Global engineering company Sandvik wanted more than the traditional, top-down communication style common among many large companies. Instead, it wanted a more employee-centric way of working, where employees are heard and information flows freely from the front lines to the C-suite. Most importantly, Sandvik wanted the ability to communicate with non-office-based workers and give them access to information and learning programs in a dynamic and engaging format.
Sandvik turned to Workday Journeys to help create the kind of culture it desired. Although onboarding employees was the initial goal, Sandvik quickly realized that Journeys offered additional benefits that could shape employee engagement initiatives and help with broader organizational goals.
Sandvik sought to encourage collaboration and reverse the information flow so that the point of view of frontline employees reached decision-makers. The company also realized it could use Journeys to facilitate the rollout of new tools and strategies while boosting enrollment and participation in training and activities.
Sandvik journeys beyond onboarding.
With Journeys, Sandvik created customized pathways for new hires, guiding them through various tasks with information relevant to their role and to the company.
We wanted to improve engagement overall, and we realized that Workday Journeys had the potential to help us achieve those broader organizational goals. It is a valuable tool beyond onboarding.
Workday Solution Architect
Leveraging a presentation program, Sandvik could effectively map out the employee journey and boost collaboration with design partners to incorporate interactive elements—including hyperlinks, videos, narration, graphics, and learning courses.
Workday Journeys boosts employee participation fivefold.
Sandvik's first endeavor was to use Journeys to strategically align with a benefits open enrollment event for its UK workforce. In 2022, the event had a low participation rate, with fewer than 60 participants out of a possible 1,000. With Journeys, Sandvik hoped to provide employees with comprehensive benefits information in an engaging and accessible format.
The result? In 2023, Sandvik saw a fivefold increase in the open enrollment event, increasing employee participation from 1 in 20 to 1 in 4.
Presenting change as tailored journeys.
Workday Journeys also formed part of a wider change management initiative at Sandvik. The company incorporated Workday Peakon Employee Voice—the Workday intelligent listening platform—and created a journey focused on educating and engaging employees throughout the change initiative. The campaign raised awareness about the upcoming change using email, intranet announcements, and scheduled sessions with groups of employees. Journeys delivered content through presentations, videos, and links, with content support from Peakon Employee Voice.
Sandvik used certain condition rules to create journeys tailored to individual employees and their involvement in the change initiative. This approach ensured that each employee received the relevant information and support to use the new tool within their daily tasks. The Peakon Employee Voice journey was distributed to more than 39,000 workers. So far, about 30% have completed it, with an additional 1,632 in progress.
This journey is now embedded in hire and change-job business processes, allowing Sandvik to use business process notifications for individual employees.
Workday Peakon Employee Voice automation saves time while providing employee insights.
Sandvik used Peakon Employee Voice to gain real-time insights into employees’ concerns, priorities, and engagement levels, ensuring that everyone’s voice was heard. Regular surveys allowed Sandvik to more consistently analyze employee sentiment and gain knowledge about the effectiveness of company initiatives and priorities. The data is presented in easy-to-use dashboards, boosting visibility and creating a path to take action and address employee concerns.
We had quite a manual survey and data collection process before. Now that it’s been automated, we’re eliminating what used to be a heavy administrative burden for the HR team.
HR Technology Expert
Workday Peakon Employee Voice allowed Sandvik to break down results by demographic, country, or region—important distinctions given the company’s size and scope. Sandvik automated an integration between Workday and Peakon Employee Voice, lessening the burden on HR and highlighting specific opportunities and potential action items, empowering HR to focus on areas of need.
Creating a continuous cycle of listening.
Sandvik was interested in data that could drive action and address employee concerns or issues. With Peakon Employee Voice and Workday, Sandvik created a continuous listening cycle that helped managers focus on the needs of their team while avoiding administrative burdens.
As a result, employees answer surveys, and the system delivers insights into where the company is strong and where there might be to take action. From there, the process moves into a dialogue, where employees can have a confidential conversation within the tool. Those private dialogues can lead to a team meeting where a manager can raise the issue of concern and openly discuss potential solutions. The final step is the co-creation and implementation of actions.
Comments are a key aspect of continuous listening, often surfacing issues that might otherwise go unnoticed and unaddressed. Sandvik went live with Peakon Employee Voice in September 2023, and, within the first nine months, 78,000 comments were acknowledged by managers, 23,000 replies were shared, and over 1,000 actions were created.
“The best way to encourage people to take the survey is to drive change and drive results,” says HR Technology Expert Andrew Nalian. “So the more you work with actions, the more people see the things that are happening based on the feedback they’re giving, and the more likely they will be to give feedback in the future,” Nalian adds.