includes a lesson on storytelling using the And, But, Therefore framework in Module 3. For a wider look at frameworks you can use, see our guide to storytelling frameworks for business.

A five-question EVP check

Before you publish any EVP, put it through these five questions. They are our own test, drawn from the principles above.

The Academy lessons that teach this

On the Employer Brand Strategy course page, Module 2 is called Expectations. The lessons listed are:

• Auditing your existing EVP
• The Give & Get approach to building an effective EVP
• The Give: identifying company expectations
• The Get: pride, priority, preference
• Ripples of rollout: creating levels of control
• Objectives, goals, strategies and measures

The course page lists the outcome Audit and define your EVP: access key frameworks to identify what is working about your current EVP and use those strengths to shape your future direction. Lessons combine video with structured exercises, and you submit an assignment to apply the frameworks to your own employer brand. The page states 12.5 hours, $247 and instant access, and the course is HRCI-accredited. For the full course picture, see our guide to employer brand strategy training.

EVP examples to study

Reading how others express a value exchange sharpens your own. Happydance publishes EVP examples by sector and sector lists for US tech, US healthcare, US retail, UK financial services and UK tech. As you read, apply the five-question check above and notice which examples offer a real exchange.

If your EVP is ready, the next job is making sure your careers website carries it. See our free careers website audit.

Employee value proposition training: frequently asked questions

Related reading

Sources

• Happydance Academy, Employer Brand Strategy course page and FAQ (checked 31 October 2026)
• Bryan Adams, Give & Get Employer Branding (2020): Preface; Introduction; Traditional Employer Brand Framework vs. the Give and Get Framework; Employer Brand and EVP Defined; Research Steps; Catching Truth; How to Use Story Architecture to Build Your Employer Brand Story