Deployed Polls to Listen to their teams in times of crisis
Wood trade - Belgium
Listen

ITS Wood is a Belgian forestry company specialized in the purchase and trade of quality standing timber. The company's HR department deployed our solution in a context of crisis with the challenges of listening to employees in the field and working remotely.

Results

Maintaining the ties at a distance
Through listening tools
Listening to employees' opinions,
Through the implementation of an action plan based on employees' feedback
Improve the results of the yearly performance review
Through the implementation of surveys in a process of continuous improvement

Taking the pulse of employees after the lockdown announcement with Polls

ITS Wood’s HR team set up a first survey in order to gain visibility on how their employees were feeling about the lockdown announcement and the changes in their work environment.

The goal of this survey was to learn if they felt capable of working under these conditions and if they had the tools to allow them to properly do their jobs. The survey was mainly addressed to teams working from home (administrative staff) but also in the field (drivers and forestry technicians).

Later, a second survey specifically targeted the administrative staff in the context of returning to work and resuming “normal” life. The objective was to understand how best to re-integrate staff and how to do so in a way that was consistent with their individual needs.

Effective support from Client Success teams throughout the crisis and after.

Available content that ensures autonomy on projects

I followed the webinars suggested by the team, especially on the theme of “reinforcing the ties despite the distance” with the Mood and MyZest features. This inspired me on new ways to use those features and new questions to integrate into our surveys.

We used the polls templates developed by Zest. It was very easy to personalize it and send quickly.

An extremely-reactive support

Zest’s teams are always very reactive in case of technical problems, I have always been able to launch my polls very quickly.

Using survey results to provide more personal feedbacks to employees

The results of the first survey identified a widespread anxiety regarding work efficiency and the pandemic itself and allowed the HR team to identify 5 people particularly in distress.

We were able to identify the people most affected by the crisis and those with the most questions. This enabled us to provide them with individual support.

In the second survey, the HR teams realized that employees were still affected by the anxiety-provoking context. The responses enabled them to carry out targeted actions.

We noticed there were some areas of concern related to going back to the office and we intensified our efforts to provide the best possible support during this transition period.

The results allowed them to adjust the pace of work on a case-by-case basis and to identify particular situations, in order to reconcile work, employer expectations and the role of parents for some. To shed light on some topics regarding remote work and to make small groups of people to slowly reintroduce them to working at the office.

Launching a new survey allowed us to pay attention to what employees do not necessarily dare to say in face to face. It is always a good way to express opinions, which allows us to be constructive and to be able to continue moving forward.

Implementing the Polls within all teams

Preparing the yearly performance review with a preliminary survey

Prior to the yearly evaluation, the HR department sets up surveys in order to prepare for the interviews. The goal is to make a follow-up check-in to ensure that the recommendations are implemented and to get the employees’ feedback. It was important for them to allow employees to take some distance and to be able to give them feedback beforehand, so that they could discuss it during the evaluation.

Keep sending out surveys and providing personalized follow-up

Zest has allowed us to achieve our goal of identifying and monitoring our employees who need or who ask for more feedback.

Join these Prestigious Players

Want to see your story alongside other leading companies already boosting team performance with Zest?
Why ZestBook a demo

Further Reading

Read the full story
Laura GUEGUEN
Director of Human Assets
 "Zest allowed us to implement the OKR (Objectives Key Results) method in a fluid, quick and efficient way. Thanks to the simplicity and ergonomics of the tool, we were able to focus on the essentials: formalizing our strategy and putting it into action."

How does Expertime use OKRs to support team performance?
Read the full story
Julien GAZEL
Contract Manager
Historically, and as in most companies, the notion of evaluation at EDF was very top-down and done once a year. Zest enabled us to set up a system that allows employees to be involved in defining their objectives and managers to quickly identify issues and frustration points through monthly follow-up. All of this is at the service of the success of the employee, the teams and, therefore, the group.

EDF transforms the yearly performance reviews into a positive experience for its employees and a performance lever for its managers.
Read the full story
Jacques Pierres
Partner, EY
Zest has pushed teams to improve performance, and has been recognized as an important mangement solution at EY. Not only through hierarchical top-down evaluations, but via a 360° view, which has been identified as a sort of revolution, freeing up a lot of time and effort.

Fostering Employee Engagement at Ernst & Young: the Zest way