Introduction
Stantec has served as a pioneer within the world of design and consulting for over 65 years. ‘The Lens’ brings the enterprise’s inspired culture to life through compelling stories that spotlight the work employees are doing to shape communities big and small.
Since 1954, Stantec has brought together designers, engineers, scientists, and consultants to spearhead community-building projects that are masterfully tailored to the people they are designed to serve. A people-first approach and an ongoing commitment to innovation fueled massive expansion, with more than 22k employees working under the brand today.
The Challenge
From humble beginnings as a one-person design firm, a culture of inspiration has been woven into the fabric of Stantec’s employer brand. The enterprise saw an opportunity to level-up their employee experience with a modern internal communications solution that could support them in telling the ‘story of Stantec’ in a way that inspired their workforce. Stantec needed a digital home for this narrative: a place to spotlight best practices, showcase the impact of employee’s work, and share the stories that are shaping the future of the brand in real time.
The Solution
The platform marked a first for the enterprise, as Stantec had never before partnered with an external software vendor for this kind of solution. While the team had originally considered building a custom solution, a comprehensive review of the benefits of implementing a SaaS model persuaded decision makers to pursue a collaboration with Unily.
“We actually looked at the logistics, cost, strength and limitations of building a platform internally,” explains Stantec’s Senior Vice President of Marketing, Communications, & PR, Lui Mancinelli. “After we had surveyed all of that, we landed on Unily as a very strong partner for us to develop this communications platform.”
An agile solution was a priority, as the platform needed to embody Stantec’s distinctive employer brand with a user interface that felt custom-made. While turnkey platforms of eras past would have missed the mark, Unily’s powerful configuration options enabled the solution to slot seamlessly into the business.
“The Lens had to fit in with Stantec’s other systems and be recognizable as part of the brand family,” explains Kerr. “In fact, due to its high visibility, The Lens had to be an even stronger representation of our brand.”
The vision
Inspiration is the lifeblood of Stantec’s employer brand and one of the core tenants that make up the enterprise’s strategic plan. The primary goal of The Lens was to support the company in activating an inspired culture by creating a home for powerful storytelling. The Lens had to fit in with Stantec’s other systems and be recognizable as part of this brand family.
Building an inspired culture
“When people feel inspired, they bring their full selves to work,” says Crystal Kerr, Vice President of Brand Identity, Public Relations, and Communications at Stantec. “The work that we do is really powerful. We impact communities and the quality of life for people around the world and The Lens really brings that to life.”
The new employee newsroom was designed to transform internal communications, fuel connectivity, and act as a cultural lynchpin that could unite employees from across the globe.
To turn these aspirations into reality, leaders pinpointed five words to guide their process: Connect. Share. Inspire. Learn. Engage.
“We wanted to create more opportunities to learn from each other, engage in conversation, share, and feel inspired by our colleagues and projects,” explains Laura Chatel, the brand’s Communications Analyst and project lead.
A new era for internal communications
The introduction of The Lens ushered in a new era for the enterprise’s internal communications efforts, bringing digital innovation to create new opportunities to enrich and engage.
Previously, Stantec relied on several mediums for internal communications: a quarterly magazine, leadership emails, video, and a legacy intranet platform. But as Chatel explains:
“We saw the need to evolve the way we communicate as demographics continue to shift. We needed a solution that is flexible and scalable as Stantec continually evolves.”
After a period of rapid growth that saw the company almost double in size, Stantec’s leadership sought a solution that could unite employees across geographies and time zones.
“The need to actually connect our people has become much more a priority, and particularly because at the core of our brand is the idea of connecting people and building culture,” Mancinelli affirms.
Key platform features
- Custom branded mobile app
- A branded app provides universal access for Stantec’s mobile workforce
- Multilingual functionality
- Seamless translation connects a global enterprise and eliminates language as a barrier
- Social networking capabilities
- Familiar social features empower employees to interact with content
- Real-time analytics
- Access to on-demand engagement insights drive strategy and prove value
- An intuitive CMS
- A user-friendly CMS simplifies the editorial process, drives productivity, and maximizes reach
- Personalized experiences
- Employees become the architects of their own experience with rich personlization options
Empowering employees with consumer-grade experiences
The Lens takes a page from the consumer satisfaction playbook, offering each of its 22k users an optimized digital experience tailored to the individual. Content is targeted by role, location and interests to drive relevancy and cut through the noise.
