An EVP to attract specialist tunnelling talent for major rail projects.

Ghella is a tunnelling specialist founded in Italy in 1894 and operating in Australia since 2010. It often works in joint ventures with major construction companies, and its Australian work includes Sydney Metro, Cross River Rail in Brisbane and tunnelling on Melbourne's Suburban Rail Loop.

The challenge.

Most people outside the industry have never heard of Ghella, even though many of them use the transport it helps build. Inside the industry it is a different story, and the people who work there are very positive about it.

The challenge is timing. When Ghella wins a major joint venture contract on a government infrastructure project, it can suddenly need hundreds of tunnelling and engineering professionals. Those skills are highly specialised and in short supply, so Ghella needs to be known and attractive to a small pool of people before the next project is won.

What we did.

We began with research. We ran employee consultation across Ghella's corporate and project teams on a national basis, so the EVP would reflect people working in the office and on project sites.

Along the way we found real opportunities to improve the employee experience, which we turned into a suite of internal HR recommendations aimed at lifting engagement. The Italian heritage of the company came through strongly in what people told us, with small touches of it appearing across the culture, and we made sure it was part of the story.

From the research we developed Ghella's external EVP, the promise it makes to people considering joining, written in the words and themes its own people used. We then produced a suite of graduate videos so Ghella could speak directly to the next generation of engineers.

The outcome.

Ghella now has a clear EVP built on what its own people say, a set of practical recommendations for improving the experience of the people already there, and video content for graduates who may never have heard of the company.

It gives Ghella a consistent way to explain what makes it a great place to work, ahead of the next major project win.

If you're working through a similar challenge, you can read more about our employee value proposition consulting.

For more on the thinking behind this work, read Why employee advocacy is the best media channel you have.