Over the next 100 years, Sellafield will overhaul its existing nuclear site to deliver its purpose of creating a clean and safe environment for future generations. However, attracting the skills it needs to meet this goal comes with challenges: a cohort of workers that are retiring and a UK STEM skills shortage that means the market for talent is competitive. This means Sellafield needs to look further afield than nuclear for scarce and critical skills. Partnering with communications consultancy, MHP Group, Sellafield embarked on creating its very first employer brand.

Its objectives were simple: to lead with robust data; to create flexibility within a framework; to complement the new Sellafield brand identity; and to deliver results in terms of a measurable increase in high quality applicants and hires. Primary research included an EVP employee survey, 10 focus groups with different employee groups, interviews with executives and internal recruitment leads, and a site visit to review the physical employee experience. This was followed with visual brand analysis, a review of existing employee data and discussions on internal socials. Externally, Sellafield and MHP conducted interviews with journalists, business leaders, community stakeholders and recruiters alongside competitor analysis and a look at employer branding trends. As the largest employer in West Cumbria, community involvement was critical.

From this research, they created an overarching EVP on the theme of ‘significance’; and four supporting thematic pillars based on the strongest insights. This meant they could create targeted value proposition (TVP) points for certain talent pools including graduates, apprenticeships, engineers and safety roles. They developed a compelling new visual language with a new colour palette of lime green and white, including a ‘ripple’ graphic that would visualise the concept of impact. Photography captures Sellafield employees in everyday workwear and situations. Sellafield and MHP continued to run stakeholder engagement sessions, and developed a recruitment toolkit and TVP support for each critical role. ‘Be outstanding in your Sellafield’ was piloted as the employer brand in its early careers campaign. Results across different target areas have been impressive. Engineering and maintenance recruitment delivered a 151:1 return on investment, for example, and there was a 79% increase in candidates with a first-class degree for its graduate scheme.