How Nestlé improved employee experience to better serve its brand

In recognition that employee experience is directly linked to customer experience (CX), Nestlé has implemented Workplace by Facebook to break down barriers and build a more collaborative workplace.

More than 210,000 Nestlé employees have already joined the platform with several thousand more to join in 2019.

Nestlé said the move has already made a substantial difference to working culture globally, including higher internal engagement and faster responsiveness, allowing for increased engagement, experimentation, collaboration, and the sharing of information and ideas.

The tech investment is part of The FMCG giant's pledge to move quicker to turn good ideas into great products to meet fast-changing consumer demand. Nestlé executive vice-president, Chris Johnson, said moving to Workplace is part of a commitment to empower people and sustain a high-performance culture, which includes moving to offer open office configurations and more flexible working environments.

Johnson noted internal engagement is higher and responses faster already, with people experimenting and collaborating more, as well as sharing information and ideas.

“Nestlé is a people-first environment. We really rely on our talented teams to manage more than 2000 Nestlé brands worldwide. We help our employees develop and we give them the right tools, so Workplace is a perfect fit,” he said.

Workplace by Facebook, vice-president, Julien Codorniou, told CMO Nestlé chose Workplace as its internal communication tool in 2018, after previously using Salesforce's Chatter. The global deployment began in Mexico.

“Like most large Workplace deployments, the technology was distributed in waves. The first wave of market adoption, including that in Mexico, and in Brazil, the Middle East and South Africa, saw 25 times higher engagement rates per post and an incredibly high rate of use on mobile devices. The results from implementation in these markets were so strong, the technology is now being deployed globally,” Codorniou said.

“The link between employee experience and customer experience is undeniable. It’s the companies that have the most connected and engaged workforces, with employees that really live the company values, which are the most successful."

According to Johnson, Workplace connects and informs employees in ways that make most sense to the business, from execs to front-line workers. "It helps all staff to remain on the same page, which is integral to the idea that your employees are ultimately your brand. Keeping them connected and aware of your organisation’s direction, objectives, achievements, and key messaging is critical."

As Codorniou pointed out, the future of work is going to be about breaking down barriers, whether they be geographic, departmental and technical, or something else entirely. As a result, there is greater emphasis on building more collaborative workforces, and businesses are increasingly turning to technology to achieve this.

“The millennial workforce is also growing, which means organisations are becoming younger, more global, and increasingly mobile. This is a generation which is driving cultural change in the workplace as they want to engage and interact with content in a way that feels familiar to them – through words, yes, but also through gifs, emojis and video,” he continued.

“Today’s workforce also want to see their individual values, reflected in the companies in which they work for. This is one of the reasons why Workplace is so powerful.”

In addition, there is little doubt we’re seeing more and more companies across Australia implement flexible workplace practices, Codorniou said.

“Staff across all levels of the organisation are more empowered than ever before. In particular, front-line staff and those working remotely have a direct line to senior leadership that allows for this. Our customers tell us this is one of the greatest advantages of the platform. After all, which leader wouldn’t want to hear about customer insights directly from their front-line staff?" he asked. 

Codorniou noted existing customer, Hoyts, as an example. The cinema operator has more than 3000 employees spread across 50 cinema locations nationally, with 80 per cent of its workforce between the ages of 16-24. Many are not connected by email.

"Having a collaboration platform facilitated an opportunity for employees to learn more about their co-workers and created a forum to share new ideas and concepts,” he said. 

More than 30,000 organisations worldwide have adopted Workplace, including Spell & Gypsy, NAB, Vodafone AU, Hoyt and Nestlé. Workplace offers familiar Facebook features such as News Feed, Groups, Chat, events and live streams, as well as mobile integration. 

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