Capturing what it’s like to work at Ulton through the people who know it best.
Client: Ulton
Industry: Financial Planning
Service: People & Culture Project
The work: Employee insights, EVP strategy and messaging, EVP framework, benefits review and design
Over time, Ulton had built an employee experience their people valued, but the story behind it had never been brought together. We worked with employees and leaders to uncover what made the Ulton experience distinctive, shape a clear employee value proposition and align its benefits offering around what mattered most.
Where they were at.
Ulton had already invested significantly in the employee experience. Across areas like benefits, recognition, and wellbeing, the business was doing a lot of good work for its people.
The challenge was that these initiatives had developed separately over time. Ulton’s People & Culture team had been focused on building the offering, but had never brought it together into a single story or made the most of it internally and externally.
As the business continued to grow, Ulton wanted to strengthen its approach to talent attraction and communicate more clearly what was on offer beyond salary. They were confident the substance was there, but also wanted to check that the offering remained relevant to employees, understand what people valued most and identify any gaps worth addressing.
What was getting in the way.
With an average employee tenure of nine years (yes, really!) there was no question that Ulton was a great place to work.
What had never been clearly articulated was why. Many of the reasons people joined, stayed and built their careers there were felt and understood, but had not been put into words. Leaders could point to individual benefits and initiatives, but there was no shared language or overarching idea connecting them.
Without that, Ulton could not fully translate a strong employee experience into a distinctive and credible proposition, or use it to guide for future decisions about talent attraction, communication and where to invest next.
What we worked on.
We started by building a clear picture of the employee experience.
We heard from almost 90% of the Ulton team through the engagement survey, spoke with more than 60 employees in focus groups and interviewed 10 partners and executives. We then brought those insights together with previous employee feedback and external market research.
Together, this showed us what drew people to Ulton, what kept them there and where the employee experience could go further.
Finding the idea at the heart of the experience.
The research showed a difference between what brought people to Ulton and what made them stay.
Career opportunities, professional development and the strength of the Ulton brand were important drawcards for new employees. Once people joined, however, what mattered most was what it felt like to work there. Team connection stood out, alongside flexibility, stability and the care and support people experienced from colleagues and leaders.
Across the focus groups, people consistently described an environment where they felt known, supported and treated as an individual, not simply as another employee in a large firm.
At the same time, some of Ulton’s strongest offerings were not being communicated clearly. Flexibility was overwhelmingly valued, but many employees could not easily explain what it included or the full range of benefits available to them. The research also highlighted opportunities to strengthen reward, recognition and wellbeing as the business continued to grow.
That led us to the central idea:
Where you’re more than just a number.
The language came directly from Ulton employees, and it captured something that felt true to their experience: people were known, supported and given room to build a career, not just hold a job.
Building the EVP framework.
The four pillars came directly from the themes that surfaced consistently through our deep dive.
Connection, Growth, Wellbeing and Reward reflected both sides of the story: the parts of the Ulton experience employees already valued, and the areas where they wanted to see the business go further.
For each pillar, we defined the current strength and the opportunities for future stretch: what Ulton could confidently stand behind today, and where the experience could continue to evolve next.
Aligning the benefits offering.
The EVP also gave Ulton a clear way to structure employee benefits.
We mapped the full offering against the four pillars, employee priorities and the external market. This showed what was already working well, which benefits employees were not fully aware of and where further investment would add the most value.
From there, we shaped a more coherent benefits program, with a clear rationale for what belonged within it and a prioritised set of additions for Ulton to consider. A number of those recommendations were approved, giving the business a stronger foundation for future decisions about its employee offering.
The impact.
Ulton now has a clear and credible way to articulate what makes its employee experience distinctive.
The EVP reflects what existing employees value about working at Ulton, while giving the business stronger language to use with prospective employees. Rather than relying on a list of benefits or simply saying Ulton is “a good place to work”, the business can explain why people join, why they stay and what they can expect from a career at Ulton - and use that same thinking to guide future people initiatives.
The work also gave Ulton:
A more coherent, clearly structured benefits program
Shared language for recruitment and internal communication
Clearer priorities for future investment in the employee experience.
“Before this project, we knew we were doing a lot of good things for our people, but we didn’t have a clear way to bring them together or explain what made the Ulton experience different. People Co. listened closely, challenged our thinking and turned a huge amount of feedback into something that felt genuinely us. The EVP has given us a stronger foundation for how we communicate with our people, attract new talent and make decisions about where to invest next.”
Hannah Murchie | People & Culture Manager, Ulton
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