With the much anticipated global launch of Workplace by Facebook today nbn, the company responsible for building Australia's broadband network, revealed it was the first large corporate in the country to sign up to the beta product six months ago with employee engagement a key driver. 

On Friday 8 July 2016, nbn's initial trial of 100 employees was extended by invitation to the company's 6,000 plus people, full time and contractors. nbn's head of Corporate Affairs said the employee response to the social collaboration platform was overwhelming with more than half the company signing up in the first hours of launch. 

"We had set a target of 50 percent registered by end of year but our expectations clearly didn't anticipate the team's appetite for collaboration," said Karina Keisler, Executive General Manager of Corporate Affairs.

"nbn's CEO and leadership team has a strong edict for putting people first and making nbn a great place to work. The company had worked hard to shift its employee engagement from a low of 41 in 2014 to 68 in 2016. 

"While this is an exceptional jump, we still have room to improve and aim to be among best employers in Australia.

"To move from the bottom to the top quartile in two years is something only six percent of corporates achieve globally," said Keisler. "The challenge to keep improving once you hit the top quartile is tough.

"Our engagement survey results pointed to communication and collaboration as key drivers of engagement so we tested a range of platforms to meet the needs of our people.

"Within a week of launch 72 percent of employees were on board and, today at 90 percent, there's a steady stream of conversation and collaboration.

"Getting people to sign up was easy. The next challenge is keeping them, but the content has proven relevant and rich and the numbers continue to prove the platform is hitting the mark with 84 percent of the team actively using Workplace each month.

In its first six months nbn has been able to test the various Workplace functions with real-time activities including the launch of the Sky Muster™ II satellite on Thursday 6 October 2016.

Work Chat, Facebook’s chat function, was used to keep the lines of communication open between French Guiana, San Francisco and across Australia when news of a potential delay came through. Regular reports from the weather balloon testing was delivered real time and enabled the team to shift the media conference and launch activity without missing a beat.

"When the launch happened a day later Workplace's live video function lit up the newsfeed with experiences across the company. 

"There were 1,400 posts, 1,700 comments and 8,400 reactions from across the business, and across the world, that would not have happened via email. We all shared the spoils of our employee space bake off, watched the launch and shared in the celebration. It was truly incredible," said Keisler.

"The call centre based on the Gold Coast has also embraced the platform. Not only are they avid users within their own groups but the rest of the company is getting to know the team at the forefront of customer issues and assisting with real time answers to questions that might have taken days to answer.

Keisler said: "It's early days and there's work to ensure Workplace remains a productive tool but there is no question it is helping us reduce emails, connect with colleagues, learn more about our business and share our wins and challenges with each other."

 

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