Improving employee engagement and communication with an all-in-one platform

Krispy Kreme, a global retailer of premium quality coffees and doughnuts, is world renowned for its signature Original Glazed doughnut. But while the doughnut recipes were ironclad, there was one area where the organization needed help: Its employee engagement.

The challenge

Employee engagement for Krispy Kreme meant connecting with employees and communicating with them about all the perks available that makes Krispy Kreme a great place to work.

Over the years, the company used a variety of media to communicate with its staff such as one-off emails from store managers, print magazines and the occasional break room poster. But with 860 employees in 21 locations and varied working hours, there was still lower usage than desired of the perks the company invested in for their employees and important messages weren’t reaching all employees. The company needed a consistent and scalable approach to employee communication that was aligned with its unique culture and company values.

The approach

Sally Park, Head of People at Krispy Kreme, knew there had to be a better way to connect her employees to company updates and to its core values. Her goal was not just to increase the adoption of company communications, but to make the culture of recognition stronger and reinforce company values.

To achieve her goal Sally realized she needed to create a centralized place to showcase employee discounts, recognition and reward, company systems, on-boarding and employee communications that employees wanted to visit and was easy for them to access.

To help, Sally turned to Reward Gateway to take advantage of its centralized employee engagement platform, as well as the reward and recognition, communications, shopping discounts, and consulting services.

Krispy Kreme uses the platform to keep employees at the center of the company, featuring peer-to-peer public recognition (including eCards), timely updates from Krispy Kreme's CEO, Andrew McGuigan, regular updates on people and company news and access to hundreds of discounts from well-known retailers that keep employees coming back to the hub on a continual basis. Krispy Kreme named the hub “The KK Mixer” and completely customized it to reflect its brand, make it compelling for users, and deliver the same high caliber experience as they do for customers. 

The results

The Krispy Kreme team now has visibility into how and when their employee communications are being read, and the ability to learn from their employees through direct feedback and data. Within the first seven months of deployment 73% of Krispy Kreme employees were registered on The KK Mixer, and now that number has risen to 79%.

“With the introduction of The KK Mixer, we’ve transitioned our HR communications to a branded, culture-driven platform that employees love engaging with,” Sally says.

“And as they’re engaging with the platform, they’re learning more. About the company, and about how they can make it a better place to work. We will continue to learn too while we continue to evolve The KK Mixer to meet the changing needs of our business.”

Sally and her team are pushing the boundaries in employee engagement, and using technology to amplify the investments they make in their most important asset, their people.