Wanzek Construction is no stranger to complex jobs. Based in North Dakota, the company runs large industrial projects across the country.
One of their biggest challenges came when their workforce tripled and employees were spread out across multiple job sites. As a company that held strong communication as one of its core beliefs, Wanzek needed better tools to empower field workers.
Let’s take a look at how Wanzek Construction used Beekeeper to open and optimize communication channels across their workforce.
Generating 525 Employee Referrals in 3 Months
The construction industry is experiencing a labor shortage and many companies are struggling to attract and retain top talent. From 2022 to 2024, there is a need for an additional 2.2 million hires in the U.S. alone. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of construction positions remain open every month.
For Wanzek, creating an effective and sustainable way to grow their workforce remained one of their top priorities.
By partnering with Beekeeper, Wanzek was able to improve employee engagement. As employees became more familiar with the platform, Wanzek used that engagement to develop a highly effective employee referral program.
With Beekeeper, Wanzek employees could refer people to HR in a matter of minutes. The result? 525 new employee referrals.
No Email Required
Like many organizations in the industrial space, Wanzek employs frontline workers who spend the majority of their time in the field. Many don’t have an email address.
Before adopting Beekeeper, Wanzek was using a combination of email, text, and digital displays. But with a more robust field workforce, they needed a comprehensive platform that didn’t require an email.
According to Pew Research, 85% of U.S. adults own a smartphone. As a mobile platform, Beekeeper provided a reliable way to reach every single field worker who had a smartphone.
Real-time communication on a mobile platform is better suited to frontline teams. With Beekeeper, Wanzek’s managers no longer have to worry about whether their team receives updates on time.
More Engaged Frontline Employees
Employee engagement describes the relationship employees have with the company they’re working for. Highly engaged employees are more satisfied, productive, and actively participate in improving their workplace.
An organization’s internal communication strategy is the main way employees can develop a relationship with their employer. Improving engagement starts by optimizing internal communication.
When Wanzek adopted Beekeeper, frontline employees were better able to communicate with management to provide feedback. Facilitating two-way communication has helped to:
- Strengthen workplace culture
- Aid in new employee recruitment
- Connect teams across different locations
With Beekeeper, Wanzek has a more engaged workforce that is able to communicate faster and more efficiently.
Serving a Multilingual Workforce
Let’s be real: copying and pasting every message into Google Translate isn’t efficient or sustainable. Not only does it slow down operations, it also may discourage employees from giving meaningful feedback.
24.7% of construction workers in the U.S. are foreign-born. That means failing to account for their language preferences could potentially alienate a quarter of the construction workforce.
Wanzek employs a diverse and multilingual workforce. Breaking down language barriers and creating a more inclusive communication strategy were some of their top concerns.
The solution? Beekeeper’s inline translation features automatically translate messages and allow Wanzek’s employees to receive information in their preferred language.
Creating a Safer Workplace
Extreme weather conditions, heights, machinery, wildlife encounters – these are all potential safety hazards that Wanzek’s employees have to deal with on a daily basis.
While Wanzek was taking proper precautions to protect its employees, the company was looking to take an even more proactive approach to worker safety.
The key components of workplace safety are knowledge, awareness, and preparation. Employees have to know about safety protocols, be aware of hazards, and be prepared to handle them.
With Beekeeper, Wanzek’s employees have access to a communication stream dedicated to safety information. Not only does the company post critical safety updates, but workers can post their own alerts.
Every Wanzek worker now has access to safety protocols that can be updated and improved in real time.
Bottom-Up Communication
While Wanzek’s frontline workforce is distributed across multiple locations, the company didn’t want it to become disconnected as its numbers grew.
By adopting Beekeeper, Wanzek wanted to establish a direct line of communication between its executive leadership team and field workers in remote locations. In other words, Wanzek needed a tool for bottom-up communication.
Bottom-up communication means that the hierarchy of information flows in a way that includes all employees. By adopting Beekeeper, Wanzek was able to create a bottom-up communication strategy with:
- Real-time communication across all levels within the organization
- Surveys and polls to gather feedback from employees
- Employee recognition features
- Tools that crowdsource solutions and encourage innovation
