Intranet Case Study

How Connells Group Brought 16,000 Employees Together Following Countrywide Acquisition

Connells Group is the U.K’s largest property services provider with over 1200 branches and more than 80 brands. In March 2021, Connells Group acquired Countrywide, a leading U.K estate agency, and a priority for the Group was to effectively integrate the two businesses. The now 16,000 colleagues needed to feel part of a single entity rather than two distinct businesses. This meant finding a way to connect everyone together practically, but also socially and emotionally in order to break down silos, and create that all-important sense of belonging.

Find out more about Connells Group

When the U.K’s largest property services provider, Connells Group, acquired Countrywide in March 2021, the Group was faced with a monumental logistical and cultural challenge – how do you successfully integrate 16,000 colleagues based across 1000+ UK locations? Connells recognised that technology was going to be the foundation of success and set about rolling-out a Group-wide intranet from Sorce. This ‘Engage’ platform has now become the backbone of communications and collaboration, and is helping to nurture that all-important culture of belonging and inclusivity.

A single, unified platform

Connells Group and Countrywide were running separate intranets when Countrywide was acquired. Following a review of key communications channels across both businesses, it was recognised that a single, consolidated group-wide intranet had a crucial role to play in connecting colleagues, and bringing them together to create a united community. The new intranet needed to become the central hub where colleagues, regardless of business location, job role or brand, could receive the same news, access the same key documents and policies, and connect with each other, thereby facilitating post-acquisition integration.

“The first step towards bringing everyone together was to ensure we had a single platform for communicating and connecting. Without this, 16,000 colleagues would remain disconnected and fragmented, working in their own insular siloes.”

Kelly McGall
Group Internal Communications Manager

The leadership team approved the creation of a group-wide intranet just weeks after the acquisition, and the contract was signed with intranet provider, Sorce in July 2021 following a tender process involving three suppliers.

The project kick-started with the creation of a 40-strong team, although Connells Group invited input from all colleagues right from the start to get them engaged with the project. After six-months of intense planning, designing and change communications, the intranet (‘Engage’), which could be accessed via computers and mobile devices, was launched to all colleagues in January 2022. The next phase of the project then began – nurturing a unified community.

Creating belonging

With a robust intranet now in place, Connells Group set about making everyone feel part of a caring and inclusive organisation by rolling-out a number of initiatives that were all heavily supported by Engage. These included Group-wide recognition giving (for the first time, this could take place throughout the Group via Engage) and a diversity, equality and inclusion (DE&I) strategy. The latter was announced through Engage in November 2022 and involved the creation of three D&I networks – Gender, LGBTQIA+ and Ethnicity. Colleagues were invited to join the networks with each now 40 people strong.

The power of ‘togetherness’

The roll-out of a single consolidated intranet has helped to break down silos, and is nurturing a united community, as for the first time all 16,000 colleagues can meaningfully connect and collaborate with each other.

As part of this, Engage is supporting a culture of recognition at Connells Group, helping colleagues to feel appreciated and part of a caring community (which in turn is helping to increase employee engagement). The recognition tool in Engage is used on a regular basis by colleagues across the Group, enabling those who have gone ‘above and beyond’ to be publicly appreciated via the recognition feed on the home page. In fact, on International Women’s Day, the recognition feed was active throughout the day, naming and praising inspirational female colleagues from across the business, as well as those colleagues who have helped them to shine. There has so far been over 250 individual pieces of recognition given to colleagues; with approximately 50 of these being awarded on International Women’s Day. There is also an area dedicated to celebrating and recognising long service milestones achieved across the Group each month.

Engage is also effectively supporting the Group’s DE&I strategy by raising awareness of gender, ethnicity and LGBTQIA+ issues, while helping to drive the inclusivity agenda across the organisation. Colleagues from each of the networks work closely with the intranet team, contributing educational articles on any number of topics, from tips on supporting colleagues during Ramadan through to avoiding unconscious gender bias.

“This year, some of the most visited intranet articles have included an educational piece about celebrating Chinese New Year, and a personal experience piece on Trans Day of Visibility. The DE&I articles are receiving over 500 engagements, and the networks are also advising the intranet team on events that need celebrating via banners, blogs, announcements and ‘images of the day’.”

Kelly McGall
Group Internal Communications Manager

In addition, Engage is helping to harness the power of community through fundraising initiatives, such as the Ukraine Crisis Appeal in March 2022. In total the Group raised £50,000 for The British Red Cross Society’s Disaster Emergency Committee Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, which turned into £100,000 thanks to the company fund-matching. By encouraging and empowering colleagues to fundraise and share their efforts, the campaign resulted in a ripple effect of social sharing using hashtags such as #StandWithUkraine and #HelpUkraine.

The intranet now receives over 200,000 log-ins each month compared with just 66,000 in February 2022, highlighting the growing importance of Engage as a hub for everything and everyone.

A complex challenge

Bringing two large organisations of 8,000 colleagues together has been a complex challenge but the Group is now on a strong footing for the future.

“Now we have Engage, we have one platform to communicate to everyone, and colleagues feel connected to a much wider, diverse and inclusive community. We’re excited to see how Engage continues to improve the employee experience for all our Connells Group colleagues.”

Kelly McGall
Group Internal Communications Manager