Meet Zaxby's
Founded in 1990 by childhood friends Zach McLeroy and Tony Townley, Zaxby’s has quickly become a household name in the Southern United States as a premium ‘quick-service fast casual’ (QSR) restaurant, thanks to its high-quality chicken and Zax Sauce. The enterprise was selected by Forbes in 2021 as one of America’s Best Large Employers 2021, reigning supreme in the restaurant category and beating out competitors such as Chick-fil-A and Wendy’s.
Becoming a recognized employer is the result of Zaxby's belief in investing in employees to support the delivery of premium customer experiences from the inside, out. The company envisaged a digital-enabled future of work for its 20k employees and engaged Unily to design an award-winning intranet that could unite corporate and franchise employees on a single platform. The result of the partnership is ZNET, Zaxby's employee experience platform.
Company stats:
- 1k corporate and franchise owners
- 20k employees
- 150 corporate stores
- 750 licensee stores
- 17 US states
- Founded: 1990
- Headquarters: Athens, Georgia
Project overview
With corporate and franchise employees located across 900+ locations, Zaxby's needed a central digital home that could be used to support employees with engaging communications, access to knowledge and systems, and provide a shared home for culture and brand identity to thrive.
Mission:
To create a digital workplace that would unite all corporate and franchisee stores and establish a culture standard and business approach that all licensee stores could adhere to easily.
Key Goals:
- Unite all corporate team members and franchisees
- Enhance engagement with corporate communications
- Boost employee happiness and wellness, and drive positive culture
The challenge
There are over 900 Zaxby’s stores across America, and this number is only on the rise. Zaxby’s needed a way to connect all stores and ensure the same work culture and standard was being adhered to throughout. Employee happiness is a huge priority for Zaxby’s, and so stores had to be aligned on the standards that needed to be maintained.
Additionally, not all Zaxby’s stores are corporate-owned; approximately 750 are franchisee stores and so are owned by individual licensees. Because of this model, it can be easy for stores to become disconnected and disparate. Due to the nature of work, Zaxby’s frontline workers have limited or no desktop access and so rely on their managers to keep them updated and in the loop with news and the information they need to do their daily jobs. The franchisee managers also required secure access to the same information as licensee managers, which is something the current ASP site couldn’t provide.
Zaxby’s needed a solution that would overhaul its current legacy system and could truly unite every store, whether it was corporate or franchisee owned, and ensure each store licensee was getting all the information, updates and tools they needed in order to run the business smoothly, and in a uniform way.
Project goals:
- To design a digital workplace that could overhaul the current homegrown classic ASP site
- To unite all corporate departments and franchisee and corporate stores in a single, one-stop-shop system
- To improve collaboration across internal departments as well as the franchisee community and ensure that all knowledge and information was accessible and available to all at any time, and from any location
- To continually improve the employee experience, boosting wellness and promoting a positive culture throughout headquarters as well as in the franchisee community
Uniting franchises with a true cloud-based intranet
After realizing that its current homegrown ASP site wasn’t holding up to the standard expected, Zaxby’s decided to overhaul its legacy system for a new and enhanced cloud-based intranet with Unily. To underpin the enterprise’s internal communications strategy, Zaxby’s worked with Unily to design and launch ZNET, Zaxby’s enhanced intranet. Previously, two-way communications channels were limited, making it difficult for corporate employees and franchise owners to raise their voices and connect with colleagues across the organization.
Two-way communication for a collaborative enterprise
Having an engaging communications strategy with plenty of opportunities for two-way messaging is essential for uniting employees around Zaxby’s mission and core values. As well as reaching team members in various locations, Zaxby’s communications needed to unify both corporate employees and franchise owners.
Launching ZNET has given Zaxby’s corporate employees and franchise owners the opportunity to actively engage with internal messages, respond to organizational updates, and cultivate new connections with their peers. It has become a true strategic corporate tool, acting as a digital HQ for all corporate and franchise owners to collaborate and share ideas with each other.
ZNET has also given Zaxby’s leadership team a platform to communicate and engage with their employees. End-users can watch Executive Messages to get updates directly from their CEO and tune into Big Moves, which includes videos discussing their recent acquisition, keeping everyone up-to-date and in the loop.
Targeted segmentation for a personalized experience
Zaxby’s communications approach ensures that every store location feels like part of the same big family. ZNET serves as the pillar for the enterprise’s internal communications strategy, as well as a launchpad for cultural initiatives and team-building activities.
