CLOSING THE GAP

Bringing together award winning employees

Kate Shaw,Nationwide

Bringing award winning employees togetherKate ShawInternal Communication Manager

Nationwide Building SocietyThe world’s largest building society…

• The UK’s second largest mortgage provider

• One of the largest savings providers

• Major provider of current accounts, credit cards and personal loans

• 15 million customers and members – no shareholders

• Over 700 branches across the UK

• Around 18,000 employees and a head office in Swindon

PRIDE

The way we do things…

• Putting Members First• Rewarding Membership• Inspiring Trust• Doing the right thing• Excelling at Service

PRIDE drives our employee recognition – and once a year, we celebrate our true PRIDE superstars

Nationwide’s Annual AwardsCelebrating the achievements of our top 300 employeesThe challenge?• Attendees are based all

across the country• They work in different teams,

buildings, with different people

• They are different grades and do very different jobs

How can we bring this diverse group of people together to make their whole experience AMAZING?

Creating a digital connection

Our solution…

An exclusive, interactive digital app for all award event attendees

Creating a digital connection

We created an app that:• Allowed attendees to get to

know each other before the big day

• Shared key event information

• Made people feel special as it was created just for them

• Created a sense of excitement about the event

• Let employees compete against each other for prizes

• Totally aligned to the event theme

• Had a structured comms and engagement plan to make sure it was successful

The App in action…

And Exco got involved…

So what…

95% rated the app as ‘excellent’We had 258 active users (out of 300)• 796 photos were posted• 969 comments• 1,232 status updates• 4,274 likes• 50,000 visits

And it definitely fulfilled our objectives to bring the finalists together ‘digitally’ in advance of such a special event

Summary

• Be clear on the purpose• Make it relevant to the

audience• Have a clear and structured

engagement plan• Find the hook – why should

people use it?• Develop any new channel

with the future in mind