How NMédia boosted engagement & employee wellness

As an agency that customizes digital project management solutions, NMédia has always been driven by data.

Challenges

Building engagement without a purpose-built tool

But when they first started looking for a tool to improve team engagement, they had no way to gather data on employee concerns and satisfaction.

VP of Human Resources and Customer Service Mélanie Chouinard says leadership knew they were missing out on some useful insights.

We had some blind spots. When we made management decisions, we were guessing more than responding to concrete information.

Mélanie Chouinard, VP Human Resources and Customer Services

At the time, they were a team of about 50 working in one office. Although it seemed logical that employees could easily raise concerns face-to-face, the approach didn’t garner feedback from the whole team.

“Someone would come to your desk to talk about something that was bothering them, and they might say it was an issue for all of their colleagues. But we found that wasn’t always accurate,” said Mélanie.

To gather more feedback, NMédia crafted employee surveys manually. But they soon found the workload to be unmanageable and could only run them every two years.

“After each survey, we made changes to improve the issues that were raised. But we had to wait two more years to know if the efforts made any impact. We needed a more sensitive and timely measure,” said Mélanie.

Knowing they needed a solution that would make it easy to gather and action employee feedback, they turned to Workleap Officevibe.

“All the managers acknowledged that we could improve engagement and recognition. Putting Workleap Officevibe in place was our first chance to measure the impact of our efforts in real-time.”

Using Workleap Officevibe’s surveys, NMédia developed a plan to gather more frequent employee feedback, improve manager responsiveness, and create a culture of open and solution-oriented conversations.

Solution

Capturing data and taking action

Right away, Mélanie and her colleagues started using Workleap Officevibe surveys to gather useful feedback from their teams.

“Initially, we used the surveys in a passive way. We ran automated Pulse Surveys, looked at the reports, and answered employee comments. Now, we base most of our strategic decisions on feedback from customized surveys.”

The tool’s personalization features helped NMédia zero in on opportunities to make a big impact on employee experience.

The feedback we received was a gift. When issues came up, we could see which team was raising them and send follow-up surveys to get more details to determine the best solution for their situation.

Mélanie Chouinard, VP Human Resources and Customer Services

Gaining valuable feedback with pulse surveys

Mélanie says Workleap Officevibe’s science-backed Pulse Survey templates were an excellent tool for engaging employees and providing a safe space for them to share concerns.

“The biggest surprise we had with the Pulse Surveys was that they created a lot of opportunities for important conversations.”

The feedback informed one-on-one meetings and responsive company policies.

When the pandemic forced teams into remote working, the surveys were instrumental in pinpointing where management needed to act to improve employee well-being.

“We thought that people were afraid of getting sick or losing their job, but the surveys showed their main concern was working at home with their children. Knowing that allowed us to help,” said Mélanie.

In response, the company enacted a more flexible schedule and a “no meeting zone” policy, which prevented meetings from being booked at the beginning or end of the work day.

Building confidence and engagement

The more frequently NMédia’s managers responded to employee feedback, the more engagement they saw on the surveys.

“Sometimes the comments would say how well we were doing. It was great for the managers to hear. We also found that employees were more comfortable having a one-on-one conversation with their manager after they had brought something up in a survey,” said Mélanie.

Mélanie noted that the increase in engagement wasn’t just coming from the same set of outspoken people.

“We used to have an open Q&A at the end of our general meetings, but it was always the same people asking questions. When we added an ‘ask us anything’ segment to the Pulse Surveys, we finally received questions from people who’d always been too shy to speak up.”

Getting specific with custom surveys

Mélanie and her colleagues were able to create custom audiences to probe for issues within certain subsets of the staff.

“We built a survey group for people who live more than 20 km from the office because their concerns were different from those who lived close by. We also surveyed people differently if they’d been with the organization more than five years compared to newer employees.”

When a templated survey didn’t quite hit the issue they were trying to explore, they created their own questions with Custom Surveys.

“I will often adapt the template to personalize it for NMédia and run a survey that will inform a specific decision. For example, we use it every year when we renew our group insurance package. We want to make sure it meets the needs of as many people as possible.”

Improving management skills and recognition

Mélanie says that Workleap Officevibe has been a key tool in training NMédia’s managers to be more responsive and engaged with their teams.

"When we implemented Workleap Officevibe, the two metrics we were focused on were relationships with peers and with the manager. Based on the survey comments we received, we trained all of our managers and mentors to give better feedback, to give it more frequently, and be more specific.”

With the Good Vibes tool, team members are also improving their relationships with each other.

People use Good Vibes to send compliments to their colleagues or manager. We read those aloud in our general meetings to recognize those wins and celebrate them.

By customizing employee surveys to inform policy decisions and responding faithfully to the feedback they received, NMédia significantly improved the employee experience and the effectiveness of their managerial efforts.

Results

Increased engagement and wellness

By enabling data-informed policy decisions and structured routines that promote responsive management, Workleap Officevibe helped NMédia increase its engagement score by 6%.

Employee wellness and peer and manager relationship scores have also increased by 2 points each. Mélanie and her colleagues are thrilled.

“Our turnover rate is a lot lower than the industry average. Through Workleap Officevibe, people feel heard and recognized because we answer their comments and take action on what they’re telling us in the surveys.”

With their new culture of open and productive communication, NMédia is continuing to develop an outstanding employee experience.

“With our survey feedback, we’ve implemented more well-being initiatives than most companies. Our efforts are aligned with our team’s needs, and we can see they are having a direct impact on our scores.”

Basing investments on Workleap Officevibe data has been a business win, as well.

“The tools and reports simplify decision-making because your process is not based on guesswork anymore, but on facts and data. So, you’re losing less time and money.”

Even though NMédia’s team has more than doubled and has shifted to a primarily remote model, Mélanie notes that company culture has changed for the better.

“It’s become a habit to give open feedback and offer recognition to peers. There are so many positive routines in the business now. Our key metrics have gone up and we’ve achieved our goals as a direct result of using Workleap Officevibe.”

She recommends Workleap Officevibe enthusiastically to other organizations looking for an easy-to-implement, data-based approach to improve employee engagement.