BEST INTERNAL COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN PUBLIC RELATIONS

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1 BEST INTERNAL COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN PUBLIC RELATIONS 2016

2 BEST INTERNAL COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN Bringing Our Way to life at Three Sharon Murphy, MPRII (PRCA), with Joanna Kavanagh, MPRII and Catherine Dennehy, MPRII (Three Ireland). DESCRIPTION OF CAMPAIGN Following Three s acquisition of O2 we needed to bring employees together, to live Three s company values, and create a culture of appreciation. Three s Internal Communications team was tasked with developing and implementing a sustained programme of communications bringing these values to life. This was achieved through the Our Way programme. ORGANISATION Three Ireland BACKGROUND TO THE CAMPAIGN Following a lengthy acquisition process, Three and O2 officially came together in 2014 and by March 2015, all of O2 s assets were rebranded. Three, as an organisation, had changed hugely, more than doubling in size to 1,400 employees who were spread across a head office in Dublin, a Limerick based contact centre and 69 stores nationwide. Three s new company mission was born out of its acquisition of O2: Altogether Better. As part of this mission, Three wanted to create a company culture that combined the best of O2 and Three with a motivated and positive workforce working towards a common goal. Although company culture is not created overnight, Three believed that the first step in achieving this would be in defining and embedding its new company values. In order to firstly identify the new values, Three invited employees from across the organisation to attend one of a series of workshops which took place across Three s locations. The workshops, facilitated by an external moderator, asked employees how they felt about Three, what their ideal organisation looked like and what values and behaviours colleagues should embrace. The feedback was compiled and analysed, and from it five key Our way values 1

3 emerged, which would underpin Three s new cultural direction in 2015 and beyond. Three s Internal Communications team was challenged with bringing these values to life and so the Our Way programme was born. In March, the programme was launched with a series of CEO-hosted events which announced the new values in tandem with the 2015 company objectives. Once announced, the team started to integrate the values across internal channels and even employees 2015 objectives. CHALLENGES In an incredibly short space of time, employees of Three and O2 went from being competing organisations to working alongside each other. O2 employees, many of whom were hugely loyal to the O2 brand, now found themselves in a company they knew very little about. A new structure with new people necessitated a clear communication of employees place within the organisation and how they could contribute to Three s company goals. STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES The establishment of Our Way marked a new start for the combined Three business. We wanted to help integrate the workforce of over 1,400 employees by communicating our common goals and objectives, underpinned by a clear company mission. The success of the Our Way programme and employees engagement with it would be crucial to the future success of the new business. Key objectives for the programme included: 1. Embed our new company values with employees and co-ordinate a focused Our Way week to bring these values to life across all locations. 2. On completion of Our Way week, we wanted all employees to be aware, not only of what the company values were, but also what they meant to them and their specific role. 3. Motivate employees, encourage teamwork and create a sense of fun among employees. 4. Build and launch an appreciation programme for all employees and co-ordinate judging and presentation of employee awards. We wanted to reach high registration (70%) and usage figures for the tool. 5. Ensure buy-in from the SMT with each acting as an ambassador for one of the company values. 6. Finally, embed the values across internal communications channels, creating engaging s and events, and reaching high levels of readership across s and newsletters. Our team was responsible for launching this programme and ensuring genuine engagement across a very diverse and widespread workforce in our head office in Dublin, our contact centre in Limerick and throughout a network of 69 stores across Ireland. PROGRAMME PLANNING & STRATEGY Once the values had been finalised and launched, it was crucial that we maintained the momentum. We ensured that the new values were enshrined throughout all channels including: communications to employees, including our weekly newsletter, The Weekly Three. Internal screens and intranet. Our Way branding throughout our offices. Reiterated at every employee gathering, such as our mid-year CEO update. However, to take it further and ensure success we also set up and led two cross-functional groups: 1. An Our Way working group, which would identify key cultural changes, bring feedback and suggestions from their respective departments and help to identify the requirements from Our Way week. 2. An appreciation working group which would help to distribute surveys to employees on what they wanted from a recognition programme, develop the appreciation tool and act as appreciation champions in their departments. 2

