How Odyssey Logistics United 17 Acquired Companies Across 80 Global Locations in 8 Weeks
With 1,800+ employees spread across 80 global locations, Odyssey needed a cultural heartbeat. Workvivo, delivered by implementation partner LineZero, gave them exactly that.
75%
adoption within weeks of launch
8-week
rollout period
80+
employee recognitions in Q1 alone
It all started with 17 companies and a big question
Odyssey Logistics is a global leader in multimodal logistics (intermodal, rail, ground transport, warehousing, managed services), generating over a billion dollars in annual revenue and operating across more than 80 locations worldwide.
A few years ago, they began a significant digital transformation. Part of that meant consolidating 17 acquired companies under one unified Odyssey identity, meaning the company needed a new brand, new values, and new direction.
The hardest part? Getting the entire workforce, from office employees to frontline workers, to actually feel like they were part of one Odyssey.
They had a SharePoint intranet – in theory. In reality, it hadn't been properly maintained for years. While people knew how to update it, it lacked ownership, content had become outdated, and employees gradually stopped relying on it.
Communication happened through email blasts and physical bulletin boards. It was disconnected, impossible to measure, and completely unreachable for warehouse associates who didn’t have a company email address at all.
“We had a very low engagement rate,” said Ann Stawski, Sr. Director of Marketing & Communications. “It wasn’t easy to update or navigate. People just bypassed it.”
Anndrea Vorobej, Director of IT Strategy and Business Development, felt that leaders had no idea if their communications were reaching anyone. They couldn’t measure engagement or prove anything was working. And with 17 companies now under one roof, that was a real risk to the whole transformation.
Something had to give.
People
1,800+
Industry
Multimodal Logistics & Supply Chain
Location
Global
Org Size
Mid-market
That’s when we realized we needed something that not only drives connection, but also helps build the culture of the company, gives visibility to leadership, and reinforces our values and mission, so that we could, again, bring those 17 companies together as one.
Maneet Singh
CIO & Chief Digital Officer
Finding the right fit and the right partner
When Odyssey started evaluating platforms, their requirements weren’t complicated, but they were firm. It had to:
- Be easy to use – genuinely easy, not “easy after a week of training.”
- Work on mobile, so frontline staff wouldn’t be excluded.
- Require minimal IT support once it was up and running.
- Reach everyone, from the executive in Charlotte to the warehouse associate in Joliet who might only access it on a shared terminal.
Workvivo checked every box. The interface (familiar, social-media-style, intuitive) meant people could pick it up without a manual. “Our CEO kept saying: ‘It’s like Facebook’,” Ann recalled. “Because people were already used to that kind of platform, the learning curve was really short.”
But choosing the tool was only part of the decision. Odyssey also chose to work with LineZero as their implementation partner, and that decision turned out to matter just as much as the platform itself.
LineZero specializes in Workvivo deployments. They came with a pre-built adoption playbook, migration templates, and a structured launch framework built from dozens of previous rollouts. They integrated Workvivo with Odyssey’s Dayforce HR platform via SSO, meaning user management essentially took care of itself from day one.
They created Odyssey-branded posters and QR codes for warehouses and offices across three continents. And their dedicated customer success team kept the rollout methodical and on track, ensuring every detail was covered as Odyssey moved at speed.
Odyssey came in with an ambitious goal: completing the rollout in just eight weeks. With LineZero’s structured playbook and customer success team’s support helping to keep every detail on track, they achieved it.
75% of activation in a couple of weeks
The launch plan was thorough. Anndrea held training sessions at all hours of the day to accommodate teams across every time zone. Ann built a detailed communications rollout: emails, town hall tie-ins, and a full campaign.
They established “champions” across departments and business units: brand ambassadors who helped seed adoption, answered questions from their teams, and made the platform feel like something real people were using rather than something HR was making them do.
It worked. Within the first few weeks, 75% of office and administrative employees were registered and active. LineZero’s team, who had seen a lot of launches, said they’d never seen adoption happen that fast.
The moments that don’t fit in a dashboard
The metrics are incredible:
- 75% adoption
- 80+ employee Shoutouts in Q1
- Meaningful reductions in IT overhead
- Communications that now take 30 seconds to post instead of hours
But the real success story of Workvivo at Odyssey lives in the moments between the numbers.
It lives in the “Roundabout Series,” a monthly lunch-and-learn that Anndrea and Ann launched together through the platform. Comprising three 15-minute sessions back to back, it’s promoted through the Events Calendar and saved on Workvivo for anyone who missed it.
It lives in the Shoutouts, a recognition feature Odyssey tied directly to their five core values, spotlighting a different value each month. At their Q1 town hall, more than 80 employee names rolled across the screen, each one representing a moment someone had decided to celebrate a colleague. “It reminds people that we’re working together,” Ann said. “That’s our first value – win together.”
What’s next for Odyssey?
Somewhere along the way, thousands of people stopped being employees of an acquisition and started feeling like they worked at Odyssey.
That’s why Odyssey is still growing into Workvivo. They’re exploring the Journeys feature for onboarding and watching closely as Workvivo continues to develop its AI capabilities to make the experience more personalized and intelligent at scale.
Every new employee learns about the platform from day one. Every town hall gets saved there. Every win has somewhere to land. That was always the goal – now it’s a reality.