Targeted experiences
Personalization is embedded across every element of the platform, starting with the homepage. Targeted news feeds foster a personal connection between employees and internal communications initiatives. Customized news blends include thought leadership and social media to enrich users’ understanding of Stantec’s diverse service offerings and updates happening across the enterprise.
Mobile-first
“78% of our population is looking for information to be delivered to them in a mobile fashion,” explains Mancinelli. A branded mobile app levels up internal communications by putting each user in control of how and when they access the platform. Push notification deliver real-time updates directly to employee’s phones for ultimate convenience.
Authentic design
As a top tier design firm, visual identity is a key component of the Stantec employer brand. Thanks to a host of configuration options, the internal newsroom has been designed to instill a sense of familiarity with a look and feel that resonates with employees.
A social hub
Social features encourage users to become active participants in internal communications. Users can interact with content by reacting, commenting, or sharing. Kerr comments, “This really gives them the opportunity to communicate across the company the same way they would in their personal life. So it becomes a natural extension.”
Streamlining content creation
As part of the mission to deliver a new class of internal communications, The Lens needed to streamline the publishing process for content creators. With over 300 employees involved in content production, Unily brought an array of new possibilities to the team.
Audience targeting
Targeting allows content producers to ensure their stories reach the people they matter to most. Internal communicators can direct content to employees by location or department to help cut through the noise and deliver a curated experience to every user.
Built-in analytics
The Lens enables real-time engagement tracking through built-in analytics, giving content creators access to the insights they need to refine their strategy for maximum impact. “With real-time analytics, we can really experiment and have that freedom to try some different things and know how our unique population is responding to that,” explains Chatel.
A simple CMS
An intuitive CMS with front-end editing capabilities was a necessity for Stantec’s expansive content team. According to Chatel, “It was really important that it made things easier on our content production team so that they were able to concentrate on what they do best.”
Multi-lingual translation
Multi-lingual functionality ensures content on The Lens is translated to English, French, as well as Spanish to accommodate employees around the world.
The Results
With ongoing support from Unily, the Stantec team was able to bring their ‘inspired culture’ vision to life through the implementation of their internal newsroom. All signs point to widespread success, with viewership and engagement continuing to increase month on month.
Positive feedback
“We’ve gotten a great reaction to The Lens since we launched it. It’s been really well received by our content creation teams internally, as well as by our general employee population who’ve been reading it,” Chatel reports.
Social networking proved to be an unprecedented success, with employees posting over 650 reactions and 250 comments over the first week. According to Mancinelli, “We’re seeing our community really come alive and really becoming engaged in the work and activity of other people and that’s something that we’ve not seen before.”
A richer experience for clients’
Due to the upsurge in collaboration and networking, The Lens has paved the way for optimized client experiences.
“When our employees are able to connect with one another it creates opportunities for collaboration, for information sharing. They may read about an interesting technique that was used on a project and think well ‘hey that might work on a project I’m working on for a local client’,” explains Kerr.
In large enterprises, valuable knowledge can easily become trapped in geographies or departments. The Lens has created opportunities open new revenue streams by spreading awareness of lesser- known services and expertise siloed throughout the business.
“You’re in one office a small office in some corner of the world and all of a sudden you have this periscope into the world of Stantec. This supports not only our internal culture, but also allows us to deliver a richer service to our clients,” Mancinelli confirms.
A ‘big-bang’ launch
To encourage widespread adoption from the start, Stantec leaders devised a three-stage launch strategy.
1. Promotional articles: Promotional articles were sent out to generate buzz about the new platform.
2. Explainer videos: Explainer videos followed, offering users a sneak peak of The Lens.
3. Scavenger hunt: Finally, a scavenger hunt was devised to encourage employees to explore the platform and respond to questions in a native form.
A look to the future
The acclaim surrounding The Lens has opened the door for future innovations and ongoing platform evolution.
Thinking about the future for the platform, Mancinelli says: “I think we’re really just exploring the potential of Unily. We understand that the platform has capabilities beyond what we are currently using, so in the future we are thinking more will actually flow through Unily,”
With only a small sub-set of Unily features currently in use, there is limitless potential for the communications platform to develop into a fully-fledged digital workplace solution.
To summarize Stantec’s experience thus far, Kerr states, “People are really proud of the fact that the company has invested in this platform to help them do their jobs better. It’s really gratifying and I feel excited about the opportunities ahead of us.”
