Unily earns quadruple win at Ragan Employee Communications awards

Spotlighting the best in communications excellence

For decades, the Ragan brand has been regarded as one of the world’s leaders in corporate communications. Their annual Employee Communications Awards is an opportunity to recognize innovative enterprises that are shaping the future of employee messaging.

Following a double win at the 2020 awards, we are pleased to see our winning streak continue. This year, four of our clients have earned spots on the podium, including Baker Hughes for Best Intranet Design, Samuel, Son & Co. for Virtual Executive Communications, Wolverine Worldwide for Best Intranet Launch or Relaunch, and J.J. Keller for Amazing Workplace Culture. Our clients join a winner’s circle made up of industry leaders that include Ford Motor Company, Cisco, and Aflac.

Inside the winning entries: what sets our clients apart

What does it take to earn gold at the prestigious Ragan Awards? While each of our winners has their own unique approach, all four demonstrate an ongoing commitment to leveraging next-generation technology to enhance employee experience. Some of their best practices and project highlights include:

Designing a best-in-class intranet platform with Baker Hughes

For 34% of Baker Hughes’ workforce, the intranet is their only window into company news, policy and leadership communications. For the global company of 67k employees, serving the energy and industrial equipment sector, many workers are on location, and therefore limited when it comes to employee engagement.

Baker Hughes decided to go all in on a new intranet that combined two legacy websites into one singular employee experience to serve the many workers in 120 countries. Some of the key challenges to overcome included distilling a complex organization into targeted employee experiences, providing access to a variety of digital applications available from a single point of entry, and creating a personalized information delivery that can be adjusted by the user. 

Connecting remote employees with leadership with Samuel, Son & Co.

When many of Samuel’s 5.5k employees transitioned to remote work due to the pandemic, the enterprise turned to The Torch, their employee experience platform, to keep their people aligned. Samuel’s communications team prioritized ongoing updates from senior leaders, supplemented with email notifications to ensure every employee felt connected to the organization, even when working apart.

The enterprise’s Leadership Huddle calls exemplify Samuel’s emphasis on agile, two-way communications. While meetings were once only accessible to the Top 150 leaders in the business, employees are now invited to participate. Recordings are available on The Torch, so employees can refer to discussions and submit questions directly to the leadership team.

Creating an amazing workplace culture with J.J. Keller & Associates, Inc.

At J.J. Keller, employees are called Difference Makers from their first day on the job. The enterprise leverages K-LINE, their employee experience platform, to equip users with the tools and communications channels needed to live up to this title every day.

A designated Innovation area on the platform links to a “job board” of opportunities for associates who are interested in shaping the future of the organization. K-LINE also serves as a one-stop shop for those who are interested in getting involved in J.J. Keller’s give back programs and initiatives, creating new opportunities to connect with colleagues across the enterprise.

Staging the ultimate launch with Wolverine Worldwide

When Wolverine Worldwide set out to redesign their intranet, the enterprise wanted to ensure that their forthcoming platform would be user-centric and drive maximal adoption from the start. To build excitement around its debut, Wolverine Worldwide’s Corporate Communications team created 5 different launch videos that advertised the benefits of the new solution.

Wolverine Worldwide also wanted to make sure users felt supported from the start, so they created a Help Desk for drop-in support as employees got familiar with WeConnect, their employee experience platform. There’s also a mobile app to ensure everyone can access the intranet, which has content translated into 7 different languages to reach team members located around the world.

Are you ready to see your name on the winner’s list?

2021 has been a banner year for our community. From an unprecedented four wins at Nielsen Norman Group’s best intranet awards to our newest titles at Ragan, our customers continue to earn recognition for their commitment to enhancing employee experience. If you’re looking to launch an award-winning platform of your own, get in touch with our digital workplace experts.