Joe Dermody
Employee engagement company Workvivo already has customers in 23 countries, and has been growing at a phenomenal pace since its June 2018 launch.
Trigon Hotels and Workvivo partners check their internal communications app at Cork Airport Hotel: (Back row) Martina Renzone, Joe Lennon (Workvivo), Aaron Mansworth (Trigon) and John Goulding (Workvivo); (Front) Roger Russell, Luigi Palembo, Moyisi Nondula, Carmel Lonergan and Johnny Nyhan.
Based in Douglas, Cork, Workvivo’s powerful internal communications platform is allowing employees in clients like Staffordshire University, Voxpro, Morgan McKinley and Trigon Hotels to really feel engaged with the strategy of their company. Sign-up is entirely voluntary for staff.
So far, more than 80% of Trigon Hotels Group staff are regular users of the new internal communications platform. Staff connect with company strategy via the app. They also use it for fun.
“People use it to post pictures,” said Aaron Mansworth, Trigon Group director. “They can use it on their PC or mobile. Last week, I put up a competition for pumpkin carving and we got a lot of really great entries.”
The Trigon Hotel Group consists to three hotels in Cork City. The Cork International Hotel has 145 rooms, the Metropole Hotel has 108 rooms and Cork Airport Hotel has 81 rooms. The group’s 270 staff are now more aware of activities across all three hotels.
“Our hotels have also challenged each other making cocktails. We had a pulse survey on a choice of two venues for our staff party last summer,” said Mr Mansworth. “This is a way for staff to know what’s happening in our other hotels. We also see it as moving with the times, and adapting with new technology.
“In the past, we did everything through notice boards. This is far more personal. People can go on as much or as little as they like. It’s perfect for an industry like ours, where people are so important. It conformed to GDPR rules. It ticked all the boxes really.
[quote]At Trigon Hotels we pride ourselves on attention to detail. We aim to exceed expectations 100% of the time, for our guests, staff and stakeholders. We do this through the passionate pursuit of perfection, which guides us in all that we do. With Workvivo we are able to use these goals in our everyday work and show how they fit into what we are doing on a daily basis[/quote]
Trigon would previously have found that some staff just wouldn’t get to see its communications. Now they’re instantly aware of the outcomes of activities like ‘mystery shopper’ visits, they’re updated on news like refurbishments and recruitment. Most importantly, they feel like they’re a core part of the company culture and strategy.
Andrew Proctor, head of digital services, Staffordshire University, said: “We have so many disparate channels where people can receive information, there was a lot of fragmentation with what we were doing. With Workvivo, we saw an opportunity to give a really model, rich look and feel, app-based approach to engaging with our staff.”
The university’s staff is using the service to communicate with management, to host pulse surveys, to post activities and to celebrate achievements.
Workvivo founders John Goulding and Joe Lennon both worked in HR for ten years at a very high level. They spent a year creating the platform for companies to connect and engage with employees, not just in Ireland but around the world.
Their global ambition is already paying off. The Workvivo platform is already used across Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Singapore, USA, Canada, Japan and China.
Workvivo CEO and co-founder John Goulding said that having Trigon as their first client has given the company a great starting story to tell potential new clients.
“Trigon have been great for us,” said John Goulding. “They backed us from the very start and we were delighted to work with such a dynamic and progressive Cork company.
“It’s obvious that effective internal communication and employee engagement is hugely important to Trigon Group and we were delighted with the early vote of confidence that they gave us.”
Of course, Workvivo’s success to date is primarily down to creating a platform which allows staff to feel a sense of ownership of their own company. For the company, that engagement also has clear dividends.
“Our research shows that good things happen when employees engage with their work,” said John Goulding. “Employees who engage with a company are likely to stay longer, so staff retention levels go up.
“People are happier when they’re more aware of the goals of the company. That adds to the culture of the company. The platform facilitates supercharged communications where people are informed about what’s going on.
“The platform also allows for feedback in a very anonymous way, which many people like.” Many companies are strong when it comes to building strategies around external communications, pitching for new business or publishing corporate branding messages to mass audiences.
However, many fall down when it comes to communicating internal messages with their own staff, and engaging them in the mission of the company.
“A lot of the time, companies put a lot of effort into their communications with potential new customers, or staying connnected with existing customers,” said John Goulding. “Our platform is focused on internal connections.
“The CEO and senior management of a large organisation will be clued into their goals and strategies. Our platform helps ensure that everybody in the organisation becomes aware of those goals.
“We’re finding that the platform is resonating for all types of industries. The platform is working for hotels and universities. We also have an Irish engineering company, which has also operations and staff in Dubai, Russia and Kazakhstan.
“All organisations have goals and objectives, and they all need their employees to be aware of those goals and to engage with them. If you are tuned into the company’s goals, if you are emotionally connected with the company, you perform better.
“The way that staff in Trigon Hotels engaged with our platform from day one has been a great vote of confidence for us. The fact that we are now live in 23 countries is also a great vote of confidence.”
www.workvivo.com
