Nestle integrates global employee base through workplace

Organisations looking to use new technologies to improve collaboration and communication in the workplace, face a common challenge: how to integrate these new tools with existing systems in a way that ensures employee engagement.

Fast-moving consumer goods conglomerate Nestle has taken new steps towards digital immersion with the roll out of social media platform for organisations - Workplace by Facebook. Workplace is a collaborative platform built by Facebook and launched in 2016, after being developed and used throughout the company by employees keen to build on Facebook's ethos of internal collaboration.

Nestle Zone Americas markets went live on the platform recently across all its markets including Caribbean islands - Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, signalling Nestle's commitment to optimising internal communications among its employees.

Internal communications and the integration of a large workforce separated by geography and hierarchy can often times prove challenging. The challenge most often taking shape in poor collaboration and impaired decision-making processes across borders and sometimes even within office walls. It is for this reason that this current generation of programmers have consuming predilection for innovating productivity platforms dedicated to narrowing the digital and physical divide. Enter Workplace by Facebook, a collaborative started to enhance internal communication via groups, chats among colleagues and offers the familiar, user-friendly social network features in a corporate environment.

According to Nestle Jamaica Country Manager Daniel Caron, "This is an exciting new tool as Workplace can interact with people in an organisation who didn't have a channel to do so before, no matter what department they work or what their role is," he shared.

The company's Jamaican operations welcomed team members from its demand generating, administrative and distribution teams to the platform during a four-hour launch activity at its South Street Ferry Pen Corporate Office. The event centerpiece was Freeze Frame Jamaica's Photo Booth set up to engage team members while members of the IT department and Workplace Champions team downloaded and activated Workplace accounts on Nestle proprietary and non-proprietary devices. The booth offered a unique experience for team members to share posts of their animated photo strips, like and comment, to bolster engagement over the platform, regionally and globally. It also allowed for a snapshot of the ease of engagement on the tool that will now become the central means of communication, organisation wide.

Initial reports on the adoption rate for the app has been encouraging, as the AMS Zone secured top spot with 38 per cent adoption rate, 5 per cent higher than any other market already on-boarded for the tool. Locally, the application has increased the reach of internal communications by 50 per cent with the use of non-proprietary devices connected via Nestle email accounts. Engagement has also been steadily building with the usually underserviced areas of the business participating in file sharing, posting and collaborative activities, as Workplace Champions encourage migration from other apps including Skype for Business and WhatsApp.