4 OUR WAY WEEK A week dedicated to embedding and celebrating the Our Way values across the organisation was planned. The Internal Communications team developed and delivered the following programme: Each value would have its own day as well as a distinctive identity and Our Way branding should be highly visible throughout our offices. A member of the SMT would act as a value ambassador, one a day throughout Our Way week. They would be highly visible during the week and get involved where possible. Activities during the week would be collaborative to encourage employees to get to know each other and work together. Consideration would be given to retail staff involvement even though they would not be able to take part in office-based activities. On the weekend before Our Way week, we arranged for impactful branding to be installed throughout the building including elevators, canteen table tops and cups at our coffee shop. This branding was updated overnight to reflect the new daily value. We also utilised our internal channels such as the intranet and screens to highlight each day s value. The team then rolled out the following communication and activities to Three employees from Monday 22nd October 2015: MONDAY WE GO BEYOND THE EXPECTED We issued all-employee s from David Hennessy, Chief Technology Officer, on our first company value We go beyond the expected. We offered a taste of the unexpected in our Dublin office, with a roaming visit from illusionist Shane Black. We delivered unexpected breakfast treats to employees desks in our Limerick contact centre. We offered an exclusive competition for retail employees, with tickets to Mumford & Sons and Kodaline up for grabs.. Tuesday We focus on the customer We issued all-employee s from Simon Henry, Chief Financial Officer, on our second company value We focus on the customer. We launched our We focus on the customer digital suggestion box for employees, where they could submit an idea to improve the customer experience. We shared these ideas with Three s CRM team, with the best ideas actioned. Wednesday We work as one team We issued all-employee s from Elaine Carey, Chief Commercial Officer, on our third company value We work as one team. We launched the Team Toolkit, a guide to living the Our Way values within teams, with step-by-step actions that could be taken in any team meeting. We invited employees to join us to create bespoke pieces of art incorporating the Our Way values. These would later be displayed in Three s Dublin office. Thursday We appreciate each other We issued all-employee s from Ashley Cook, CRM Director, on our fourth company value We appreciate each other. We launched the 3Appreciate tool. We coordinated deskdrops / store-drops of Our Way branded items including pens, notebooks, post-its and portable mobile chargers. Friday We take responsibility We issued all-employee s from Eoin MacManus, Business Director, on our fifth company value We take responsibility. We launched the Our Way employee video, featuring employees throughout Three discussing how they were already living the Our Way values. We had filmed this the previous week in a number of locations. 3

5 We invited employees to sessions with SMT members in SJRQ that day, to look back on the week and discuss how, within each department, employees could take steps to live the company values. The following week, an Our Way survey was issued to employees to measure the success of the week and learn what employees would like the programme to develop into Appreciate We selected a cross-section of 80 employees from across the business and surveyed them about their views on workplace recognition. Some key findings included: 100% of employee value recognition. 77% of employees appreciate a thank you from their manager. 61% of employees would like a reward process that awarded employees on a quarterly basis. From this, as well as looking at best practice, we devised 3Appreciate, Three s new appreciation programme, and presented this to the SMT for their approval. Three s CRM Director acted as SMT programme sponsor, driving the importance of the programme amongst the SMT and throughout the company. The 3Appreciate tool was developed internally by members of Three s IT team and made available on desktop and handset. The tool is simple to use and facilitates three tiers of appreciation: STAR: All employees that receive an appreciation receive an with details of their appreciation. HERO: All STAR appreciations were reviewed by heads of function, with quarterly HERO winners identified. These winners won a custom trophy and a 3Appreciate-branded 250 One4All voucher which was presented to them by their line manager in prize ceremonies. LEGEND: At the end of the year, five individual LEGEND winners were selected from Three s HERO winners, who best represented one of our five company values. Individual LEGENDS were presented with trophies and cash prizes by the SMT and a LEGEND team won an incredible team experience, including a VIP night at 3Arena. MEASUREMENT A key objective was to raise awareness of our values and 77% of the employees we surveyed felt that Our Way week helped their understanding. We wanted employees to be aware of our company values. Before Our Way week, only 27% of employees surveyed knew precisely what the five company values were. After Our Way week, this figure more than doubled, and 79% of employees could recall at least three values. An important objective was to motivate employees and create a sense of fun. Comments from our survey included: There was generally a brilliant buzz around the office, especially as the week went on. The launch of 3Appreciate was a particularly good morning and there was a really lovely atmosphere as people started to appreciate team members through the tool. I really enjoyed the hands-on activities that got us thinking about our values. Rewards and recognition is something many people in the business have been asking for and this is a great innovative way of doing that! We wanted to build and launch an appreciation programme reaching 70% registration. An incredible 86% of employees registered. To date, 88 HERO awards and 11 team HERO awards have been presented, along with six LEGEND awards. 762 employees and 60 teams were appreciated at least once. 4

6 It was crucial for us to involve the SMT as ambassadors for each value, and each day of Our Way week, key communications were issued companywide on their behalf. They also took part in the Our Way video and wrap sessions on the final day of the week. Finally, we wanted to create engaging communications, reaching high levels of readership. Readership of communications incorporating Our Way and our values stands at 78%, tracked through our comms platform, Newsweaver. 5

7 AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN PUBLIC RELATIONS 2016