HM Revenue & Customs needed to create a seamless journey for candidates and employees to see what life is really like working there, maximising its ability to recruit and retain staff and to deliver on its strategic objective. To do this it needed to undertake extensive research, so it partnered with Universum to measure against its 40 drivers of employee attractiveness. This research process uses a benchmarking framework to understand what is attractive, authentic and aspirational in communicating an employer brand. The research also needed to target critical skills areas that HMRC required, so it could localise its messaging.

The research is based on management interviews, an external talent survey, an internal survey on its employer value proposition, and civil service engagement survey results. Twenty attributes from the 40 drivers were identified that HMRC were associated with (ie. its strengths) or that it had an aspiration to be associated with in the future (stretch targets). Themes around purpose, challenging work, flexible working conditions and commitment to diversity and inclusion came through strongly. The research identified that external talent preferred attributes such as secure employment, professional training and high future earnings in a potential employer. They associated HMRC with themes such as CSR, diversity and inclusion, high levels of responsibility and challenging work.

Existing employees felt that HMRC did a good job in terms of flexible working, a friendly work environment, ethical standards and CSR. They did not feel their employer offered them a competitive salary or benefits package, clear paths for advancement, inspiring leadership or training, however. Understanding these gaps meant HMRC could move forward and conduct further focus groups to establish how it could appeal to prospective and existing audiences. This brought to life five key marketing avenues: ‘Where I belong’; ‘Proud’; ‘A career in your hands’; ‘The most surprising thing about working for HMRC’; and ‘Not the taxman you were expecting’. This fed into a video launch campaign that achieved outstanding results, capturing the real culture at HMRC.