Why technology industry employers must prioritise their Employee Value Proposition (EVP)
2 October 2025
The tech industry hasn’t escaped the restructuring and challenges other UK industries are experiencing. Yet, in the face of rising business costs and economic changes, the UK technology workforce is growing, with net new jobs added for a fifth year in 2025. Still, filling these roles isn’t without challenges. The tech skills gap and high competition for talent are driving up salaries, making it more expensive than ever to secure top talent. Read on to learn how an attractive and holistic Employee Value Proposition (EVP) helps reduce business overheads while attracting and retaining the skills you need.
In a hurry? Here are the top three takeaways from our blog on why EVP is so important in the UK tech industry.
1. A strong EVP is crucial to winning the war for tech talent: Demand for tech skills is high, but there's a severe shortage, with 94% of tech employers reporting difficulty finding the right capabilities. Inflating salaries alone isn't sustainable. Competition is driving up costs, but employees now look beyond pay alone. A well-rounded EVP can help attract top talent without entering bidding wars.
2. EVP drives retention, engagement, and performance: Tech workers leave not just for money but due to a lack of growth, recognition, or connection and purpose. Key retention drivers in EVP include, career development (e.g., learning opportunities), employee recognition, work-life balance, wellbeing support, and autonomy. Companies that get this right report higher engagement, lower burnout, and better retention.
3. EVP impacts strategic goals: Sustainability, DEI, and skills development: EVP is not just an HR initiative, it supports operational sustainability, DEI, and long-term innovation. Example: Salary sacrifice schemes can generate business savings to fund apprenticeships and bridge the skills gap. DEI-focused EVP is essential to appeal to future talent, especially Gen Z, who expect diverse leadership. Eco-friendly and digital-first EVP elements also support environmental goals and brand alignment with conscious consumers.
Got time to stick around? Let's dive a little deeper.
For more general information on the topic, click into our blog, ‘Employee Value Proposition (EVP): What It Is & Why It Matters’.
We make it clear in that blog that EVP is more than the extra financial perks you offer your people. It goes far beyond gimmicks, fruit bowls and Friday games to something more impactful and meaningful.
In this blog, we’ll explore what EVP in the tech industry should include, drawing on examples and experiences of those working in this space. Before we go into the details of the ideal EVP, let’s explore what the job landscape looks like in the tech industry.
Are tech jobs growing or shrinking?
On the whole, tech jobs in the UK have been growing consecutively for the past five years (Global Newswire).
The industry hasn’t escaped challenges, and in August 2025, there were around 22,000 layoffs across the sector – a result of efficiencies and economic changes. That doesn’t change the demand for specific skills to meet the needs of the ever-evolving tech and AI landscape.
Are tech jobs in high demand?
The median wage in the tech industry is £49,410; 52% higher than the median wage for the entire UK labour market (Global Newswire). Yet 94% of tech employers report a skills shortage across the industry (Marks Sattin).
What we’re seeing is an industry that has the salary to attract the best talent, but the skills it needs to evolve are lacking.
Why technology industry employers must prioritise their Employee Value Proposition (EVP)
High demand for skills + a small talent pool = high acquisition and retention costs.
The skills shortage is one of the most pressing reasons why technology industry employers must prioritise their EVP, but it’s not the only one. Next, we’ll explore eight common people and HR issues in the tech space that a robust and holistic EVP can support.
1. High competition for talent
An RMS survey found that 74% of tech industry employers found ‘recruiting new staff somewhat or extremely difficult’.
The high competition for talent and essential skills required for sustainable growth is at the top of C-suite leaders’ agendas. Having the right knowledge and skills to perform the work is vital for a business to remain competitive in its field.
Interestingly, this pool may be about to get a little bigger. Proposed immigration changes in the US could see tech talent choosing to come to the UK instead. While this may bring some relief, the legislation involved isn’t without challenges, and this fresh talent will also be in high demand.