From a messaging standpoint, ZNET centralizes all internal communications updates and uses targeted segmentation to create a personalized experience for end-users. Since corporate employees may have different communications needs and priorities than their colleagues who own a franchise, ZNET has targeted homepages to ensure every end-user sees the news that will be most relevant to their role.
Giving a voice to every employee
Employee input and feedback continue to play a leading role in Zaxby’s communications strategy. As opposed to relying solely on top-down communications, Zaxby’s utilizes ZNET to amplify employee voices, measure the impact of their strategy, and create messaging experiences that are truly encore-worthy.
The enterprise regularly sends out surveys to encourage employees to share their insights on different elements of their communications approach. A recent example of this includes a Zaxby’s Employee Engagement Survey, which asks end-users to speak candidly about their workplace experience to help the enterprise grow stronger together. Surveys are announced on the intranet, so that employees have a chance to learn more about upcoming queries and understand the value of submitting a response.
If users have a question or thought to share that falls outside of these surveys, they can take advantage of social networking functionality to comment and react to content they see on the intranet. Social capabilities make it easy for users to raise their voices and contribute to the conversation on an ad-hoc basis. There is also a ZNET Help box, which users can click to submit specific feedback directly to the team that manages the intranet.
A mobile workforce
With the nature of the job, the mobile application of ZNET has proved to be incredibly useful for users, especially franchise leaders. Making use of push notifications means that any corporate updates can be in the pockets of leaders within seconds and won’t be sitting unread in an email. This is especially vital for franchise owners, who will need to be kept up to date from the corporate team about any updates, information, and changes in the business.
“A significant portion of our corporate team members are out in the field or on the road, so we knew we had to supply them with a mobile option to ensure they stay connected with news, announcements, and information,” says Andrea Griffith, Director of Corporate Culture & Communications at Zaxby’s. “Our franchisees want information on demand, and ZNET allows them to view it on their own time while still getting real time alerts.”
ZNET is optimized for mobile use through the use of an application, ensuring the quality of the hub is demonstrated across all platforms. Users can access ZNET from anywhere, enabling them to read updates, search quickly for information, and save and read important articles or watch the latest corporate video in their downtime.
A cultural beacon
Zaxby’s puts a lot of focus into having an inclusive and positive culture for all its employees, and so it became essential that its digital workspace could enforce the tight-knit culture throughout all of Zaxby’s locations.
Putting the spotlight on benefits and wellbeing
Zaxby’s knows the value of highlighting employee benefits and wellbeing. Because of this, every ZNET user has the opportunity to get involved in social contests, digital events, and wellness activities, all of which are hosted on the intranet.
The events aim to boost employee wellbeing and happiness, and give a sense of community and participation. Some examples of events include a Valentine’s Day Raffle which received nearly 800 entries and raised over $3,900 and “Live Whole, Healthy, and Free!”, a wellbeing and weight-loss workshop with fitness trainer Jenny King.
Zaxby’s knows the importance of boosting morale, and so have employee spotlights to showcase their employees and demonstrating how they are valued. Additionally, Zaxby’s combat churn with a focus on promoting internal vacancies, making sure that all employees have the opportunity to apply for a job before external candidates.
“We did a survey of our licensees and their biggest complaint was not feeling they had a voice," commented Josh Bailey. "We knew employees didn’t really have a voice and we were very siloed. VERY. Once we got ZNET (Unily) we were able to give people a chance to speak and be heard. Licensees can now post their successes and we have execs using the platform to give updates to corporate and to the licensees. Being able to communicate 'up' and 'down' has truly been one of the biggest things to change our culture at Zaxby’s.”
Zax of Kindness
Zax of Kindness is a communications initiative that has had a profound impact, not just on Zaxby’s workforce but also amongst their larger community of customers. The enterprise’s Corporate Communications team leverages ZNET to spotlight everyday heroes and difference-makers from across the organization.
“Our mission at Zaxby’s is to enrich lives and there are so many franchisees and team members across the country carrying out incredible acts of kindness,” says Griffith. “We are proud to call them part of the Zaxby’s family and wanted to celebrate their contributions to our culture of service both inside and outside of our stores.”
When employees do something positive for their local communities, it is called Zax of Kindness. These positive stories are centralized on the intranet so that users can learn from and get inspired by their peers who are committed to doing good and making an impact.
