Omicron turns a company into a community

What’s the next strategic step for a company that quickly grew to be one of the largest real estate development, design, and construction firms in Western Canada? After 18 years of organic growth, Omicron Canada Inc. (Omicron) wanted to align everyone within their organization to fully harness the potential of their integrated business model.

With this in mind, Omicron embarked on an extensive internal evaluation of their brand and identity. The company emerged with redefined purpose framed in a new brand promise and a set of five guiding principles. They had a singular focus: build a community. Their quest was one Omicron for all its people and parts. Omicron wanted everyone to identify with the new brand promise, believe in it, and bring the guiding principles to life in every part of the organization. Equally important, they wanted their customers to have a consistently positive experience of these principles in action.

Omicron had a few obstacles to overcome to realize their goal: a complex organizational structure; a dispersed workforce; and the lack of a unifying mechanism to help create their community. There was no company-wide channel to communicate, celebrate, and propagate their new brand framework. There was no way to reach office and site personnel in an engaging or real-time manner. In addition, they needed a way to put faces to names — to humanize the business and put people at the centre of their new community.

The leadership team identified and implemented a Jostle^® intranet to help them achieve their goal. Three years in, they’ve made a lot of headway with growing their new brand framework to support their vision of one Omicron. The five guiding principles are alive across the business and consistently visible throughout the Jostle platform:

• People demonstrate pride by sharing their achievements and recognizing the good work of others through NEWS and Shout-Outs.
• The CEO, executive leaders, individuals, and teams build trust by communicating openly.
• Every person can show leadership by sharing information, coaching others, and driving initiatives in a targeted or public way.
• Efficiency is up; having a central place to store mission critical and people information saves time and reduces disruptions.
• With close to 90% monthly participation sustained for several years, people are involved and engaged.

“The thought process we had was to build a community at the core of our business. And to help us get there we wanted something more than just an intranet and more than ‘Facebook for employees’, we needed an engine to help us drive our objectives quickly and consistently. That engine is our Jostle intranet.”

Bill Tucker, CEO

Omicron’s community is a work in progress. But there’s much to celebrate about their hard work over the past three years. We’re incredibly proud to be an integral part of such a committed organization, and cannot wait to see how the future unfolds as they continue to deliver “A Better Way” for employees and clients alike. Read on in this case study to see how Omicron went from brand ground zero to a vibrant, progressive company with a community at its core.

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