A consistent EVP promise across 60 retirement villages.

Levande needed one employer promise that worked for village teams and corporate property and development roles. We built it from what their people said, then helped bring it to life.

Result

60 villages

One employer promise that works for village teams and corporate roles alike

Challenge

A new brand and fast growth, with village and corporate teams who each needed to see themselves in one promise

Solution

A new brand and fast growth, with village and corporate teams who each needed to see themselves in one promise

Company

Levande

Industry

Retirement living

Services

EVP development, employee consultation, EVP activation, careers resources, hiring manager guides

Levande is one of Australia's largest retirement living operators, with around 60 villages and about 800 people. It was formed when a private equity firm acquired Stockland's retirement living portfolio, a purchase worth more than a billion dollars, and it is now scaling towards a portfolio worth more than $3 billion.

The challenge.

Levande was an established business with a new brand, a clear plan to grow much larger, and a need for a promise to its own people that would help attract the talent that growth depends on.

That promise had to work for two quite different groups. Village teams tend to be close-knit, with slower progression and work that is very personal. Corporate teams in property development, sales and marketing are ambitious and fast-moving, and they compete for talent with some of the country's major property developers. A promise written for one group would have missed the other.

There was a third challenge as well. Many people still confuse retirement living with aged care. Levande is taking the sector in a different direction, one built around residents living vibrant, fun lives, and the employer brand needed to reflect that.

What we did.

We started by listening. In 2025 we ran more than 20 one-on-one interviews and four workshops with over 50 people from across functions and levels. We collected around 200 survey responses, visited seven villages for onsite interviews, and held sessions with the executive team. In total that came to more than 50 hours of engagement across the Levande network.

From what we heard, we developed an employee value proposition built on a single promise, "Your Exceptional Work, Their Exceptional Life", and three pillars: Work Worth Smiling About, Know Where You're Growing, and Backed To Be Bold. Each pillar can lead differently for different roles, so a village manager and a development manager can both see themselves in the same promise.

We then worked with Levande to bring it to life, including:

Careers page wireframes and website pages for each key audience, including sales and marketing, property and development, corporate, and villages
Candidate brochures and employee benefits brochures
A suite of recruitment and onboarding resources, and employee stories
Hiring manager guides and interview cheat sheets, so managers know how to talk about the EVP and sell the organisation well in interviews
Job ad writing training and new job ad templates

The outcome.

Levande now has an EVP that the executive team approved and the business recognises as true, and one that works across villages and corporate teams alike. They are very happy with it. Their hiring managers have practical tools for weaving it into every interview, and their recruitment materials now tell a consistent story from the first job ad through to onboarding.

If you're working through something similar, you can read more about our employee value proposition consulting or how we help activate an EVP.

For more on the thinking behind this work, read Your EVP is won or lost in the first 90 days.