Financial wellbeing perks, such as Discounts and Cashback, help bridge the gap. Employees no longer look at salary alone, and building money-stretching solutions into your EVP makes the overall package more attractive, even against a higher wage offer.
LinkedIn research confirms that companies offering impactful and in-demand employee benefits are twice as likely to attract top talent.
2. Inflating salaries
When you’re bidding against your competitors for the best people, the standard response is to offer a higher wage. Talent wars have wider implications, as we reveal in our blog, ‘How are Employers Responding to a Tight Labour Market?’, including increasing consumer costs.
With employers’ National Insurance Contributions (NIC) increasing to 15%, the price of offering more is higher than ever.
Your EVP can bridge the gap, as we explore in our guide to strengthening your EVP. In this guide, we reveal how the combination of discounts and cashback can deliver more than a 3% pay increase. We also reveal the role salary sacrifice schemes have in reducing your NIC bill and creating employee tax savings.
You need to do more than offer these benefits as part of your EVP. You need to clearly demonstrate their value to both current and potential employees.
3. Talent retention
Attracting the right talent is the first hurdle to tackle, but you can’t stand on your laurels once you've onboarded them; you need to ensure you retain them.
There’s so much more to retaining talent than just salaries and benefits, and we’ll delve deeper into the causes of tech industry turnover concerning people and skills in our section on what a competitive EVP looks like in this space.
One topic we will cover here is employee recognition programmes, and how, alongside financial and wellbeing perks, they build loyalty in high-demand roles, reducing turnover by 25-30% Gallup.
4. High living costs
The cost of living remains high across the UK, with people feeling its impact regardless of where they live. That said, one-third of UK tech roles are based in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol (RMI). London and Bristol are among the most expensive cities to live in. With a large proportion of employees working hybrid, the need to travel to the office a few days a week usually leads to people working relatively close to their workplace or accepting the expense of a longer commute.
Discounts and cashback help reduce the cost of living, and you can take this support a step further by embedding commuter benefits, such as Cycle to Work and a Green Car scheme, into your EVP.
5. Reduce burnout & improve employee wellbeing
Two in five employees in the tech industry experience burnout (Talkspace). Burnout can take months to fully recover from, leading to extensive time off and a staggered return to work. The reduction in production that follows hits your business’s bottom line and can increase workplace stress across the board.
Your EVP can also support in reducing burnout and improving employee wellbeing, both of which impact absenteeism and employee turnover figures. Lifestyle perks, wellbeing discounts, and even recognition and reward help improve work-life balance.
Firms with wellbeing programmes see 23% higher engagement and 28% lower burnout (SHRM). Some essential wellbeing solutions to include in your EVP are an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), Gym Discounts, a digital health platform, and an Annual Leave Purchase scheme, which also reduces your wage bill.
6. Connect remote & hybrid teams
This point is more about the 'how' than the 'what' because how you deliver the perks included within your EVP matters. Housing everything -- benefits, recognition and rewards -- in an all-in-one, mobile-first employee experience platform ensures that it doesn’t matter whether you're remote or office-based, you receive the same benefits.
This inclusive approach matters because it ensures you can reach your entire workforce, helping you make the biggest possible impact in terms of improving wellbeing and retention, giving you a better return on your investment.
7. Create a positive workplace culture
In a world where hybrid and remote working is the norm, your EVP can help to create an employee-retaining culture. We’ll also dig deeper into this in the next section on what makes a great Employee Value Proposition. Here, we'll focus on peer-to-peer recognition.
A positive workplace culture matters. Toxic environments, whether stemming from poor management and leadership or disconnect among the workforce, increase employee turnover.
Peer-to-peer recognition helps spread positive vibes. While that may sound 'fluffy', a culture of appreciation, where everyone has a chance to be seen and valued, improves engagement, motivation, loyalty and innovation. Those four words should resonate much more strongly than ‘vibes’ because they drive growth and profitability.
