The Employee Communication Platform
Assembling Top-of-the-Line Internal Comms at Nordell
How a “slick, transparent comms tool” helped one UK manufacturer engage every one of its night shift employees and scale its operations.
93%
Percentage of Nordell
employees registered
on Workvivo
100%
Percentage of all-staff
emails and postage
eliminated
83%
Percentage of Nordell
employees that login
to Workvivo every month
Nordell is a plastics manufacturing and design refinement company who provides injection moulding, assembly and other complimentary services. They employ almost 200 people, 30 of which are office-based with the remainder in manufacturing.
Daniel Grover, the company’s Head of Commercial, has a clear memory of what Nordell was like before Workvivo. Internal communications – one of the most critical aspects of staff satisfaction and retention in any industry – was non-existent. Employees had no specific intranet to visit for information and updates, and the tools they were using in an effort to turn things around were proving ineffective in terms of engagement and user-friendliness.
- People200
- IndustryManufacturing
- LocationUK
- CategorySMB
So, what did Daniel and his colleagues want to change? The main goal was to transform Nordell’s internal comms and, in turn, to drive transparency, a great company culture, and better real-time information.
The company also wanted to:
- Ensure its ethos and strong business values were maintained through its comms strategy
- Build two-way communication channels between employees and leadership
- Give individual workers a platform to tell their stories and show and tell the wider company about their achievements.
Like many others, Nordell wanted a one-stop shop for employee communication and leadership messaging.
That’s why it chose Workvivo.
The Workvivo Impact
To date, 93% of employees at Nordell have registered on Workvivo. 67% return every week and 83% log on every month to get updates, post shout-outs, and read news articles about the company and their colleagues.
For team members who don’t have access to a smartphone or a laptop, the company has set up computers on site so that everyone can log in to Workvivo whenever they want. Such measures have helped Nordell’s employee retention rate, which currently stands at over 85%, and has made communicating across multiple sites, divisions, and shifts easier.
This info is accessible for the leadership team via monthly surveys, allowing them to monitor staff morale and address areas of dissatisfaction.
Percentage of Nordell employees that log on every month
The One-Stop Shop Nordell Needed
Integrations have provided Nordell with the one-stop shop it needed. Workvivo makes it easy for the company to provide links to training and learning materials, and acts as a hub from which employees can access other Nordell apps that relate to HR, payslips, and more.
For a manufacturing company like Nordell, safety is always a top priority. Workvivo has helped Nordell become a safer workplace by giving the company an easy way to highlight and correct safety issues.
It’s also helped customer satisfaction; having Workvivo in place has led to improved use of CRM and a new customer care team being set up to improve Nordell’s service. The platform makes it easier to communicate customer issues to the wider team quickly.
Workvivo has also positively impacted onboarding at Nordell. Dan says, “It’s also a great way of onboarding as employees can check back on communications as well as see all their colleagues and their roles on the organization chart.”
HR has saved an hour every week by hosting policies, forms, and payslips on Workvivo. And for every new joiner at Nordell, the company is saving two hours by having all the background information they need available in a dedicated Space.
And that’s not all…
- 62% are very aware of how their role contributes to what the company is trying to achieve
- 72% are comfortable with voicing their views to their manager
- 70% agree that the organization’s values are closely aligned with their own.
More streamlined communication and better engagement has even helped boost Nordell’s overall performance. Daniel says that “having a transparent comms tool internally” was of great interest when he presented Nordell’s case for Large Business of the Year at the Sussex Business Awards – which the company won.
CEO Paul Mason shared in a post on Workvivo in 2021 that the company had seen its best performance in any three-month period to date.
I have always felt that Workvivo is different to many of the supply relationships we have. It feels like we are an individual and working with friends.
DANIEL GROVER HEAD OF COMMERCIAL AT NORDELL
Impact Spotlight:
No More Noticeboards
With the help of Workvivo, Nordell benefits from more reliable and far-reaching comms, even for those without email. In the past, it was difficult for leadership to determine whether notice boards had actually been read, and there was no way to send out push notifications.
