“Oneteam has become indispensable because it's really convenient for reaching people, posting messages from management, and sharing important information. It takes a lot of work off our hands.” - Daley van Beek, People Development Manager at Eijerkamp
Introduction
Eijerkamp is a family business that has been a prominent player in the home furnishings industry for the past 95 years. With two stores located in Veenendaal and Zutphen, the company prides itself on delivering high-quality designs to its customers.
As the People Development Manager, Daley van Beek is responsible for the training and development and internal communications strategies to reach all 393 Eijerkamp employees. With such a vast workforce spread across different locations and departments, Daley needed to find an easy way to share information and connect with the Eijerkamp team.
The challenge
Up until 2020, Eijerkamp had 200 employees spread across multiple departments and locations. In those days, it was relatively easy for corporate staff at HQ to communicate face-to-face with employees on the frontlines and keep everyone informed about company news and updates.
However, as Eijerkamp grew and doubled in size to almost 400 employees, it became increasingly challenging for the company to connect with and engage all employees.
This rapid expansion led to a lack of communication between HQ and the frontline workers, making employees feel less connected to the company. Additionally, with new employees joining, proper onboarding became more critical and complex. Eijerkamp needed to find a better way to keep everyone on the same page.
“At some point you see that the company has become too big with too many different departments. Making it really difficult to reach everyone.” - Daley van Beek, People Development Manager at Eijerkamp
The solution
Daley was looking for a modern and easy-to-use app that would appeal to both younger and more veteran workers at Eijerkamp. After evaluating several options, they decided to implement Oneteam due to the attractive app design and alignment with the company's vision.
Today, Oneteam has gone beyond a one-way communication channel from HQ to the frontline employees. Instead, it has fostered interactions amongst employees themselves. For example, drivers and delivery personnel share posts about the furniture pieces they have just delivered. Salespeople appreciate being able to see the finished products they sold. This enhanced visibility across teams has brought them closer and made the company more cohesive.
Oneteam also provides insights into employee sentiment, which was previously limited to monthly employee satisfaction surveys. With Oneteam's pulse surveys, the corporate HR team is able to gain real-time insights into employee satisfaction and can analyze trends more effectively. The internal comms feature allows HQ to gauge employee responses to initiatives and identify areas requiring improvement.
“We couldn’t measure employee sentiment before. Now, we constantly have a kind of thermometer in the company.” - Daley van Beek, People Development Manager at Eijerkamp
The onboarding process has been transformed as well. Previously limited to face-to-face sessions on-site, Eijerkamp can now welcome new employees even before their first day. With Oneteam, new hires gain access to a short onboarding course about the company's history and culture, culminating in a welcome video message from the company Director himself.
The Events feature has also become invaluable for Eijerkamp, replacing paper notices and bulletin boards spread throughout the offices. Now, events are conveniently posted on Oneteam, allowing all relevant employees to stay informed and enabling event organizers to manage attendance.
The results
Oneteam has quickly become an indispensable part of Eijerkamp's HR tech stack. The app allows corporate staff to disseminate important information quickly and effectively, fostering a sense of teamwork and connection among employees. As a result, the HR department has more time to provide personal attention and address critical aspects of employee engagement.
Today, 95% of Eijerkamp employees are actively engaged and logging into Oneteam regularly. This has helped Eijerkamp:
- Create a cohesive company culture where employees feel engaged and involved
- Gain insights into employee sentiment and satisfaction in real time
- Quickly onboard new employees and help them feel like a part of the company right away
How Eijerkamp did it
Getting set up with Oneteam was easy. By connecting Oneteam with their workforce management system, the entire employee directory was uploaded into the app and Eijerkamp was ready to start engaging its employees. An invitation to join the app was sent via email to all workers.
Then, in order to get all employees actively using Oneteam, the HR team needed to implement some strategic change management initiatives:
- Information was only shared via Oneteam. Other communication channels were quickly made obsolete and all new updates and information were only posted on Oneteam. This forced all workers to check the app for the most up-to-date information.
- Daley also created a reward system for the best post of the week. This encouraged employees to actively participate and use Oneteam.
However, once employees recognized the value and ease of use, adoption soared.
The Oneteam Customer Success team was also integral during the implementation process, providing comprehensive support and handling necessary preparations to ensure a smooth launch. Currently, approximately 95% of all employees actively use Oneteam, including both corporate and frontline workers.
