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Many employers are effectively engaging in "catfishing" with prospective employees by not portraying an honest picture of their EVP, a recruitment specialist says.

This is especially occurring in the form of "wellbeing washing", where a company sells up its wellbeing and lifestyle benefits, with promises that are only surface-level, says Karan & Co CEO Lauren Karan.

"It's almost like catfishing an employee," she tells HR Daily. "You're saying to somebody, 'we care about wellbeing, we don't work crazy hours, you'll have work-life balance and flexibility', and that's what you sell to get the employee in."

But when they start, "it's like 'hang on, I'm working crazy hours, I don't have flexibility, everything that I was sold is a lie'", she says. "And this is the danger you never want to get to as a company.

"There is no point selling something that isn't a reality"...