Overcoming the challenge of communicating with a dispersed workforce

How Thames Water navigated connections among a mix of on-site and remote workers

2 min read

Whether employees were working on-site or remotely following the start of COVID-19, companies were in need of better strategies for communicating with, connecting and recognising their employees. While many businesses struggled, some used this challenging time as an opportunity to grow connections amongst their dispersed workforces.

At the start of the pandemic, Thames Water, a utilities company and Reward Gateway client with 6,500 employees, had a mix of on-site and remote workers. Thames Water has been a Reward Gateway client for a decade, and has used its employee engagement platform to connect and engage its employees through wellbeing, recognition, communications and discounts.

When the COVID-19 pandemic started to affect Thames employees, the business turned to its platform to get out critical messages to its large workforce around any changes to its essential service of providing clean water to its customers. 

During these challenging times with our employees either on-site or working remotely, making sure we connect with our people has been critically important. We’ve used our platform to get out important messages around developing COVID-19 news, and as a space where employees can recognise the great contributions from their peers.

-Jenny Adair, Reward Manager

During the third week of March, peer-to-peer recognition increased, as well as rewards that employees could redeem on a gift of their choice. The most popular eCard was the 'Great teamwork!' eCard, showing the importance of collaboration and team spirit despite challenging times, with eCards reaching an all-time high in April. 

Employees also continue to turn to Thames's employee discounts for extra savings and money back in their pockets, with employee spending increasing year-over-year in the spring at popular grocery stores and other retailers.

While businesses everywhere are facing different sets of challenges due to the pandemic, it has also presented an opportunity to improve connections and communications for employees, no matter where they are. 

Looking for new ways to connect your dispersed workforce? Request a demo and learn how our platform can help your business in times of need.