“97.3% of our employees actively use Oneteam. The improved communication with and involvement of our frontline employees has a positive impact on our business. The frontline employees are more confident on the floor and can therefore offer the best possible experience to our guests.”
Introduction
Amrâth Hôtels consists of 11 hotels with restaurants and meeting facilities, including the iconic Grand Hotel Amrâth Kurhaus Hotel in Scheveningen. A total of 364 employees work for Amrâth Hôtels, spread over the different locations.
We interviewed Caroline Bosman, Communications & Operations Manager at Amrâth Hôtels, to learn how using Oneteam’s Employee Experience Platform helps them connect, train and engage their frontline employees.
The challenge
What Employee Experience challenges were you facing before using Oneteam?
Before using Oneteam, we did not have a suitable communication channel to connect with our employees in the operations. Because they do not have a business email address, practical information at the department level was communicated via WhatsApp . We never really realized how this was a major challenge until the COVID pandemic forced us to communicate extensively across the organization. That’s when we realized we couldn’t reach our frontline employees and we needed a proper solution to do so.
How was this affecting your business?
From our head office, we only communicated with the hotel managers and sometimes the heads of the department by e-mail, even though the information also concerned employees throughout the entire organization. To disseminate information, we depended on a hierarchical structure and their communication channels. If this was not done correctly, it might have affected either the operational organization, or the overall guest experience, and consequently the commercial results. Through direct communication from the head office, the message is now immediately delivered to the right person at the right time. The frontline employees are the ones who work on the floor and are the face of our organization. So it is important to keep them involved.
"We managed to go live within two weeks of our first call."
The solution
Why did you choose Oneteam?
We explored a few options, but what appealed to us about Oneteam was that the platform looks sleek and is easy to use. In addition, the price-quality ratio was better compared to other providers.
How did you experience the implementation process with Oneteam?
Our deadline was very tight, as we wanted to go live within two weeks. That seemed difficult at first, but together with Oneteam, we have done everything we could to make that possible. In the end, we managed to go live within two weeks of our first call.
Who uses Oneteam within your organization?
We currently have hundreds of employees who use Oneteam, from the employees in F&B to the reception and wellness. The Kurhaus in Scheveningen is a good example of a location where employees make optimal use of the platform. Particularly there we see that Oneteam is widely used for shift handovers, to give each other feedback, and to share achievements. In addition, fun activities are promoted on the platform throughout all locations to improve employee engagement. Think of sharing photos and setting up local challenges. Employees from all locations are involved and use the platform both to exchange practical information as to playfully challenge each other.
The results
How do your frontline employees react to using Oneteam?
From the use of the platform, we can see that it is functional and proves to be very important for employee engagement. Where we previously hardly had any interaction with our frontline employees, we now see that many comments and likes are shared with every message that is shared on the timeline. A big advantage is that we are able to communicate with everyone at the same time, or in smaller sub-communities. With the platform, we now have a direct connection between the frontline workers and the management, which also makes our internal communication way more spontaneous. In addition, thanks to Oneteam, we are able to easily gather frontline employee feedback via polls and to use their valuable input when making top-down decisions.
How do you use onboarding and eLearning to train your frontline employees?
For all hotels, we use the onboarding module to welcome new employees and provide them with all the practical information they need in order to find their way around the hotel. In addition, we have also created some eLearning programs . This helps us to increase the knowledge level of our employees. When people learn more about the organization, they get more familiar with their job and can fully focus on hospitality. Someone who is always well informed comes across as more confident and thus ensures that it benefits the entire experience for our guests.
What other results have you seen so far?
In the beginning, we were concerned that it would be difficult to get hundreds of people enthusiastic about using a new platform, but this turned out to not be a problem at all and we now see that 97.3% of our employees actively use Oneteam. It has also proven to be very easy to add new employees and get them enthusiastic about using Oneteam.
How does Oneteam contribute to the overall objectives of your organization?
The improved communication with and involvement of our frontline employees naturally brought a direct positive impact on our business. By improving the provision of information and broadening the knowledge of our employees, the frontline employees are more confident on the floor and are able to provide the best possible experience for our guests.
Oneteam also helps us to create support for projects, implementations, and changes within the organization. By informing people early in the process and communicating a lot about it via Oneteam, we are able to create more support and make any objections open for discussion from the start.
Finally, we are able to promote an active sales mindset by organizing challenges. Setting sales targets and tracking results online between hotels motivates them to achieve goals more easily.
“Thanks to Oneteam, we are able to easily gather frontline employee feedback via polls and we use their valuable input when making top-down decisions.”
Try Oneteam and achieve similar results
Are you looking for a solution to improve the employee experience of your frontline workforce?
Try Oneteam for free, or plan a product demo with one of our Employee Experience Experts.
