Skip to content
  • About Us
  • Services
  • Our Work
  • Our Thinking
    • Blog
    • Tech Talent White Paper
    • DEI White Paper
    • Research and Reports
Menu
  • About Us
  • Services
  • Our Work
  • Our Thinking
    • Blog
    • Tech Talent White Paper
    • DEI White Paper
    • Research and Reports
  • Careers
  • Client Login
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • Careers
  • Client Login
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Services
  • Our Work
  • Our Thinking
    • Blog
    • Tech Talent White Paper
    • DEI White Paper Landing Page
  • Careers
  • Client Login
  • Contact Us
Menu
  • About Us
  • Services
  • Our Work
  • Our Thinking
    • Blog
    • Tech Talent White Paper
    • DEI White Paper Landing Page
  • Careers
  • Client Login
  • Contact Us

How Sephora Built a Global Employee Value Proposition (EVP)

Categories

  • Culture
  • Diversity Value Proposition
  • Employee Value Proposition (EVP)
  • Employer Branding
  • evp
  • HR & Employer Brand Conferences
  • HR and Marketing
  • HR Consulting
  • Management Consulting
  • Recruitment

Follow Us

  • Opens in a new tab
  • Opens in a new tab
  • Opens in a new tab

    Sephora got its start in the 70’s when its founder, Dominique Mandonnaud, disrupted the beauty industry by bringing beauty products out from behind counters. People were encouraged to play with and experience Sephora’s products, an approach that was unexpected and unheard of at the time.

    Today, Sephora is a leading Global Beauty Retailer with over 35,000 employees, a beauty community of more than 100 million customers, and presence in over 35 markets around the world. The early focus on experience, innovation, and creativity has continued since the 70’s and is why Sephora has earned a reputation as a beauty trailblazer with unrivalled expertise, innovation, and entrepreneurial spirit.

    However, despite the strength and fame of the Sephora Brand, studies conducted by Blu Ivy and Sephora HR teams showed that the attractiveness and external image of Sephora as an employer didn’t fully reflect the internal experience and strong commitment of employees to the company. Besides, the company’s rapid organic growth in a decade had led to a variety of approaches across the world, and the time had come to take a more coordinated, intentional approach at the global level to make sure that all talent had the same set of employee experience.

    “We knew about all the great things we did for our employees, but we weren’t sure how to actually share them with the world in a clear, attractive way.”

    That’s why, in 2019, Sephora embarked on a journey to uncover what their talent valued most about working at Sephora and build a clear, compelling Employee Value Proposition (EVP).

    Starting with Culture and Commonalities

     Building an authentic, global EVP was important to Sephora. That’s why we started by reviewing employee feedback and candidate insights, partnering with stakeholders in every region, and looking for commonalities in Sephora’s global communications, programs, culture, and employee experience.

    The Vision and DNA were the two global elements that were consistent and common around the world. Representing key strengths and a shared purpose, these became important elements of Sephora’s employer brand framework, which includes an Employer Brand Manifesto, EVP Pillars, and more.

    Building an Employer Brand Manifesto

    Through collaboration with stakeholders and partners in every region, Sephora uncovered 4 key strengths that resonated with current and prospective talent:

    • Making an impact in beauty and beyond
    • Embracing innovation, exploration, and creativity
    • Championing learning and evolution
    • Celebrating diversity, uniqueness, and inclusion

    Based on these strengths, Sephora developed global EVP pillars and an Employer Brand Manifesto with the help of Blu Ivy. The Manifesto combines all the elements of Sephora’s EVP pillars, the emotion behind them, and shares that sentiment as one unique rallying cry that expresses who they are as an employer and what they stand for:

    Manifesto

    At Sephora, we stand together and we stand for something more. For empowerment, for exploration, for the opportunity to impact people’s lives through the unlimited power of beauty. We embrace uniqueness, unleash creativity, and pursue progress every day. Sparked by energy and excitement, our passion is contagious. We are united by a common goal – to reimagine the future of beauty. Reimagine your future, with Sephora.

    “The EVP came as a great way to help our people celebrate our culture, share their stories and successes, and feel a sense of togetherness.”

    Encountering and Overcoming Challenges

    Although Sephora’s EVP and Manifesto have been successfully launched and embraced by talent around the world, the process was not without its challenges. We asked the Sephora team to share some of the challenges that they encountered along the way and how they overcame them.

    • Having Employer Branding Expertise

    “We knew about all the great things we did for our employees, but we weren’t sure how to actually share them with the world in a clear, attractive way. We were lucky to find great partners along the way, working both with our internal Marketing teams, HR professionals, and the Blu Ivy agency to progress together.”

    • Getting Global Buy-In

    “When you enter a Sephora store anywhere in the world, you know you’re shopping at Sephora. There is this playful, fun atmosphere, along with clear visual cues that help create an experience that is unique to Sephora. We wanted to have this same feeling of togetherness and coherence for our global EVP. To achieve this, we involved a lot of people along the way: HR partners, leaders from all our functions, people in stores and HQ. We tried to be as transparent as possible about the process and really developed our EVP as a collaborative effort. We also realized that we were encountering similar challenges in our efforts to attract and retain the best talent around the world and that having a common approach and messaging would only make us stronger.”

    • COVID-19

    “After we got over the initial shock and ‘surprise effect’ of COVID coming into and changing our lives, it was actually an accelerator for this work. Our people were at home, living very challenging realities both professionally and personally, and needed a sense of purpose and excitement. The EVP came as a great way to help our people celebrate our culture, share their stories and successes, and feel a sense of togetherness. The COVID crisis also proved that what we had found and shared about our culture was even more true in challenging times: our authenticity, our passion for innovation, our commitment to Inclusion…all these things helped us navigate the past year.”

