Introducing Belief Beyond Reason: Our approach for building transformative EVPs at the heart of People Experience.

Trust in "my employer" declined globally for the first time - dropping three points to 75%. While trust in business leaders has been declining for years, this is different. "My employer" has consistently been the most trusted institution - more than government, media, or NGOs. And now? Even that's eroding.

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The data is clear: We've got a trust problem. And we all feel it, right? I do.

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For me, the solution requires building something deeper - belief. More than semantics, there is an important distinction, and one that drives us at TQ:

Trust is rational. "I trust you'll pay me on time." "I trust this job is secure." "I trust my manager won't throw me under the bus." It's transactional. Necessary, but not exciting.

Belief is emotional. "I believe in what we're building." "I believe this work matters." "I believe we're going somewhere worth following." It's what drives people to stay through hard times or to willingly ‘go the extra mile’.

Six in ten people ‘hold grievances’ against business. ‘Fear of discrimination’ has surged to record highs. 68% of employees think business leaders are deliberately misleading them. For me, that’s more than broken trust. That's the absence of belief. And you can't transform an organisation, ask them to pivot, use new technologies, feel psychologically safe, when people have neither.

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Why Most EVPs Miss the Mark

When people lack belief in the ethics of your organisation, the strategic direction, the meaning of their work, or the culture supporting them - they are not going to get on the bus. They may even throw a stinger under the wheels. And most EVPs? They're built try to convince people to trust them, they ‘sell’ TO people.

They're transactional: benefit lists, competitive salaries, flexible working. All good. All necessary. But purely rational. They answer "what's in it for me?" but never touch "why should I care?" My job, as an external voice, is often to ask ‘so what’ (which is my most common question when I review an EVP that’s been developed in-house, as it hasn’t passed the sniff test).

The Edelman data, or real employee listening, tells us what employees actually want: companies to address job skills, improve working conditions, demonstrate greater societal impact, and show significantly more empathy.  They're asking for something to believe in.

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More than Trust, Building Belief

This is why we built our EVP methodology around a different principle: you need both IQ and EQ to move people. Lots of organisations focus exclusively on IQ - the rational value exchange. Here's the work, here's the pay, here's the career path. Logic. Transactional. But belief isn't built on logic alone. It's built when you connect the rational with the emotional. When you answer both "what's in it for me?" AND "why does this matter?" That's where our model comes in - combining IQ with EQ to create a more human deal and it runs through everything we do at TQ:

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The IQ (What and How)

This is the tangible stuff - the strategy, the work, the career paths, the structures, the compensation. It's logical. It's measurable. It's necessary.

This builds trust: "I trust you'll deliver on these promises."

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The EQ (The Why)

This is where transformation happens. Why does this organisation exist beyond profit? Why should I care about this work? Why should I stay when things get hard? Why should I follow you into the future?

This builds belief: "I believe in what we're building together."

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The Give & The Get

When you intentionally combine IQ with EQ, you create a human value exchange that resonates at both levels. We frame this as The Give & The Get - what the organisation genuinely offers (rational + emotional) and what it genuinely needs from people (rational + emotional).

The result? An EVP that doesn't just list benefits but actually builds Belief Beyond Reason - the kind of emotional conviction that sustains people through transformation, change, and uncertainty.

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How we position Belief Beyond Reason

Building belief isn't about being inspirational. It's about being intentional:

Honest about the ethics: Among those with high grievance, business is seen as 81 points less ethical. You can't fake integrity. Your EVP needs to reflect genuine ethical commitments; not aspirational corporate speak. If your organisation doesn't actually operate ethically, no amount of clever messaging will save you.

Clear about the direction: People need to understand where you're going and why. Ambiguity breeds distrust. Clarity builds confidence. If you can't articulate your strategic direction in a way that connects emotionally, don't be surprised when people don't follow.

Explicit about meaningful work: Show people how their work connects to impact. Not in vague terms, but specifically. What difference does this role make? Why does it matter? If you can't answer that, the problem isn't your EVP - it's your business model.

Real about the culture: Concerns about discrimination have surged 10 points globally. Employees are worried they can't bring their full selves to work. Your culture promise needs to address real fears with real commitments - not just diversity statements, but tangible evidence that people are seen, heard, and valued.

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The Uncomfortable Truth

We're not in a trust crisis. We're in a belief crisis.

Trust is the price of entry - you can't operate without it. But belief is what enables transformation. It's what makes people choose to stay, to engage, to advocate, to push through the hard stuff. The data shows that greater trust correlates with greater optimism for the future and lower levels of grievance. But correlation isn't causation. What if the real driver is belief - and trust is just the visible outcome? Organisations that can rebuild belief - through authentic EVPs that intentionally combine rational value with emotional resonance, IQ with EQ - won't just weather this storm. They'll be the ones that people choose to follow.

Because transformation doesn't happen through strategy decks and town halls. It happens when people believe - not just with their heads, but with their hearts - that the future you're building is worth building together.

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So, What Now?

If your EVP is just a list of benefits and a tagline, I'd challenge you to ask:

• Does it actually build belief in your organisation's ethics, direction, and culture? Or is it just noise?
• Could you go further? Build something that combines the rational with the emotional. Something that frames the human value exchange in a way that actually moves people.
• The organisations that thrive won't be those with the slickest employer brand. They'll be those where people genuinely believe.

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Belief is built intentionally, not accidentally.

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