8. Encourage collaboration
Building on the recognition element of your EVP, we must also address how peer-to-peer appreciation enhances collaboration. Siloed working is an innovation and productivity killer.
Peer-to-peer recognition apps make it easier for employees to say ‘thank you’ or ‘job well done’ to anyone and everyone in your business, fostering a culture of collaboration and trust. For your tech business, this means more knowledge sharing and mentoring. It helps create a sense of camaraderie and teamwork, where employees trust each other enough to put their egos aside and do what’s best for the business.
What does a competitive EVP in the tech industry look like?
We’ve given you eight reasons why EVP matters and why employers must prioritise it in a world of tech skills shortages and high demand for talent. We’ve also suggested the benefits to consider when building your EVP, as well as the role of unifying perks, rewards, and recognition into a single mobile-first solution.
Next, we’re moving on to the less tangible or solution-focused elements of your EVP, drawing on insights from those in the tech industry to define a more holistic scope.
Growth opportunities
We discussed the importance of retention and the role of financial wellbeing benefits, but keeping your employees involves more than perks. In the tech space, employees want to believe that your business will meet their future aspirations, as Michael Pedrotti, Co-Founder of GhostCap, shares.
Retention was once an issue of pay. Today, it's an issue of growth. In an 18-month time frame of tracking our team departures, we found that 73% left because they didn’t see a way forward. They weren’t learning, weren’t challenged, nor were they building skills that were relevant to their careers.
GhostCap implemented changes that allowed its employees to try new things. To test, learn, and even play with new scripts, learning valuable skills along the way, resulting in GhostCap increasing their employee retention rate to 91%.
Autonomy & trust
Allowing employees to take ownership of their growth, like GhostCap did, required trust. Next, Jamie Frew, Founder and CEO of Carepatron, shares the impact that affording his employees trust and autonomy, while providing consistency and clarity, had on his business.
We’ve been able to keep great people while growing fast, which is rare. We’ve also seen stronger internal referrals, which is always a positive sign that people feel proud to bring others onto the team. From a productivity standpoint, when people are engaged and clear on their value, they move faster. There’s less second-guessing and more momentum.
Purpose
Autonomy and trust then lead on to purpose, which is equally as important. Purpose helps create a sense of belonging with a business, and as Kimberly Rosales, CEO of ChainMyne, shares, it makes a significant difference to employee retention.
Letting people know their work actually shapes the future of our business, a future for themselves… That kind of loyalty isn’t something you can buy.
The other way your EVP can help employees create a sense of purpose is by allowing them paid volunteering time. While we wouldn’t usually encourage you to click away from our website, you can read about the impact our Pluxee UK volunteering initiative has on our people in this LinkedIn article. Just be sure to come back, as we have more valuable insights to share.
Leadership buy-in
Rosales sums the role of leadership buy-in perfectly.
"As CEO, I’ve learned that EVP starts with me. If I don’t live it every day, no benefit package or workshop will make it real."
This statement hits the nail on the head. You can have the best EVP on paper, but it will have zero impact, drive little to no change unless you bring it to life within the business. This buy-in starts with your leaders. When they demonstrate positive values and behaviours, the rest of your workforce will follow.
Authentic approach to wellbeing & balance
Just like with the point above, you can have an EVP that includes a mix of benefits to support financial, mental and physical wellbeing, but without an authentic approach, you won’t see the results you should from your investment, as Ed Brzychcy, Founder & President of Lead from the Front, shares below:
60% of departures from high-engagement cultures stem from employees experiencing cognitive dissonance. Organisations espouse values like ‘work-life balance’ while systematically rewarding face-time over outcomes. The most capable employees, those with high adaptability, tend to leave the organisation the fastest when its systems fail to support them.
Beyond the people challenges: Sustainability & growth
We’ve tackled the role of EVP in terms of people and skills challenges, but the power of a strong EVP doesn’t stop there.
