Nationwide Building Society wanted to position themselves as thought leaders with a series of post-pandemic ‘Future of…’ hypotheses – such as defining what the future of work and service could look like. This started with asking employees – what might they want?
Our challenge was to engage colleagues as we helped Nationwide transform their working arrangements across offices, contact centres and branches.
Before these changes were decided, the Society wanted to involve colleagues in designing, then delivering the future world of work – making them feel part of a process that would change how colleagues everywhere worked.
We helped to design and analyse a comprehensive colleague survey, which invited participants to share their wants and needs in the future of work.
Following their feedback, we crafted narratives for all colleagues, including those who serve members every day, detailing why, what, how and when a comprehensive internal transformation would take place – and what the impact would be on them, members and the society.
We also helped create a series of commitments that the society made to colleagues, and conversation guides for managers to discuss and reflect locally.
The colleague-informed strategy was well received, proactively recognising and incorporating the input and guidance of Nationwide’s people. Clear and concise communication materials issued internally were used to spark conversations and involve everyone from the offset of a radical new reality for colleagues.
It enabled Nationwide to be bolder than it had been before, clearly demonstrating the ambitions they have around being an inclusive employer of choice. In fact, in the days and weeks after the announcement, traffic to Nationwide’s recruitment site increased significantly.
As a result, the team have been asked to provide insights and advice to a number of outlets and peers, such as the IOIC and the CIPR.
