Giving back and being seen: Winning employee experience campaigns

There are a lot of ways to tell a story in today’s world. But the best comms pros implement both proven methods like the written word and innovative imagery to get their messages across, paving new paths to inform, build culture, and create a sense of organizational unity.

We awarded several organizations that innovated and executed expert employee comms strategies Ragan Employee Communications Award last year. These three stood out for their ability to tell how employees helped a community in need, how to create an engaging newsletter that employees love, and how to reimagine storytelling through imagery.

To apply to this year’s edition of the Ragan Employee Communications Awards, remember to enter by the September 20 deadline.

Brooks Running told a story about how its employees gave back with the feature story “Brooks Springs Product Donations to Maui”

The background: After the Maui wildfires, a group of employees at Brooks Running gathered to organize donations of footwear and apparel for those impacted by the disaster. Brooks Running’s story about this effort earned it the Ragan Employee Communication Award for Best Feature Article.

After hearing this inspiring account of generosity, the comms team’s content lead coordinated interviews with the employees involved. To provide an outside perspective on the impact of the donation, the comms team also spoke with a runner in Maui who helped distribute the donations to those in need, and a man on the island who lost his home in the fires.

The 1,900-word article was shared with Brooks employees in North America in September 2023 and earned 245 views in the first week, which accounts for about 40% of the company’s North American workforce. 

The takeaways: While new channels pop up every week, a well-written story can harness the power of deeper detail and shared perspectives to reveal narratives that aren’t always visible on the surface of an organization’s mission.

Prologis kept its employees in the know through its newsletter, “The Weekly”

The background: An employee newsletter’s most obvious purpose is to keep people informed about the goings-on at a company. But when they’re well-thought-out they can serve as a grounding force for internal comms and a go-to source for knowledge sharing.

In 2022, real estate logistics company Prologis realized it didn’t have a way to unite its employees under one internal comms strategy. In response, it created “The Weekly”, which earned a Ragan Employee Communications Award for Best Newsletter.

The planning process for the newsletter sought to foster a positive employee experience from the outset. The comms team created the newsletter to match the design of other Prologis comms templates and create a sense of familiarity among employees, even asking for their input when coming up with a name for the newsletter. Post-launch, “The Weekly” earned its place as a major tool for internal comms at Prologis through a casual tone and a consistent presence in email inboxes.

Highlights of the campaign included an email open rate of around 70% and increases in click-through rates, intranet viewership, and time spent on intranet pages. Additionally, “The Weekly” has generated positive employee feedback, with readers reporting that the newsletter enables them to stay informed and ahead of the curve about company goings-on. 

The takeaways: Newsletters that are delivered in a consistent brand style and cadence offer a chance to drive and measure engagement at a steady rate, providing a trusted touchpoint that will keep employees coming back.

Honeywell Process Solutions brought safety to life with its “Weekly #SafetyMoment”

The background: When Honeywell Process Solutions decided to share safety practices with its employees, the rollout of this key information also presented a chance to highlight employee leadership. That’s when the “Weekly #SafetyMoment” was born and Honeywell Process Solutions earned the Ragan Employee Communications Award for Best Visual Storytelling.

The comms team put together over 50 #SafetyMoments topics for use at the beginning of internal meetings. These visualized slides, jam-packed with safety information a photo of the team in action, aimed to spark conversations about workplace safety including proper equipment use, stress management, and more.

The comms team selected a business leader sponsor for each weekly #SafetyMoment to share a message about why safety was important to them. Each message was sent to employees in an email blast and archived as an article on the company’s intranet.

With more than 20 #SafetyMoments released by the time it earned the award, email open rates sat at an impressive 60%. Both leaders and employees alike shared visuals and accounts of their safety stories, and the campaign was also a major part of Honeywell Process Solutions’ approach to promoting Safety Week in September 2023.

The takeaways: Without buy-in from leaders, your comms initiatives won’t have the support they need to really succeed.  This process goes smoother when leaders are willing to share visuals to drive the message home faster and provide you with assets that can package multiple messages into one streamlined campaign or initiative.

Sean Devlin is an editor at Ragan Communications. In his spare time he enjoys Philly sports and hosting trivia.