BLOG/5 DESKLESS EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT CASE STUDIES

5 Deskless Employee Engagement Case Studies

Author avatar
Sarah D
5 min Read
16 August, 2024

Building new strategies to engage your employees? That’s already tough enough. But engaging your deskless employees will add a whole new layer of complexity to the mix.

Contrary to popular belief, a whopping 80% of the global workforce is made up of deskless workers. Spending time learning about how to engage them correctly will pay dividends to your business and your team.

With this in mind, let’s take a look at some great case studies for deskless employee engagement, starting close to home:

1. Struers

Struers is one example of a deskless employee engagement case study.

Struers is a materials science company focused on providing cutting, mounting, and polishing tools for businesses. They also offer technical services with more than 630 employees across 24 countries.

As you can imagine, most employees at Struers don’t have time to sit behind a desk. That’s why the company wanted to revolutionize its internal comms — it needed a simpler way to drive data adoption for frontline workers.

Christopher Fritz, Struers' Global IT Services manager, decided to partner with Fugo to reach employees in offices, warehouses, and production floors. The goal was to leverage real-time dashboards to display key metrics, which would ultimately help employees make better decisions for their teams, departments, and projects.

Struers immediately leveraged Fugo to:

  • Grant access to end users
  • Set up business BI reports
  • Integrate with Microsoft Power BI
  • Install the Fugo app on existing screens
  • Deploy digital signage in global locations

Today, Struers has been empowered to manage hundreds of screens across more than 60 countries. They’ve also ensured every employee can generate data-driven insights, whether they’re working on the production floor or sitting in a meeting.

Learn more about this case study with Struers and Fugo.

2. Ecopetrol 

Ecopetrol is one example of a deskless employee engagement case study.

Ecopetrol, also known as Ecopetrol USA Inc., is a subsidiary of the largest petroleum company in Colombia. This Fortune 500 ranks at number 346 globally, with more than 9,770 direct employees distributed across 90 countries.

As a large, international, and distributed business, Ecopetrol wanted an easier way to engage their deskless workers at scale. They were also interested in upscaling their workforce in a way that felt natural, fun, and inspiring.

Jorge Rojas Aldana, Learning Planning and Management Coordinator at Ecopetrol, decided to align employee engagement with business objectives. Connecting with a platform designed for continuous learning experiences, the company established a global plan in the hopes of driving higher employee engagement.

The process required:

  • Developing an onboarding and skill-building program
  • Creating videos, documents, and short articles to focus employee learning
  • Distributing learning content to managers and supervisors

A few months after implementation, Ecopetrol’s learning system rose to an NPS score of 45. Their deskless employees have outpaced expectations and continue to engage with both new and established content.

Learn more about how Ecopetrol engages deskless workers.

3. CBRE Group Inc.

CBRE Group Inc. is one example of a deskless employee engagement case study.

CBRE Group Inc. is a real estate and investment firm helping organizations plan, design, and build large physical infrastructure. There are currently 130,000 employees across 100 countries, at least 50% of which are deskless, dual-location, and/or offsite.

At the time, CBRE’s charity support program, CBRE Cares, struggled with less than 1% participation across its global workforce. To increase engagement and develop a culture of giving, the company would need more than a basic PowerPoint presentation.

Veronica Hayden, Global Director of CBRE Cares, decided to upgrade the company’s strategy with employee engagement software. This would allow them to create location-specific engagement strategies and track their performance over time. 

CRBE rolled out this solution in several parts:

  • Building an awareness campaign and creating more volunteer opportunities
  • Asking internal employees to share personal stories and pictures
  • Creating a fun competition to encourage training participation

Today, CBRE Cares has gone from just 4,500 employee volunteer hours to over 60,000 volunteer hours. They expect to report even higher numbers as employees familiarize themselves with their engagement platform.

Learn more about how CBRE Group transformed deskless employee engagement.

4. 3M

3M is one example of a deskless employee engagement case study.

You likely don’t need an intro to 3M — it’s one of the largest adhesive companies in the world. Today, this Fortune 500 employs 85,000 people across 150 countries, with a primary focus on the manufacturing, transportation, electronics, and healthcare industries.

Because 3M operates in so many different departments, the company struggled with distributing announcements effectively. It was equally difficult to share announcements with deskless workers, especially testing groups, scientists, and production techs.

Ranim Amin, Digital Marketing Leader at 3M, turned to digital signage to connect their deskless employees. They were quickly able to:

  • Push internal announcements to 11 screens in 3 different countries
  • Announce new projects, management changes, and important current events
  • Ask for (and publish) employee-generated content to boost internal engagement

Today, 3M has a digital signage system that easily scales to meet growing needs. They’re also able to share internal and employee content globally, which has generated loyalty with their deskless employees around the world.

💡Related: Digital Signage and Deskless Workers

5. Nordward

Nordward is one example of a deskless employee engagement case study.

Nordward is one of the largest European conglomerates serving Sweden, Denmark, and Norway with fresh and frozen fish products. They currently manage 289 employees across four different countries.

Norward had big dreams of becoming a leader in sustainability, customer relations, and product development. However, this wouldn’t be possible until it filled its deskless employee technology gap. To do this, the company wanted to distribute its target numbers to all employees — from the sales team to warehousing to the cutting and packing floor.

Christian Ahlin, CIO at Nordward, decided to give digital signage a try. This would enable all active employees to see recent orders, operations, daily expectations, and more. 

It didn’t take long for them to begin implementation:

  • Setting up deep Chrome and Google integrations
  • Pushing BI platforms like Looker to TV screens
  • Displaying concrete data without the need for phones or laptops

Today, Norward reports better sales and faster production. Employees notice immediately whenever a TV screen goes down, and many employees feel valued for having fast access to important data.

Learn more about how Norward found success with Fugo.

Engage your deskless employees using digital signage with Fugo

As you can see, there are lots of different ways to engage deskless employees. The trick is finding a solution that works for you — which means one that fits your budget, tech, and capabilities.

To simplify communication, consider exploring channels that naturally fit into daily operations. Some companies, for example, have found success using digital signage to deliver quick updates and key messages directly in their workspaces. This method integrates communication into the workday, eliminating the need for lengthy reports and often increasing participation.

For thousands of businesses around the world, Fugo is a great tool to help manage deskless engagement at scale. You can access a native design studio, create advanced content workflows, and connect with the tools you’re already using. All without crazy hardware requirements or sneaky hidden fees.

Confirm that Fugo is a fit for your employee engagement strategy by signing up for a free 14-day trial.

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