To take Zax of Kindness to the next level and inspire customers to get involved, Zaxby’s celebrated Random Acts of Kindness Day on February 17 2021, with an innovative TikTok activation. People were encouraged to share their own videos demonstrating how they are stepping up their personal goodwill game, with the goal of making #ZaxofKindness into a movement that everyone can get involved in. Zax of Kindness illustrates how Zaxby’s positive and inclusive approach to corporate communications not only benefits employees, but also the customers they serve.
ZTV – the go-to hub for visual content
In addition to paving the way for more engaging conversations and open dialogues, ZNET serves as the backbone for multi-media messaging, which is a hallmark of Zaxby’s communications strategy. The enterprise takes full advantage of its in-house video team to create compelling news content that every end-user wants to watch. This includes Kickin’ It, a bi-weekly series of updates with senior leadership, so that employees can learn about news and developments straight from the source, as well as Chicken Nuggetz, a weekly newsletter in video form.
At the end of last year, Zaxby’s announced a new partnership with Goldman Sachs Merchant Banking Division, which acquired a significant stake in the company. To minimize the sense of uncertainty that frequently accompanies acquisitions and plans for expansion, Zaxby’s created a video series in which their Director of Corporate Culture & Communications interviewed their CEO about the transition. This not only kept all employees up to date and in the know about the acquisition, but it created a sense of calm and comradery for all.
“Previous to ZNET our execs were silent. They had no way of communicating to corporate or the licensees," said Josh Bailey. "This bred mistrust because we felt we didn’t have any idea what was going on. ZTV has provided a single channel with multiple segments of communications. Our Communications department – now our Culture and Communications department – create targeted content that allows our team members to see what they want and what they feel is important to them. We don’t have just one long video on financials. We can cover the entire corporation from licensees, to the Zaxby's stores, to the corporate employees. Having these options has increased the trust in our execs and the processes.”
Keeping connected through and through
When the pandemic forced many shops to close across the US, Zaxby’s Corporate Communications team leveraged their intranet to quickly communicate change to their people. With so many employees working in different roles and regions, leaders turned to video messaging to keep workers aligned and engaged throughout the pandemic.
Zaxby’s CEO even shot videos on his iPhone, offering up words of encouragement during trying times. Following these initial videos, the CEO and executive team have continued to produce content to keep employees not only updated, but united, during times of change. This includes a discussion with operations and risk leaders from corporate stores on best practices for COVID safety and a conversation about staying safe with Zaxby’s EVP of Culture and Brand Experience.
Throughout the year, additional content has been added to discuss reopening dates, to thank licensees and team members for their dedication, and to keep spirits high with an inspirational message. While challenging times can often feel isolating, Zaxby’s' use of video and ongoing emphasis on transparent, two-way communications ensures that employees feel more connected than ever before to their organization and to Zaxby’s one-of-a-kind culture.
Pushing development to the limits
ZNET is a complete product of the joint collaboration of Zaxby’s Corporate Communications team and its IT team. Zaxby’s realized that communications can’t exist without technology, and so the two teams worked together to design a platform that could enhance internal communications between franchisee and corporate stores, while also improving employee experience for all.
“There is nothing stale about the site,” says Josh Bailey. “IT will only become more important, especially when communicating. We’ve used other systems and from a tech perspective, Unily has by far been the easiest platform. It does everything it needs to, smoothly, in a headache-free way, and with minimal help.”
ZCON – taking events virtual
With COVID-19 impacting events worldwide, Zaxby’s decided to take its annual employee conference, ZCON, virtual for the first time. Now, not only does ZNET archive past conferences hosted in major cities; it has become the digital destination for ZCON 2020. The conference included general sessions, fireside chats, and breakout rooms, giving employees plenty of opportunities to learn about upcoming news and fortify their connections with their colleagues.
Hosting it completely on ZNET was a simple and easy way for Zaxby’s to ensure that its annual conference was still able to go ahead, and that employees did not miss out on the yearly insights, collaborative sessions, and the ability to interact and share anecdotes and queries with each other. The event proved to be a success, boasting the highest engagement numbers on the platform to date.
The use of data to continually improve
Following ZCON 2020, Zaxby’s sent out a query to gauge how users felt about the event and to pinpoint areas for future improvement. The team also monitored analytics, including how many people attended the 2020 event compared to past conferences, the times people were most likely to watch, and how much engagement with ZNET increased following the conference.
