Financial consulting house Deloitte has turned to Web 2.0 technology to bring together its 3 600 employees.
The "Deloitte Way 2010" project has, according to its national champion, Jenefer Morgan, been a huge success. "It has been a fantastic experience and hugely successful."
Implemented by business-focused Web 2.0 company, The Virtual Works, the project was launched as a recognition initiative where employees could nominate each other as part of a reward programme.
The programme is based on a Web-based application where employees nominate each other for good performance. The nominee then receives an SMS informing them of the nomination and the reasons stated.
A panel of their peers reviews the nominations and, once approved, the system calculates and awards the recipient 'points' based on the weighting of their contribution.
The system gives every business division in every region complete discretion and flexibility on how to appreciate point earners in their teams.
Morgan says the project has grown beyond its initial deliverables.
"The staff have become aligned with the company's strategy, which is a real positive, and not part of what we set out to do," she says. "Everybody now knows what the strategy is and our staff in the business units can give feedback on that every month. It has changed the culture - the firm is changing."
Morgan says out of the 3 600-strong staff complement, 12 800 recognition nominations have gone through the system since inception a year ago, four times as much as the company expected.
Front-of-mind presence
One of the challenges Morgan identifies in getting the Deloitte Way 2010 to take off is buy-in throughout the organisation.
For this reason, 40 champions for the cause were identified and these individuals were asked to drive the take-up of the programme.
Another challenge was to keep the focus on the initiative, since it was not as front-of-mind as other technologies like e-mail.
There were no passwords on the system, as users already had to log onto their PCs, and it made the application more accessible.
Morgan plans for the programme to be expanded upon to include forums with the like of the COO, in real-time, where employees can ask questions that relate to the company's strategy and operations.
The advantage is that the Web 2.0-like interactivity can be harnessed, but in a controlled environment, she notes.
"Going forward, we need to keep the momentum going. Up to now it's been a good implementation, but now we need to keep it relevant and funky, and keep utilising it."
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