Employee Community Case Studies

Most discussions of online communities for feedback involve communities of customers and prospects. Just as important are online communities of employees. Such closed, private communities can offer employers rich insights about workplace conditions and changes in markets the employer serves.

One Vovici client, an international bank, has been experiencing tremendous growth in an emerging market, taking advantage of financially weakened competitors. As a result of this growth, the bank is facing a number of new challenges, chief of which are increased competition for local sales talent and increased competition for customers. The organization implemented an employee community to help address both of these issues. Employee feedback gathered from the online community is used to help position the bank as the "employer of choice" in this region's financial market. The community is also used to provide a unique window on customers: employees share customer feedback from the field and submit product and service ideas of their own and those suggested by customers.

Another user of Vovici Community Builder has created an employee community that goes far beyond feedback. While employee satisfaction research is fielded through the online community, employees typically log in for other reasons:

• To view weekly sales numbers
• To participate in discussion forums
• To submit questions to senior management
• To view status reports for each department
• To see company news
• To access other employee portals, such as the benefits portal

What innovative uses of online employee communities have you seen?