How SGN’s Award Winning Employee Communications App is Energising and Engaging its Workforce

Introduction

SGN (previously known as Scotia Gas Networks) is a UK gas distribution company which manages the network that distributes natural and green gas to over 5.9 million homes and businesses across Scotland and the south of England. The company has around 4000 direct employees of which about 80% are field based across 30 locations.

The company vision is to keep its customers safe and warm by leading the way in energy delivery and positions itself as being “bright, forward thinking experts”. 

SGN achieve its vision tapping into the passion of its people to nurture a ‘One SGN’ mentality through clear communication of business goals, praising good work and fostering pride. 

The Challenge - Dispersed Teams With no or Limited Access to Corporate Emails or the Intranet

SGN’s communications team recognised the need to provide every employee with access to the information they need, but faced the challenge not all their employees had work mobile devices, and that it’s intranet was out-dated. Despite having existing multi-channel delivery of information, feedback from a company-wide 2015 employee survey revealed employees weren’t receiving regular, meaningful communication. 

Finding the Best Solution

According to Janet Lessels, Communications Manager, participants in communications focus groups had confirmed that they liked digital communications and were supportive of a dedicated channel carrying content specific to their role. 

Colleagues were adamant that the proposed new channel should not just be the intranet in app form, it must be simple to use and it must provide relevant and timely content that is of value.  

SSE (a majority SGN shareholder) had launched an employee app by Thrive.App so the team at SGN, led by Janet met with their equivalent team at SSE in order to understand the app development process. 

Encouraged by the experience of SSE, SGN decided to go ahead and build their own app as it was judged to be the best tool to reach all field employees who now had smart devices as a result of an IT rollout programme. 

The employee app by Thrive.App provided a cost effective, easy-to-use solution that had an immediate improvement to their communication. 

The deployment of the app was straightforward and the communications team at SGN are able to measure the impact of their app content via insights within the Thrive.App content management system. 

The plan was to launch pre-winter 2016. This would mean that employees would have access to the app in advance of the busiest time of year for operational staff, when it is difficult for them to get into the depots or meet regularly with their team managers. A lot of thought, energy and creativity was put in to the launch of the app. As well as many other unique and fun ideas, the launch included circulating huge foam smartphones round the offices and depots for employees to take team pictures with and then send in via the app.  

The team had the confidence with the app launch to simultaneously stop posting news items to the intranet. 

Within one week 32% of employees had downloaded the app and there were 3,200 downloads in the first 28 days. There have been more than 150,000 screen views since launch.  In an employee survey, 92% said ‘they like it’ and 64% of employees confirmed they are accessing the app at least once per day with 26% accessing it two to three times”. On an on-going basis, push notifications are issued on average three times per week to draw attention to new app content. 

Illustrated Use Case Example

If your organisation is similar to SGN and you're looking for ways to connect and engage with your dispersed teams, talk with a member of our team today. 

Not ready to talk and want to learn more? Download our helpful eGuide - How to Connect with Deskless Teams below.