When Your Employee Value Proposition Repels Instead of Re-Recruits
Why EVP Matters After a Merger
If your employee value proposition (EVP) still sounds like your old company, you’re not re-recruiting, you’re repelling.
I’m Klint Kendrick, founder of Master Your Merger. After leading more than 150 M&A deals, I’ve seen that a broken EVP is one of the fastest ways to lose talent after a deal closes. Your EVP answers the critical question every employee is asking, “Why should I stay?”
Here’s the problem: after a merger or acquisition, the old EVP usually no longer fits.
The Catch: Why the Old EVP No Longer Works
What made sense before the merger may not reflect the new reality of your organization. After a deal closes, so much changes,sometimes subtly, sometimes all at once. The things that once defined your company may no longer align with what employees experience day to day, including:
Leadership team
Culture and values
Systems, policies, and expectations
If you don’t take the time to update the story you’re telling, employees will fill in the blanks themselves. And the story they create often begins not with excitement, but with uncertainty and fear.
How to Audit and Refresh Your EVP
The good news is you can prevent EVP misalignment. Start with an EVP audit:
Identify what’s outdated. Which messages no longer match reality?
Spot inconsistencies. Are leaders saying one thing but systems showing another?
Adapt by function and region. One size does not fit all across global teams.
Back it up with behavior. If your EVP promises growth, your systems must actually deliver opportunities.
Employees decide whether to stay or go based on what they see, not what they’re told.
The Shark Tank Analogy: EVP in Action
My good friend Marc Prine once said:
“If headhunters are sharks, acquisitions are blood in the water.”
He’s right. During a merger or acquisition, talent becomes a prime target. So your weak EVP is nothing but bait.
In other words:
Weak EVP = bait for headhunters. It attracts external recruiters and gives your best people every reason to start taking their calls.
Strong EVP = a shark cage. It protects your talent, gives them confidence in the company’s direction, and keeps them focused on the future instead of the exits.
A clear, credible, and updated EVP sends a powerful message—it shows stability, growth, and leadership at a time when employees need reassurance the most.
Conclusion: EVP as a Trust Test
Your employee value proposition is not static. After a merger, it must evolve to reflect the new company. If it doesn’t, employees will quickly sense the disconnect.
A strong, credible EVP tells employees, “Yes, you still belong here.”
A weak EVP tells them, “It’s time to leave.”
Next week in the Master Your Merger series, we’ll cover how to measure whether your re-recruiting plan is actually working. You won’t want to miss it.
📩 Subscribe now to stay updated with new insights on M&A integration, culture, and talent retention.
