nib Group (nib) is a trusted international health partner, empowering its members to make better decisions and improve health outcomes through greater access to affordable health services and information. They provide health and medical insurance to over 1.6 million Australian and New Zealand residents and more than 190,000 international students and workers in Australia. nib is also Australia's third-largest travel insurer and global distributor of travel insurance through nib Travel.
In early 2018 nib engaged POMT to assist with a workplace technology strategy that would incorporate a review of the group’s productivity and collaboration platforms following the acquisition of several businesses. On the success of this program, which saw the business adopt Zoom and update their physical workplace technology, POMT undertook a new engagement to deploy Workplace from Facebook as nib’s universal communication and collaboration platform.
Having significantly grown nationally and internationally, nib found themselves with a range of different legacy communication systems, technologies and tools, which had led to a fragmented and confused workforce. This meant there was no one platform to communicate with all of their employees and enable collaboration, knowledge sharing and innovation. Not to mention, it was really challenging for employees to connect with one another on a human level across the nib community.
Introducing Workplace from Facebook. Workplace was selected for its ease of deployment, and simple yet attractive, familiar user-friendly interface which was validated when over 95% of nib employees connected via the platform within the first week of use.
Now almost a year on from launchingWorkplace and amid a global pandemic, nib’s employees are turning to Workplace to stay connected while working in isolation, after 100% of their workforce moved (almost overnight) to remote working.
“While physically apart, you can feel this pandemic is actually bringing our people closer together – through Workplace. Workplace is not only helping us keep employees instantly informed with the latest updates, it is also enabling us to break down hierarchies through Live Q&A sessions with our Executives, promote positive physical and mental health through wellness campaigns, and support employees in the shift to remote working by sharing resources and bringing their stories and experiences to the surface – particularly the challenges of balancing work and home life.
“With Workplace’s ever growing feature set and goal to build a connected world, we’re always finding new ways to use the platform to build a community in which our people feel more comfortable to bring their authentic, whole selves to work… and even have a bit of fun! We recognise how important social connection at work is for role fulfilment, engagement and, of course, productivity. By breaking down barriers and fostering this connection, we’re driving greater collaboration and innovation, leveraging the amazing diversity of thought we have across the Group.” Kyla Banks nib Employee Communications Manager shared.
“Workplace has helped to dismantle barriers among our workforce and create a community of fulfilment, togetherness and pride in nib and our purpose. We’ve actually had many of our employees tell us that through this pandemic they’ve never felt so connected to nib and it’s the timely, clear information they’re receiving on Workplace that has turned this challenging time into a positive experience for everyone.”
And the stats enforce this with the team seeing almost a 20% jump in engagement activity (posts, likes, comments) on Workplace and double the messages sent through Work Chat in the period from February to March 2020.
“We couldn’t be happier with the momentum we have gained in the business on our collaboration platforms, in particular Zoom and Workplace, thanks to the great relationship with our partners POMT. We continue to receive tremendous support and work side by side with Jeremy and his team to challenge the status quo.” added Brendan Mills, nib Group CIO says.
