WorkBuzz and HS2 co-created a vision for what a world class employee experience would look like at the company and how we could revamp its employee engagement strategy. We set out to modernise its employee voice by introducing much more agile, quarterly pulse surveys and empowering managers with real-time feedback.
Shortly before we were due to launch, the Coronavirus pandemic took hold in the UK, with the first lockdown announced. HS2 pivoted and within just four days, launched a remote working and wellbeing pulse. The survey ensured that every colleague had the tools they needed to work from home productively, that they were receiving regular communications from the HS2 leadership team and also helped HS2 identify what support was needed for staff wellbeing.
Most importantly, the questions were relevant to employees and provided actionable insight. Through a series of bi-monthly wellbeing pulses, HS2 could track and adjust its approach, with response rates and wellbeing levels measurably improving as employees could see positive change resulting from their feedback.
With the UK in and out of lockdowns, HS2 has varied the focus of each pulse survey to ensure these are meaningful and timely, helping to shape its hybrid working and wider people strategy. The focus now is on improving the wider employee experience, throughout the employee life cycle.
“WorkBuzz helped me define what we wanted employee experience to mean at HS2. They brought passion, extensive experience, and a very agile and intuitive employee engagement platform, giving us insights, in real time, at every stage of an employee’s experience journey with us. We now truly understand what makes our people tick. My normal range of HRMI is backwards looking reporting on what has happened, whereas our employee experience insights from WorkBuzz get us onto the front foot and keep us there.”
