DHL, Rentokil and BT are among a host of firms with a high proportion of remote, dispersed workers. So how do these companies reach out to employees, and keep them engaged, with so little direct contact? Caroline Parry reports:

When Ian Searle, vice-president of risk for DHL UK & Ireland and the leader of the risk team’s internal communications plan, was told travel cuts meant its annual conference had to be cancelled for this year, he knew it was crucial to find another way of connecting the team.

With 214 members, based in different teams across parent company Deutsche Post’s global offices, team members could easily feel disconnected and he was concerned that the lack of face-to-face time would affect morale.

So he turned to the growing number of web-based alternatives that are increasingly being embraced by global businesses, and in just three weeks, including script development and two rehearsals, he created a webinar. “It is important for everyone to see the global team leader and to hear about the group and team strategy going forward,” he says.

Searle is not alone in dealing with the unique challenge of trying to keep a dispersed team feeling engaged and part of the business they work for. Companies including Rentokil, Bupa and BT are also facing the difficulties that come with having a significant mobile workface with large numbers of staff rarely near a desk or computer.

Searle admits that the team’s first foray into webcasting was not without glitches, but says they taught him valuable lessons about how to use the tools, and believes his team appreciated the effort that had been made by their leaders to reach out to them. He adds: “There was a buzz around the network; they knew we had tried our best.”

Because nearly all of the team went back to watch the recording of the webinar, he does not think the live element was the critical factor and will look at simpler alternatives. That said, the experience showed Searle that this kind of communication can work for DHL. “We like to communicate our successes and I don’t think a block of text is always the best way for that, so we are looking at other web options for doing that.”

He hopes to have one of DHL’s six regions comfortable with using this kind of technology - most likely the mainland Europe business - by the end of next year.

Over at Rentokil, the challenge is on a far greater scale. With 70,000 mobile workers across six divisions, including its famous pest control business, parcel delivery (Citilink) and facilities services under Initial, it is vital that such a large number of front line staff feel engaged.

“We are a service business so the key planks of the strategy are engagement and dialogue,” says corporate communications director Malcolm Padley. “The quality of our service depends on the people on the frontline, the better we can engage them, the better it is for our clients.”

The company has developed a strategy centred around dialogue with its staff. This includes a monthly meeting for its 1,000 branches, all of which follow the same structure, and an annual staff survey, called Your Voice Counts. The first segment of the survey, which had an 85% response rate, was started in September and it will be completed and turned in an action plan by the end of the year.

Aware that communication could break down after staff leave the building, Rentokil has also created a monthly radio-style programme that is delivered via mobile phone. The five-minute show includes interviews with management about its financial performance, company updates, and stories from around the business. Staff can listen via the handsfree system in the vans or pick it up like a voice mail during breaks.

Launched about a year and half ago, it aims to speak to staff on a personal level and the engagement rate has settled at around 70-75%. It complements the group-wide magazine, Horizons, which offers similar content although steers clear of financial news.

The newest development for Rentokil, however, promises to be the most revolutionary, in terms of engaging staff and moving the possibilities for its internal communications forward. In October, it signed a deal with Google – instantly becoming the Web-services provider’s biggest client – that will for the first time offer company email addresses to allof it staff, regardless of whether they are desk-based. Accounts can be accessed via PDAs or from home computers, opening a new channel for the company to speak to them and vice versa.

“This is a very exciting development for our remote staff,” says Padley. “Traditionally, front-line staff just wouldn’t have access to this. Even if they only log on once a month, it opens up a lot of possibilities for us to engage with our people.”

The technology will be rolled out over the next year but Padley hopes that there will be scope for a range of new applications including video messages from the managing director, which is already being piloted with 800 staff, and a move towards social networking through functions such as automatic chat translation.

More and more business are recognising the social networking’s potential in engaging dispersed workers. Research carried out by theblueballroom found that, while email and face-to-face meetings are still the most popular channels for internal communication, video, blogs and microblogging, including sites such as Yammer, are growing in popularity.

Global healthcare company Bupa has been piloting its internal social networking platform, Bupa Live, for five months and, over time, it will become key to its strategy of using internal communications to create a community that can share knowledge and expertise.

“A key focus for Bupa is collaboration and sharing knowledge,” says head of group internal communications Danielle Spencer, who joined the organisation in March.

With more than 50,000 staff in diverse roles across front line healthcare, clinical staff and business units spread across the world, and 35,000 people working in roles that are non-desk based, the value of a networking site accessible at any time is clear. Staff can write blogs, take part in forums and join groups and the site is fully searchable, creating a valuable knowledge resource and tool for communicating.

“We have been moving forward cautiously, justuntil we understand how it works but, so far, there are more than 3,500 users, 350 groups and an average of 200 new users joining each week,” Spencer says. She hopes to have 7,000 users by next February.

"Traditionally, front-line staff just wouldn’t have access to this. Even if they only log on once a month, it opens up a lot of possibilities for us to engage with our people.”

At present it is being promoted using core advocates in the business, including high level managers, and it is growing by word of mouth. It is also slowly being integrated into key activities, such as promoting conferences.

The involvement of senior managers in new tools like social networking and blogging is essential to give staff the confidence to join in, particularly as most business platforms do not allow anonymous comments or blogging. Meanwhile, it is important that managers understand that giving this tools to employees will not encourage time wasting, but encourages a more open culture of sharing and community.

Bupa Live builds on the company’s existing communications channels, including Bupa World magazine, launched in September 2008, which has a guest editor from around the business every month. Again, Spencer says it serves as an excellent archive of case studies to help staff measure their work against the company’s objectives.

It is supported by a monthly video podcast, given by managers or staff leading key initiatives in bid to bring them to life. It is also used by the chief executive to deliver the financial results. “Some financial terminology can be very complex so it is chance for the management to interpret that. We also take questions to give it a personal touch.”

With many companies seeking to communicate more with the staff, communications provider BT already has an advanced internal communication structure but it now working to reduce the amount of communication it sends out by doing it more efficiently.

With 100,000 staff in more than 50 countries and across four consumer facing divisions and two internal service units, it again has a large number of staff that do not sit in front of computers as well as 10,000 home workers. “In a company the size and breadth of BT, it’s important to use internal communications to communicate the one BT story - both through the channels we use and the messages we communicate,” Marie Morley, BT head of internal communication says. “By being innovative with our channels we can tailor information so the right people get it at the right time.”

Befitting its role in as a communications giant, it has an advanced social media strategy, launching its first tools about four years ago (see box).

While there are tried and tested approaches to engaging staff, the diverse nature of companies with dispersed staff means that what has worked for one business can’t just be directly applied to another. A multiple-media approach will be essential, as is constant evaluation of whether it is hitting the right people. “There are no silver bullets,” admits Padley.  

 

Remote but social
As a communications services provider with a significant proportion of remote and home workers, BT is in the fortunate position of having many channels of communication at its finger tips, but online has increasingly become the centre of its internal communications strategy.

Each of its six units has its own intranet site, which is bespoke to each division and will cover hot topics for each. For the past four years, these sites have also offered a selection of social media tools have been available through the intranet sites including a social networks, blogging, wikis for enterprise and project collaboration, a podcasting platform and forums.

Morley says its strategy is to integrate the tools into the way people work and collaborate so they can connect and share information in real time.

She explains: “Giving people a voice through these tools is a key building block for having an engaged workforce and empowering every individual to believe they can make a difference to the organisation.”

She adds that BT believes that this strategy is crucial to attracting the right kind of people in future. “The availability of these tools is important if we are to attract the kind of people we need in the future – many of whom will have grown up with them and use them as an integral part of their lives.”