Wanzek Construction is no stranger to complex jobs. Based in North Dakota, the company specializes in the construction of renewable energy and heavy industrial with projects spanning across the country. To run these complex jobs, the company relies on its dedicated workforce and a set of core beliefs, which include information and communication. When its workforce tripled from 800 to 2,500, with 70% of its employees spread out across big job sites, delivering on those proved challenging.
One of their biggest challenges came when their workforce tripled and employees were spread out across multiple job sites. They had no direct line of communication with field workers in remote locations. This was critical because team leads need to communicate safety and wellness alerts to every employee. As a company that held strong communication as one of its core beliefs, Wanzek needed better tools to empower field workers.
What’s more, the company’s annual engagement survey revealed that employees wanted the opportunity to connect with people in other divisions of the organization. Wanzek also employs a diverse, multilingual workforce, but communicating with non-English speaking team members was a challenge.
- Multilingual workforce challenge to connect with non-English speaking employees
- Lack of scalable communication tools Communication tools didn’t support growing workforce
- Frontline/management disconnect no direct communication with workers in remote locations
- More inclusive communication strategy breaking down language barriers with inline translation
- Mobile-first, comprehensive platform reliable way to reach every single field worker, no email needed
- More engaged teams employees better able to communicate with management to provide feedback
For Wanzek, creating an effective and sustainable way to grow their workforce remained one of their top priorities. Wanzek had a few specific goals when rolling out Beekeeper’s employee app:
- Connect directly with field employees, and in their preferred language
- Adopt a flexible, scaleable frontline collaboration tool that could grow alongside the business
- Get critical safety and wellness messaging in the hands of all employees
- Achieve a 50% activation rate in one quarter and 70% after two
“We never had a tool for our craft-level employees to be a part of, which was unfortunate because that’s the majority of our workforce. And when you’re talking about recognition, who should we be recognizing but the people in the field that are doing the work?”
Brianne Hoffman, Senior Manager of Internal Communications
Wanzek’s communication team partnered with Beekeeper and focused on the following areas:
- Opening instant communication channels field workers need to access important safety-related information
- Adopting inline translation to communicate with all employees in their preferred language
- Establishing direct communication between field workers and executive leadership
- Improving overall engagement and creating a stronger workplace culture by activating a mobile way for field
With on-site rollouts, incentive programs, and activation training, the initial Beekeeper launch was a rapid success.
Today, Wanzek has created a mobile-first connected community with every employee. Communication is faster, smoother, and more efficient through one digital hub.
Transform your business.
Try Beekeeper now.
» Get Started
Since launching Beekeeper, the company reached its goal of 50% activation by the second quarter of 2021 —71 days earlier than expected. Wanzek exceeded its second milestone goal and reached 73% after six months.
The company leveraged the refreshed sense of employee engagement to extend the platform’s reach into company recruitment. For example, it developed a mobile-first employee referral program that makes it easier for team members to refer their personal contacts to HR. In just three months, Wanzek generated 525 new employee referrals.
Most importantly, the company was able to break down language barriers by using Beekeeper’s inline translation. Wanzek employees can now receive information in their preferred language, resulting in more meaningful knowledge exchange and collaboration.
With Beekeeper, every Wanzek employee is readily equipped to:
- Stay connected and informed on the business without communicationbottlenecks
- Expand their business knowledge and internal networks
- Ensure workplace safety measures are consistently met
- Build better connections with team members at other sites, divisions and areasof the business