    Balancing Global and Local

    Although it was important to create a consistent global EVP, it was equally important to build a flexible framework that would allow each region to own the EVP, bring it to life in an authentic way, and highlight unique local strengths.

    “We had to be very clear on what would stay global – our common messaging –  and what could be customized to be relevant to local talent.”, we heard from the Sephora team. By doing this and, “by helping each region build their own content, using our global messaging as an overarching foundation,” the Sephora team was able to find the ideal balance and build a ‘Glocal’ EVP.

    Seeing Tangible Results

    In late 2020, Sephora began activating their global EVP – internally first and then externally – using targeted messaging, communication assets and toolkits, visual guidelines, storytelling contests, and more. Although each region is in a different stage of their activation and we expect to be measuring global impact in mid to late 2021, Sephora is already starting to see tangible results.

    “The first thing we’ve noticed is our people everywhere in the organization just owning the EVP messaging and making it come alive. One day you’re sharing a basic communications toolkit, and the next day you’re seeing pictures from around the world showing posters, events, people embodying the work we have done together, both in stores and in our head offices! We’re also seeing a lot more communication between our HR communities, sharing best practices and questions they have on particular challenges.”, we heard from the Sephora team.

    “Online, we’re seeing a sharp rise in talent engagement on our platforms: LinkedIn, Instagram, etc. We are also receiving early feedback from some of our HR leaders around the world saying the overall quality of candidates has improved since they’ve started using EVP-aligned recruitment materials.”, they continued. Although it’s still too soon to quantify this impact of the EVP, what we’ve heard from the Sephora team is, “our EVP has definitely brought us forward as an employer, not only a retailer.”.

    Reflecting on the Journey

    Building a global EVP is an undertaking that requires commitment and dedication from stakeholders throughout an organization. While it is rewarding, it is not a process without its challenges. With that in mind, we asked the Sephora team to reflect on the journey.

    What are you most proud of achieving, as part of this work?

     “Running a truly global project, that has been owned collectively by all regions, is a great source of pride. It’s one thing to give global guidelines on a key topic and monitor local actions. It’s another to really involve everyone from the start and have them choose collectively how to steer a project. This initiative is the living proof that collective intelligence can bring us so much further than working in silos, and it’s actually something we highlight in our EVP messaging!”

    Do you have any advice for other global organizations looking to build or refine their EVP?

    “Don’t try and sell what you are not. Look for things that are differentiating and truly unique to your organization. Leverage diversity of angles and insights; the more inclusive your approach is, the closer your EVP will be to your actual corporate culture.”

     

    It’s clear that Sephora has built something really special. We look forward to seeing how Sephora and their employer brand will continue to evolve.

     

     This Blog was co-authored by Director, Employer Brand and Culture, Nicole Fernandes.

    • Nicole Fernandes
    • March 18, 2021
    PrevHow To Create a Seamless Digital Talent Experience
    An Employer Brand Masterclass Series – Featuring Thomson Reuters’ Director of Global Employer BrandingNext
    Like this article? Please share it!
    Facebook Linkedin Twitter

    Read Our Reports

    Employer Brand Research from Over 200 Chief Human Resource Officers, the Latest Strategies and Employer Brand Events.


      Stay in the know

      Future-proof your employer brand with resources, articles and research from leaders in the employer branding field.

      Employer Brand Content Marketing for Start-Ups

      April 27, 2022

      We genuinely believe that all organizations can benefit from employer branding content. However, we also know that the process can intimidate smaller organizations. Mid-sized organizations

      Read More »

      A High-Performing Culture of Kindness. It Comes Down to Leadership

      March 21, 2022

      Creating a culture of kindness in your organization can lift your team’s spirits, make your employees feel valued, and increase your company’s bottom line. If

      Read More »
      Metaverse

      How the Metaverse Will Change Your Employer Brand & Workplace Culture

      February 23, 2022

      The term “metaverse” first appeared in 1992, in a sci-fi novel called Snow Crash. Thirty years later, this sci-fi concept is fast becoming our new

      Read More »

      Your Unique Plan

      At Blu Ivy Group, we bring passion to every project. We build unique employer brand, talent recruitment and retention strategies.


        • Company
        • Blog & Resources
        • Services
        • Careers
        Menu
        • Company
        • Blog & Resources
        • Services
        • Careers
        • Contact Us
        • Work
        • Client Login
        Menu
        • Contact Us
        • Work
        • Client Login
        • About Us
        • Services
        • Our Work
        • Our Thinking
          • Blog
          • Tech Talent White Paper
          • DEI White Paper Landing Page
        • Careers
        • Client Login
        • Contact Us
        Menu
        • About Us
        • Services
        • Our Work
        • Our Thinking
          • Blog
          • Tech Talent White Paper
          • DEI White Paper Landing Page
        • Careers
        • Client Login
        • Contact Us
        2020 Canadian HR Awards Finalist Badge

        T: 647-308-2352

        E: sparker@bluivygroup.com

        Privacy & Terms

        2018 © Blu Ivy Group

        2020 Canadian HR Awards Finalist Badge
        Twitter Facebook-f Instagram Linkedin-in
        • About Us
        • Services
        • Our Work
        • Our Thinking
        Menu
        • About Us
        • Services
        • Our Work
        • Our Thinking
        • Careers
        • Client Login
        • Contact Us
        Menu
        • Careers
        • Client Login
        • Contact Us
        +1(647)308-2352 sparker@bluivygroup.com

        © 2022 Blu Ivy Group. All rights reserved. 

        Privacy Policy

        This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish.Accept Read More
        Privacy & Cookies Policy

        Privacy Overview

        This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
        Necessary
        Always Enabled
        Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
        Non-necessary
        Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
        SAVE & ACCEPT