Intranet Case Study
Intranet helps Totemic raise the bar with its wellbeing support
Intranet helps Totemic raise
the bar with its wellbeing support
Totemic is the holding company for a group of financial services and IT providers including debt management company, PayPlan. Launched in 1992, Totemic employs over 800 staff (500 within PayPlan) and has offices in Lincolnshire, Birmingham and Lisbon.
Location:
Lincolnshire, Birmingham, Lisbon
Industry:
Finance
Employees:
800+
Location:
Lincolnshire, Birmingham and Lisbon
Industry:
Finance
Employees:
800+
Background
The company had been using an intranet which had been built by their IT department some 20 years’ earlier, but it was coming to the end of its life and needed replacing. For 12 months, Totemic was forced to operate without an intranet as Luke Pick, Head of Engagement at Totemic explains, “Our intranet was falling over itself and so we had to stop using it. This was challenging as we had to rely on email and the newsletter as our main channels of news, information, and support. We also had to limit the amount of emails being sent as they were overloading people’s inboxes. It was clear we needed a new intranet, and quickly!”
Choosing the ideal platform
The leadership team were fully supportive of a new intranet, and so Totemic’s marketing team did a search of intranet providers, and the list was soon reduced from 15 to three. Sorce was finally chosen as the preferred supplier as Sorce’s Engage intranet could provide Totemic with everything it needed to support a modern workplace – from a secure document repository, through to a recognition tool for everyday staff appreciation.
The contract with Sorce was signed in January 2022 and a four-person project team was formed, headed-up by Luke Pick and Ana Da Costa (Internal Engagement Lead). It took just three months to design and build the new ‘Totem’ intranet, including workshop sessions with Sorce. After first launching the intranet to line managers on 6 April 2022, it went live to all 800 staff the following day.
“The feedback from staff was really positive. It was obvious to everyone that Totem was easy to navigate and intuitive and so everyone quickly got the hang of how to use the new platform.”
Ana Da Costa,
Internal Engagement Lead
Crisis and wellbeing support
As well as becoming the ‘go to’ for documents, policies, and news, Totemic has evolved its intranet into a crucial platform for crisis and wellbeing support, raising the bar on the level of service and care it provides to both customers and colleagues.
A crisis support page includes a button that PayPlan agents can press when they need immediate help with a customer call. It could be that a customer is threatening to commit suicide or injure themselves during the call, and the button alerts a manager who will instantly listen in on the call and act as necessary, such as phoning emergency services.
There are also intranet pages which help colleagues to signpost PayPlan clients to the right support, such as gambling and vulnerability specialists, as well as external mental health and domestic abuse charities. With Totem, colleagues instantly have the information and contacts they need for providing vulnerable customers with the best advice and support available.
“When people phone PayPlan, they are rarely in a good place in their lives. They could be a victim of economic abuse, face gambling-related issues or find themselves in a situation that is out of their control. It’s our job to not only support them with the money they owe, but to help and guide them while at their most vulnerable. Totem is helping us to do this more effectively than ever.”
Luke Pick,
Head of Engagement
Totem is also providing Totemic employees with a quick and easy way for them to seek wellbeing support as needed. A ‘Wellness Champion’ page lists all the company’s wellbeing specialists and the new ‘Help me now’ button allows employees to click on the button for immediate communication from a wellbeing champion.
“Our colleagues can have stressful days and so it’s vital that they are supported as much as our customers are. By simply pressing the wellbeing support button on Totem and answering a couple of quick questions, they are instantly directed to the most suitable wellbeing champion who can help and advise them as needed.”
Luke Pick,
Head of Engagement
Recognition and benefits
Above and beyond wellbeing support, Totem makes it easy for colleagues to understand the company benefits available to them. Recently, a discount hub was created which provides all colleagues with discounts/vouchers for use at local retailers, helping with the cost of living.
In addition, it is now much easier to recognise team and employee successes using the intranet’s in-built social and recognition tools As Da Costa explains “We’ve introduced a ‘congratulations feed’ in which we call-out great news, from company milestones and 10-year career awards through to baby and wedding news. Employees can even thank their peers with just a click of a button, helping to make appreciation an everyday part of our culture.”
Moving forward, the plan is to build a customised “thank you wall” in which colleagues’ contributions are publicly recognised in line with the company’s values. The hope is that it will become Totemic’s digital ‘hall of fame’.
An intranet that has raised the bar
In a relatively short space of time, Totemic has come from using an archaic communications platform, through a period of having no intranet, to going live with a modern and agile intranet from Sorce. This has not only allowed the company to streamline its communications and procedures, but has enabled it to take its wellbeing support for both customers and colleagues to a whole new level.
“Totemic was already the envy of competitors, especially with how the PayPlan team supported its clients. We’ve now managed to go one step further thanks to Totem, providing a superior level of service which focuses on the wellbeing of our customers and colleagues.”
Luke Pick,
Head of Engagement
