Wyzetalk clients – Impala Platinum Mine, Kauai and Hungry Lion have been named finalists at the inaugural 2018 Africa Employee Engagement Awards (EEA) taking place on June 14th in Johannesburg.
The aim of the awards is to inspire and educate people to remake the way organisations think about, and engage, people to achieve their purpose and to highlight companies that are doing exceptionally well in this regard.
“Employee engagement is critical to the success of the modern workplace and an essential contributor to increased productivity and ultimately the bottom-line,” says Gys Kappers, CEO of Wyzetalk. “And while some organisations only dabble in employee engagement, to see others focus on their employees’ experience and more importantly, to get it right using our technology, is certainly rewarding.”
Wyzetalk is an employee experience company that has built its own patented mobile, USSD and app technology that enables businesses to connect and communicate effectively and efficiently with their workforces. Gathering real-time analytics, any communication and feedback to and from employees is instantaneous, and can be incentivised, and allows the business to make critical decisions based on insightful employee feedback. More importantly, it builds an engaged workforce, where employee experience is just as important as the customer one.
Since Implats started using the Wyzetalk cell phone-based employee engagement platform at their Impala Platinum operations in Rustenburg in January 2017, they have seen tremendous impact to their employee engagement strategy. With over 30 000 geographically dispersed employees, it is often difficult for employees to receive relevant information on time, to feel like they are heard and to connect with management.
“The biggest impact the platform has had is that we now have a quick, easy, direct way to reach our employees,” says Mark Munroe, CE: Rustenburg Operations “We can easily check through surveys that our safety and productivity campaigns are understood and we’re sharing important health and wellness information that employees are taking home to their families.”
“Importantly, the Wyzetalk platform is available to employees in two languages to ensure they understand the information we are sharing and the platform is free of charge to all employees. The always-on feedback channels are important for Impala to engage with employees and their families have shown that they are comfortable using them too,” adds Munroe.
We set out to build a solution that could reimagine the employer-employee relationship and I am pleased to say that we have done that and so much more.
Says Louizandre van Zyl, Head of Human Resources for Kauai; “One of our Values is FAMILY, so when we started working with Wyzetalk, we wanted to create a platform that allowed us to connect and engage daily with our Kauai family, both at a Head Office and store level; we also needed a platform to provide our staff with critical resources like training material, HR information and general life skills support. With Wyzetalk’s help, we created K-Connect, a platform where our employees can connect with their broader Kauai family by posting photos and stories, share ideas on how we can improve our brand, nominate and recognise fellow colleagues for great work, highlight staff achievements, access all training, operations and HR information, and even wish fellow staff members a happy birthday.”
Van Zyl indicates that since the launch of K-Konnect, 83% of Kauai employees have registered on the platform, and we’ve seen high levels of engagement. “We have used K-Connect to build our culture, which has improved staff morale and attitudes, by creating ownership and staff commitment to our brand. Being a finalist for the Internal Communications/Employer Brand Award is a big achievement and a proud moment, because we have worked very hard to build our Kauai culture and live our FAMILY value – we are all about creating a Kauai Family, taking care of our staff and making everyone feel included, which is exactly what the platform has allowed us to showcase.”
While an effective employee engagement strategy is vital, engagement strategies today need to look beyond just creating an information-rich and open work environment and look at incorporating employee experience to ensure that employees are satisfied and happy in the workplace on all fronts.
Hungry Lion has mastered this over the years, resulting in an increase in employee engagement. Since launching our Wyzetalk “WeConnect” platform, Hungry Lion now has a single internal communication system for Head Office and all stores, even in remote areas, throughout Africa. The Company has seen double figure sales growth year-on-year which has been supported by their rewards system, incentivising teams through leader-boards as well as airtime and wi-code vouchers.
“We have also been able to introduce programs that have saved costs on our annual employee engagement which is more accurate and conclusive than ever before, since using our mobile community. Says Tashalene Reid, Chief Marketing Operator at Hungry Lion. “Being a finalist for the Internal Communications/Employer Brand Award and Reward, Recognition and Wellbeing Award is a true testament of how vital the Wyzetalk platform is for organisations looking to turnaround their employee engagement.”
Technology like this speaks to the kind of innovation that comes out of Africa and is globally relevant. Solutions like these are created acknowledging the diversity of the employees. Communication within organisations is crucial and if executed effectively will improve staff morale, productivity and motivation to achieve more.
“We set out to build a solution that could reimagine the employer-employee relationship and I am pleased to say that we have done that and so much more. Testament to this, is three of our clients being named finalists under three different categories in the EEA Award – proving that paying attention to the employee experience is good for business,” concludes Kappers.
This article was published by Engineering News.