Operational sustainability
According to RSM, AI tech companies are prioritising operational sustainability. This means they’re focusing on the business’s ability to maintain operational excellence and output while working to minimise societal and environmental impact as part of a strategy to ensure long-term economic viability.
Let’s break down how EVP comes into play in this instance.
The benefits you offer directly impact operational stability because people are integral to operations, and your EVP can help you retain them. A mobile-first employee experience platform, providing digital rewards, paperless discounts, and a virtual cashback card, helps employers offer their talent what's needed to keep them, to protect operations without negatively impacting the environment.
Thinking further afield, how employees travel to work contributes to a business’s carbon footprint, so eco-friendly commuter benefits like a Cycle to Work and Green Car scheme can help your business reach its net zero goals.
Customer sustainability
RSM also addresses software companies and their focus on customer sustainability. This means they’re focusing on the need to be more eco-friendly at the consumer level. UK consumers seek businesses that align with their values, whether on a business-to-consumer or business-to-business level.
You can demonstrate these values in the way you do business, support your employees, and deliver your EVP to your workforce.
Skills gap
The skills gap isn’t just a 'people problem'. HR professionals are becoming more embedded in operations due to the growing need to map out the skills required for the business to thrive in the years to come. Creating this skills roadmap involves the entire C-suite’s input to identify the organisation's long-term goals, the direction technology will be taking, and the investment required.
The tech skills gap is an issue for the entire leadership team to align on. So, where does EVP fit in here, beyond the talent acquisition and retention topic already covered?
RSM revealed that 44% of leaders in the tech industry had hoped to see more initiatives to close the tech skills gap included in the Autumn 2024 budget, believing that the measures in place don’t go far enough to address the issue.
What if we were to pitch an idea where tech industry leaders could take matters into their own hands?
What if we suggested that salary sacrifice schemes could release over £180,000, like they did for the University of Salford, generating business savings that you could use to fund apprenticeships?
Would this help shape and nurture the skills your business needs?
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI)
London may be home to most tech jobs, but it lags in leadership diversity. RSM research reveals that out of the London-based respondents, only 27% claimed to have at least a 25% female representation in their leadership team.
A similar trend is occurring among ethnic minorities, with only 32% of London-based tech leadership teams reporting that at least 25% of their members are from ethnic minority backgrounds.
A robust DEI policy is an integral part of your holistic Employee Value Proposition, ensuring fairness and transparency in the hiring process.
As we explore in our People Strategy Guide, 70% of diverse organisations are more likely to report capturing a new market. More importantly for those seeking the next generation of talent, 56% of Gen Z would not accept a role without diverse leadership.
Innovation, Research & Development
The UK government recognises the importance of research and development (R&D) in the tech industry, and tax reliefs are in place to enable businesses to invest in innovation. Still, the consensus shared by RSM is that recent scheme changes have created uncertainty, making it difficult to commit to long-term investment.
While salary sacrifice schemes generate savings, they won’t even be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the level of investment businesses need for R&D. So, we won’t suggest that. What the EVP can help with is securing the skills needed for development and innovation, which is just as vital as having the funds to invest.
The Pluxee Employee Experience & your sustainable EVP
It feels like we’ve tried to set the world to rights here and need to catch our breath!
There’s a lot to think about, isn’t there? The role of your EVP extends beyond reducing employee turnover and creating the optimal employee experience. EVP branches beyond people and skills, affecting the outcomes of broader organisational goals.
At Pluxee UK, we’re on a mission to make work not just a place to be but a place to belong. So, perhaps we’ve stepped out of our lane a little bit here. Or, perhaps not, as the majority of the topics we’ve covered revolve around money and people: two areas where the Pluxee Employee Experience can help.
Sources: Global Newswire, Mark Sattin, People Management, Forbes, Talkspace, GhostCap, Carepatron, ChainMyne, Lead from the Front, RSM.
