“We needed a single listening framework capable of reaching every employee profile, from office teams to production floor, across eight countries. Zest delivered that from day one.”
-Daniele Bottazzini, Head of Talent & Reward, LFB Group.
The challenge: a workforce that was impossible to listen to at scale
In HVAC and Refrigeration, technical talent is scarce and hard to replace. When a skilled employee leaves, the cost is immediate and operational. LFB Group needed to detect engagement signals before they became retention problems across 8 countries, with teams that are in factories and not always in front of a screen.
The challenge was structural. No shared listening framework existed. Feedback was informal. Annual reviews generated no exploitable data at scale. Managers had no visibility into what their teams were experiencing between reporting cycles.
The requirements were clear: a multilingual, multicultural platform with an interface simple enough for immediate adoption across all employee profiles, advanced analytics exportable to the executive committee, and a provider with long-term support capacity.
Why Zest
Zest answered each of those requirements directly. The platform is available in 36 languages, designed mobile-first and flexible enough to reach employees wherever they are. Whether on their own device or on shared computers made available on-site. Its analytics layer produces structured, exportable dashboards built for HR directors and executive committees, not just survey administrators. And Lab Zest, the expert support team provides hands-on guidance from day one: launch preparation, result analysis, and regular sessions at executive level to ensure data translates into decisions.
That combination of product depth and embedded expertise was what differentiated Zest in the selection process.
“Zest has provided us with a user-friendly multilingual platform that is available both for employees in our factories as well as employees in our offices or working remotely. The adoption from our staff has been easy and rapid, and we’ve had a good support from Zest team to facilitate the adoption of the HR team.”
-Claire Cavallucci, Human Resources Director
The solution: listening across the full employee lifecycle
LFB Group deployed Zest across four distinct use cases, each targeting a different moment in the employee journey.
The annual questionnaire provides a structured baseline across all entities, comparable year on year. Onboarding surveys capture early signals from new joiners before disengagement sets in. Offboarding surveys turn departures into data, surfacing systemic issues that stay invisible without structured exit listening.
For on-site employees without individual work email addresses, kiosk mode removes the barrier entirely: shared computers made available on the factory floor allow operators to connect and respond simply, without needing a professional email address. The 84.9% participation rate on the first deployment reflects that: when access is genuinely adapted to how people actually work, employees respond.
Zest’s involvement extended beyond platform setup. Through enablement sessions, follow-up meetings, and executive-facing analysis support, the project was built not as a survey rollout but as a listening infrastructure for transformation.
From deployment to activation: the second phase
After the initial rollout, the program moved into a second phase. The objective shifted from collecting responses at scale to turning listening into an operational management tool.
Concrete actions were initiated: manager enablement on result analysis, action-plan creation workflows, dedicated result-sharing sessions with local and leadership teams, executive-level restitution planning, and continued HR enablement on back-office processes. Access and response journeys were also adapted for non-connected populations, notably through shared workstations deployed directly on production sites.
That transition matters. The second phase marks the shift from measurement to execution: from having data to knowing what to do with it.
Early impact: what 84.9% participation actually means
The participation rate was the first visible signal. Reaching that level across a multi-country deployment including field populations validated the access model and the design choices behind it.
But the more strategic impact goes beyond reach.
The program established a scalable listening architecture for a complex workforce, including populations with limited digital access. It increased HR autonomy, equipping internal teams to manage the platform, structure launches, and prepare analysis more independently. And it brought managers closer to the data: instead of waiting for HR to centralize every interpretation, the organization began building the conditions for managers to engage directly with results and act on them.
That shift is the one that compounds over time. It moves listening from a campaign logic to a continuous performance framework.
Three business impacts already in motion
Visibility on talent risk across the lifecycle. With listening touchpoints at onboarding, annual review, and offboarding, LFB Group is no longer limited to exit interviews to understand what drives attrition. Each phase adds a layer of signal, creating a more dynamic picture of engagement across the full employee journey.
Manager activation with real data. Managers are increasingly part of the listening loop, not just recipients of HR summaries. As they gain access to clearer signals and more structured action frameworks, they are better positioned to respond earlier and more effectively to what their teams are experiencing.
A stronger HR voice at leadership level. When listening data is both broad in participation and structured in analysis, it becomes credible at executive level. HR brings forward a diagnostic that supports decisions, rather than simply reporting survey outcomes.
What comes next
Results will be shared with the executive committee before cascading through the organization. Action plans will be built at subsidiary and operational unit level. Regular pulse mechanisms will monitor weak signals over time, before they translate into absenteeism or attrition.
LFB Group’s experience shows that the value of employee listening does not come from survey deployment alone. It comes from the ability to connect participation, analysis, managerial ownership, and action planning inside one shared framework.