Workvivo has replaced every single noticeboard in Nordell. This has saved the company money, as having a digital comms forum has meant spending less on organizing and updating multiple physical noticeboards, but also time; around two hours each week and 100 hours of annual resourcing annually by having one central point of information.
“Gone are the out-of-date notices pinned to the notice boards, often missed by the team! What we have now is a slick communication tool that all employees sign up to for free on joining.”
For the first time ever, we’ve engaged 100% of night staff. We’ve never engaged more than 20% of night staff on anything.
DANIEL GROVER
HEAD OF COMMERCIAL AT NORDELL
Impact Spotlight:
Engaging the Night Shift
One of the biggest pain points for the manufacturing company was engaging night staff and driving real-time communication between employees on different shifts.
In 2020, the company had over 60 employees working Monday to Friday. Today, that number has increased to more than 190 employees working across four shifts – and Workvivo has made a huge difference.
“We would have been in a whole world of pain without Workvivo. We would have no way to communicate with everyone.
“For the first time ever, we’ve engaged 100% of night staff. We’ve never engaged more than 20% of night staff on anything.”
How Is Nordell Making
the Most of Workvivo?
For Daniel, Workvivo has become part of his daily routine. He found it particularly helpful during the pandemic, when he used it to communicate quarterly company newsletters when physical town hall meetings couldn’t take place.
But beyond lockdown, the platform has helped amplify Nordell’s culture by creating a clear link between its comms and company values, building trust through transparency, and emphasizing respect and recognition through shout-outs and kudos.
When a new hire joins Nordell, downloading the Workvivo app is now part of their onboarding. The accessible and up-to-date org chart available on the platform – complete with employee photos – means they can build their network quickly and hit the ground running.
Publishing Nordell’s values on Workvivo means that every person in the company knows where and what they are, and can link their posts to them. Leadership can also communicate all messages in real time, so that urgent information reaches every single employee at the touch of a button.
And to engage employees who haven’t downloaded the app yet, Nordell can draw on Workvivo’s insights and analytics to see who hasn’t logged in and follow up with them.
A New Way to Listen to Staff
Workvivo has given Nordell new ways to listen to and act on employee feedback.
It achieves this through:
- Monthly surveys
- Encouraging feedback using Workvivo
- Requests to provide feedback on quarterly reviews
The majority of companies our size have nothing like this so we are very much at the forefront of employee engagement
Nordell’s Favorite
Workvivo Features
BADGES
Nordell employees make great use of the Badges feature, assigning them for such achievements as Mental Health Ally and Health & Safety Champion.
SPACES
Workvivo’s Spaces are a popular hit for Nordell staff, an example of which is their Health and Safety Space. Here, employees can keep each other up to date on policies, issues and the latest report and best practice.
COMPANY-WIDE UPDATES
Organization-wide comms is easier than ever whether it’s health and safety updates, information on new processes, team achievements, industry news and more. Nordell has eliminated 100% of all-staff emails and postage to home addresses.
SURVEYS
The HR Team use pulse surveys to measure employee engagement and for employee listening. Each month a different engagement driver is assessed and a yearly survey kicked off in 2022.
CELEBRATIONS
Nordell loves to celebrate birthdays, work anniversaries, qualifications, achievements, kudos, and more.
BUSINESS AWARDS
The company’s business awards, organized and run via Workvivo, help leadership show their appreciation for employees and share successes with everyone.
INTERNAL ROLES
Vacancies within Nordell are shared internally with all staff through Workvivo, providing visible opportunities for advancement.
Looking Back on Nordell’s Workvivo Journey So Far
Looking back on Nordell’s Workvivo journey so far, Daniel sees the app as a central part of the company’s story.
“I can’t believe it’s been two years since we first got going with Workvivo. Without Workvivo, I don’t believe we could have achieved what we have achieved. It has definitely made communication so much easier.
“We will soon become a four-site operation. A couple of years ago we only had one site. I always make sure I tell others our story and Workvivo is very much a part of that. That link to company values and kudos helps generate a culture.”
“I have always felt that Workvivo is different to many of the supply relationships we have. It feels like we are an individual and working with friends.”
