Xplor enabling communication and collaboration globally

Challenge

Xplor provides integrated payment services and business management software to leisure and gym organisations. Xplor needed to change the way they communicated across their fast-growing organisation. With 1,350 employees across 15+ countries and three global regions, the need for a single platform to bring their company comms together was clear.

They turned to Workplace from Meta and Cocentric to provide a clear way forward, to not only change the face of their internal communications but to also create a company-wide community for a business which had grown rapidly via 11 acquisitions over six months. Also paramount was enabling a new global leadership team to communicate quickly and clearly with their employees.

Workplace allows our leaders to communicate in a more natural and authentic way, creating connection and driving culture across our company.

Jarod Warwick, Director of Internal Communications and Engagement, TSG

Workplace is the internal comms tool I’ve always dreamed of having. Personalised news feeds for every colleague, simple and effective audience segmentation, a great user experience and a tool colleagues actually want to use. It allows our leaders to communicate in a more natural and authentic way, creating connection and driving culture across our company.

Innovation

Working with Cocentric, Xplor was looking to:

• Broadcast important information quickly and reliably to all employees.
• Enable senior leaders, especially new members of the Exec Team, to communicate and connect in an authentic way.
• Launch and embed a new company strategy, brand and culture.
• Enable a transformation of regional teams into global, centralised functions.

The launch plan was ambitious – launch Workplace within six weeks, attracting as many Xplor colleagues onto Workplace as quickly as possible, so that it could begin fulfilling its purpose as an all-company communication and connection tool, creating communities immediately.

Also vital was the planning of a number of Workplace-exclusive virtual events and activities, particularly centred on spotlighting senior leadership (many of whom were new to the business) and creating a new shared company identity and culture. All of this launch activity would also showcase how Workplace has all the functionality to become the virtual hub for all things Xplor, and to encourage all employees to engage and participate in this new virtual community.

Workplace was a real game changer in bringing 1,300 colleagues together during the global pandemic. It allowed us to keep our people engaged and connected at a time when we needed it most.

Nichole Viviani
Chief People Officer, TSG

Impact

Since launch, Workplace has become the internal enabler of the company strategy, powering the connection and productivity needed to drive success for Xplor long into the future.

Within 24 hours after launch, 70% of the team had claimed their accounts, and a week later this had risen to 85%. 95% of those activated were active on a monthly basis – demonstrating clear engagement from their teams across the globe.

Once most people had claimed their accounts, three campaigns were launched to support their objectives:

Getting to know the leadership – Workplace Live Interviews with Senior Leaders.
Following on from a successful Launch Day campaign that featured a series of Live Interviews with leadership at Xplor, we continued to publish weekly interviews on Workplace Live with leaders from across the business.

Colleague Networks
Xplor used Workplace to launch three inaugural Colleague Networks, which were a pre-cursor to launching their Inclusion and Diversity strategy. These three Workplace Colleague Network groups now serve as central virtual hubs for these colleague communities: Pride @ Xplor, Women @ Xplor, BIPOC + Global @ Xplor.

True North
We used Workplace to launch Xplor’s new company strategy across the business by hosting Live virtual events in each region/time zone. These events included an address from the CEO, a live employee Q&A session and interviews with senior leaders from across the business.

Driving connection into the future
After a successful launch, Xplor will be using Workplace as the central point for colleagues to engage and take part with a number of big initiatives, including their Inclusion and Diversity Strategy launch, plus the launch of their new brand and culture following a large rebrand. Workplace has given them the foundation to engage colleagues in a more personalised and authentic way – particularly relevant with the recent shift to remote working driven by the pandemic.