After analyzing these numbers and reviewing quotes and feedback from their colleagues, Zaxby’s was able to pinpoint areas for improvement, and were able to create more navigation tools to ensure audience members could make the most of the event. The team was also able to develop more interactive opportunities including FAQs and webinars, making it easier for people to see what they have watched on the site. These areas of improvement will be incorporated into the next iteration of the virtual conference, ZCON 2021, to continue to enhance the programming and maximize employee engagement.
Maximizing the developer experience with custom-made widgets
Another way that Zaxby’s is making the most of its Unily platform is through the creation of customized widgets. Although Unily offers many of its own widgets, it’s easy for developers to customize or create new widgets to meet any specific wants and needs of the company’s employees.
For Zaxby’s, the franchise and corporate store owners require particular and specialized insights about each of its stores, offering a window into the daily operations. Through building custom widgets, Zaxby’s has been able to develop the additional tools it needs to gain the extra awareness.
Zaxby’s Lead Systems Architect, Josh Bailey, has currently developed close to 50 custom widgets for ZNET from scratch. Due to the easy functionality of Unily’s platform back-end, it’s simple for Josh to create widgets that match the vision the company has for ZNET. For Zaxby’s, its widgets fall into three categories:
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Window widgets: Offering a view into the stores for licensees to see stats such as how many stores are open, the average store sales, daily number of drive through’s, etc.
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Employee celebration: Another way for Zaxby’s to celebrate its people through widgets such as birthday and anniversary integration (which is done through Microsoft 365 integration), employee spotlights, and a stately wellness check.
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Productivity widgets: Serving a more functional purpose, these enable tools such as guest satisfaction surveys.
“Having the ability and option to write the code ourselves was one of the deciding things for us when it came to selecting Unily, and really set it apart from its competitors,” said Josh Bailey, Lead Systems Architect at Zaxby’s. “We knew that we could extend the platform, and being able to do so has allowed us to reach out to licensees and more of our people. Writing code in Unily is not difficult; if we can’t find a widget that does what we want, we can easily custom-build it. It is the perfect combination of CMS and a custom-built website – the best of both worlds. You have access to all of the pre-made widgets and the tools to create your regular content, but it’s also easy to write custom code to create a widget that does what you want it to do.”
The results
The numbers:
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20k total user sessions per month
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66k total page views per month
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225k total user sessions in the past year
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816k total page views in the past year
To gain a more comprehensive picture of the impact of their communications strategy, Zaxby’s relies on a combination of qualitative and quantitative measures. The enterprise meets on a monthly basis with their Unily Customer Success Manager to review ZNET’s analytics. During these calls, the team analyzes the top ten most read items to pinpoint the content that performs best, as well as the stories that receive the most reactions and comments and the overall number of users who are accessing the intranet. In addition to a month-by-month view, Zaxby’s measures ongoing engagement with ZNET to determine the long-term impact of their messaging strategy.
From a qualitative perspective, glowing employee testimonials point to the profound impact that Zaxby’s communications strategy has had on both employee engagement and morale. Following ZCON 2020, several employees shared their positive experiences with the virtual conference, including:
“Great General Session! Zach, thanks for making sure we begin these conventions right every year. Very powerful prayer. Blake smacked the nail right on the head when he talked about how we need to be an organization focusing on people. That’s our future!”
“Beautiful opening and prayer! Zach, your heart and faith continue to set the culture for the brand! Blake, your challenge to ‘give better than we get’ with our people is a huge area for us to focus on this coming year.”
Zaxby’s selected as one of America’s Best Large Employers
In 2021, Zaxby’s was selected by Forbes Media as one of America’s Best Large Employers. Forbes partnered with market research firm Statista to survey 50,000 Americans working for businesses with at least 1,000 employees. Participants were asked to rate their willingness to recommend their own employer to friends and family and to nominate organizations other than their own. The final list spotlights the employers that received the most positive recommendations.
Earning a spot on this list is a testament to the strength of Zaxby’s corporate communications, which shines a light on the positive impact employees are making every day. From virtual conferences like ZCON to video updates from the Co-Founder and CEO himself, employees constantly receive and engage with messages that reinforce their value and encourage them to play an active role in shaping the future of Zaxby’s. This accolade is truly demonstrative of the excellent employee experience Zaxby’s culture provides.