Emperor is one of the UK’s leading employee-owned creative consultancies, specializing in reporting, engagement, and brand communications. They discovered the Jostle platform in 2018, just after growing from 120 to 200 employees and opening two new offices. Jostle’s platform offered them a fresh approach to internal communications: a space to connect offices in all regions, engage their people, and inspire creativity.

We recently published a case study on how Emperor uses Jostle on our website, but I wanted to take a moment to delve a little deeper into some of the campaigns and initiatives they’ve run over the past few years. So, without further ado, let’s dive in!

Launching new principles

A couple of years ago, Emperor launched five new, company-wide principles to guide the way employees behave and achieve their goals. To announce these new principles, leadership published a series of monthly articles in their News. Each article introduced a new principle, explained its significance, and then put forth a challenge or activity that would help bring the idea to life for their employees. Reminders would then be posted in News throughout the rest of the month, encouraging everyone to complete the challenge or activity. 

Wellness campaign

Heading into 2020, Emperor wanted to focus on employee well-being. And, as the pandemic escalated, this focus became even more important. Jostle was key in this campaign in several ways:

• News was used to announce offers of reduced gym memberships and the consultation of an independent financial advisor. As COVID-19 became a global health crisis, News also became the place where the CEO and HR Manager could share weekly updates on everything from hygiene tips, working from home policies, and the continued operation and delivery of client work.
• Events were posted for weekly meditation sessions, yoga sessions, and HIIT classes (all taught by different employees at the organization). When work went remote, they still offered the sessions via Zoom, only this time, they were recorded so they could be uploaded to their Library after!
• Discussions were used as a space for the casual conversation that is so key for mental wellbeing. Discoverable Discussions were created for such things as self-care tips, a “Parent Panic Room” for tips on working from home with kids, and interest groups to discuss books and podcasts.

Giving employees a voice

In 2020, Emperor moved to employee ownership and wanted to refocus on giving employees a voice. In response to the pandemic lockdown, they adapted Listings (formerly known as Classifieds) into an Ideas Centre. Their leadership team wanted to know how they could make their current working environment better across five different areas: Clients, Culture, People, Processes, and Technology. So they created a Category for each of the five areas (plus one more for “Other”) and invited employees to share their ideas. They received 15 suggestions from people all across the company Many of these are currently being reviewed, and some are already being put into place! 

Emperor is also a 2020 Jostle Awards winner! If you’re interested in reading more about their story, be sure to check out their full case study.