The State of Engagement:
Chris Le’cand-Harwood
Workplace Content Strategy & Production Specialist.
This edition of TSOE is with Chris Le’cand-Harwood – Founder of The Content Marketing Pod.
Here, we explore the link between employer brand and employee engagement.
Chris helps organisations turn culture into content. He builds strategies that go beyond campaigns and create authentic, consistent stories. We share a lot of crossover in our work, both putting people first.
For Chris, advocacy is key. Employees become experts, advocates and co-producers. The result is content that attracts talent, strengthens engagement and communicates purpose with credibility.
Which part of EVP matters most to you personally?
EVP, or Employee Value Proposition, is the balance of what people give and what they get back. I like to break it down into seven pillars:
Brand & Purpose, Culture, Environment, Monetary, Prospects, Relationships, and Wellbeing.
So what is the most important to Chris?
Chris points to Culture. He believes engagement comes down to clarity and impact.
“People want to know exactly what’s expected of them, and they want to see that their work makes a difference.”
Without this clarity, motivation will fade. Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace shows engagement globally at just 21% (which goes down to 10% in the UK), with managers often a cause, according to their research.
“If managers do not have clarity, their teams cannot either,” Chris notes.
Why is disengagement so high?
Chris sees a few drivers:
- Managers without training. Too many are promoted for technical skills, not people skills. Without support, they default to their old role instead of leading. This isn’t on them, of course.
- Hybrid headaches. Remote work adds flexibility but also isolation. Younger employees often want in-person learning and social connection, while leaders sometimes demand office presence without explaining the “why”.
- External pressures. Cost of living and wider uncertainty weigh on people. If work feels directionless on top of that, disengagement is inevitable.
So does management need a rebrand?
For Chris, the answer is yes. Too often, progression is equated with managing people. He argues for alternative expert career paths that recognise specialists without forcing them into management.
And where people do move into leadership roles, they need training. “You can’t just assume someone will be good at managing people because they were good at their job,” Chris says.
However, we both agreed that engagement is a shared responsibility:
- Leaders set behaviours and explain the bigger picture.
- Employer brand and content teams give clarity and amplify real employee voices.
- Managers translate strategy into day-to-day clarity.
- Employees co-create the culture when they’re invited to contribute.
So how to get the edge with employer brand?
Chris’s advice is simple: be consistent, be present, and treat employees like experts.
It’s not enough to post once or twice a month or rely on a hero campaign. The organisations that stand out are the ones with volume content: long-form and short-form, serialised stories, and employees showing up regularly as advocates.
He’s done this with healthcare clients, creating content with nurses and psychiatrists, and with the RAF, building campaigns where people shared how sport helped them “find their force.” In every case, the outcome is the same: richer attraction, stronger engagement, and an EVP that feels real.
“EVP is not about positioning, it’s not a tagline, it’s so much more.”
Chris says “Real EVP is the lived experience: the vibe, the swagger, the behaviours people describe when they talk about their work… You know it’s effective when you hear employees explaining their expertise, sharing stories, or giving advice.”
Employee Engagement: “From The Experts”
Chris’s work focuses on serialised, consistent content that makes employees visible and gives them a platform.
One client example: a mental healthcare provider wanted to raise the profile of their occupational therapists. Instead of running ‘just another recruitment campaign’, Chris helped them launch The OT Life podcast, with the tagline Not just barbecues and bingo. Staff talked about purpose, challenges, and expertise in their own words.
Yes, it was an employer brand exercise, but this boosted internal pride and positioned employees as thought leaders in their field.
That’s employer brand meeting engagement head-on.
Find out more about Employer Content Marketing
Visit the Content Marketing Pod
Follow Chris on Linkedin
Contact CHEER!
Click here for past editions of The State of Engagement