Stories Incorporated captured employee stories that activated an Employee Value Proposition and pillars— learn more in our Lockheed Martin case study.

Lockheed Martin, an aerospace innovator and global defense contractor, developed a traditional EVP and achieved great results. After gathering extensive research to analyze market perceptions, employee experiences, and what their leadership aspired their employer brand to be, they developed an EVP that resonated with employees and candidates:

Experience a mission that matters.

This EVP is supported by five foundational pillars which communicate life at Lockheed Martin:

1. Mission-focused innovation
2. Foundational values
3. Diverse career opportunities with meaningful work
4. Your health, your wealth, your life
5. Empowered to be your best

Bringing the EVP to Life with Stories

Knowing they needed stories to activate all their hard work creating their EVP, Lockheed Martin partnered with Stories Inc. Employee stories were uncovered to communicate each pillar, and employee story content was created to bring those pillars, and the overall EVP, to life.

Stories Inc. interviewed 30 storytellers across Lockheed Martin’s three locations and eight business areas. All of these employee storytellers shared many original and personal stories of how they have
experienced the EVP and pillars.

Seven compilation videos were created, featuring real employee stories that show the different ways Lockheed Martin’s EVP is lived by its team members.

The first video was a compilation video supporting the overall EVP, with an accompanying shorter version created for social media. The video incorporated graphics to make it clear to viewers how these stories connect to Lockheed Martin’s universal EVP.

Five additional videos were created to dive deeper into each individual EVP pillar, like this video highlighting Diverse Career Opportunities:

Internal and External EVP Activation

Lockheed Martin used the seven videos in a phased approach with its internal and external audiences. They first presented the stories to their HR community with information on how the stories can engage employees, and to their talent acquisition teams with a toolkit on the best ways to use this content library of stories in candidate communications.

Then, Lockheed Martin launched internally to all employees on their employee site. Finally, they shared the stories externally on their career site, social channels and a dedicated EVP webpage.

The Power of Stories to Activate Your EVP

Without real employee stories that ground and prove your EVP and other cultural statements, EVPs mean
next to nothing to candidates. For today’s job seeker, most EVP words on a career site are interchangeable or forgettable.

But when you provide candidates with stories of how the EVP is experienced by employees, from the employees, now you’re bringing the EVP to life. You’re making it real for them. Not only will they understand your EVP, they’ll remember it.

As shown by Lockheed Martin, supporting your EVP and its pillars with employee stories is essential to a successful brand communication strategy and effective recruitment marketing.