Case Study: Virgin Media O2 supercharges engagement with employee app

Virgin Media O2 is driving 98% engagement and four times more recognition, with 94% of all comms being read with training, comms and engagement tech

Virgin Media O2 is one of the largest entertainment and telecommunications operators in the United Kingdom, with around 47 million customers and 18,700 employees.

It remains committed to its mission to empower its people to feel valued, unstoppable and inspired every single day, which helps it continually deliver exceptional customer service.

When Jody Myers, head of core operations at Virgin Media O2, began working with Ocasta, the employee comms and training app company, he saw more opportunities to go further than he ever had before with previous employee comms apps.

Analysis

Virgin Media O2 chose Ocasta Engage to reach the 5,000-strong frontline workforce, not only to streamline their internal communications, bolster employee engagement and drive training but also to inspire and motivate their employees to love their jobs and be excited to come to work.

“We don't just focus on sales results; we want to create a community where people are engaged and excited about coming to work.” said Emma Finney, Virgin Media O2 business planning and engagement manager.

The amount of complex information each retail sales associate needs to know can be overwhelming. Still, if they’re not equipped with the proper knowledge, it can massively impact their confidence, the customer experience and ultimately, sales.

Virgin Media O2 have tried multiple platforms, from off-the-shelf to custom builds, to support their store sales associates by making their job easier and recognising their efforts; however, the journey was always disjointed, awkward and inconvenient.

“In retail, if the journey is disjointed, it impacts engagement levels; anything complicated and takes time means it doesn't happen. People say they’ll come back, but they never do,”Myers added.

They were looking for a simple yet highly effective engagement and comms platform which would act as the driving force behind optimal employee performance. They needed it to engage their retail teams, motivate them to achieve more and keep them informed with the knowledge they need to perform their job to the best of their ability.

Comms and training app 

Ocasta Engage deeply understands the intricate motivators that inspire employees to take action. Engage enables retail teams with access to communications in the palm of their hand and the clear signposting of complex information makes it effortless for them to stay on top of everything they need to know to do their jobs.

The lightweight app manages to cut through the noise of other workplace tools, which means important information is no longer slipping through the net.

Benefits 

Virgin Media O2 see 98% engagement on Ocasta Engage, far beyond their business-wide corporate tools. “We’ve never had performance like this with any of our comms platforms,”
according to Myers.

Engage has made it incredibly easy for Virgin Media O2 to quickly communicate with all of their stores and effortlessly reward sales associates (even the hard-to-reach franchises) in an efficient, simple, yet highly effective way so that all employees are informed, engaged and excited about their work.

With thousands of gift cards available, Virgin Media O2 staff can quickly redeem their reward when in line at their favourite store, powered by Ocasta’s partner the Tillo gift card platform.

Their teams now have just one login and app to glide smoothly between training, comms and engagement tasks, making their daily activities effortless.

Combining engagement and communications has meant Virgin Media O2 can deliver a joined-up experience supporting their sales associates at every stage of their working journey.

Rewards and recognition

Alongside the laser-targeted comms, all staff can hand out rewards and recognition from the same app in seconds.

Virgin Media O2 have seen almost four times the reward and recognition being handed out. From 800 to a staggering 3000! “We’ve seen an insane uplift in recognition,” says Sarah Walton,Virgin Media O2 engagement coordinator.

The team at Ocasta have enhanced Engage to ensure it meets Virgin Media O2’s overarching objectives to excite people to come to work. This has allowed Virgin Media O2 to achieve enviable engagement results and build a team of high-achievers who are motivated, productive and, most importantly, successful.

“It’s working, it is having an impact and the results are showing it,” Myers concluded.