As an employer, if you promise to surprise people, you need to reflect that in your day-to-day employment practices. Lender Freo did so not with a poster on the wall, but with something much more playful: a card game employer branding which helps employees to discuss work values. Together with Goals was thus translated an abstract promise into concrete behaviour.
In this blog, we take you through how that works and what you can learn from it yourself.
Why a deck of cards can strengthen employer branding
Freo put three working values at the heart of its Employer Value Proposition: together, grow and surprise. Nice words, but only when employees give meaning to them does an employer brand really come to life.
The central question: What do colleagues themselves understand by these values? And how do you make sure they don't just talk about it once in a workshop, but that it becomes part of their daily work?
Therefore, Freo and Goals developed a card game employer branding that:
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starting the conversation about work values
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helps to translate abstract concepts into concrete behaviour
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easy to deploy during selection, onboarding and team days
In this way, employer branding becomes not only a story to the outside world, but above all a dialogue within the organisation.
This is how the card game employer branding works at Freo
Based on previous EPP sessions and workshops with employees, Goals developed a playful format for Freo: a deck of cards with several stacks of cards and a matching game board. Each stack represents a work value and contains assignments or questions that invite reflection and conversation.
Consider, for example:
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cards dealing with desired behaviour in teams
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cards addressing impact towards customers
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cards that help chart personal growth
Important: the card game deliberately has no strict rules of play. Teams and managers can use it to suit their consultation, onboarding moment or recruitment and selection. You can use it:
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at the start of a new colleague, to talk about the culture
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in the selection process, to discover whether someone really fits the DNA
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in team sessions, to discuss goals and collaboration
The employer branding card game thus acts primarily as a conversation starter: a low-threshold way of making values tangible.
What organisations can learn from this card game employer branding
The example of Freo shows that employer branding only gets real power when you make it translates to employee journey. A few lessons you can take away as an organisation:
1. Make values concrete
Words like 'together' and 'grow' sound nice, but only say something when employees can cite examples from their own work. A card game forces you to think about that and share it.
2. Actively involve employees
Instead of presenting a set of values top-down, the deck of cards actually asks for input from employees. What do they think is important? When do they feel at their best? This increases ownership and commitment.
3. Use one format throughout the employee journey
Because Freo uses the card game in recruitment, onboarding and team sessions, consistency is created. Candidates, new colleagues and existing teams speak the same language - a strong foundation for a brand that is right inside and out.
Read more about Freo's employer branding card game
Curious about the full story behind this card game and the role of Goals in it? Werf& wrote an extensive article about it, including background and quotes from Freo:
Source: Peter Boerman, About the card game with which Freo wants to permanently surprise its employees, Werf& (23 October 2025).
Read the original article at Werf&.
