Ascenti keeps a finger on the pulse of employee engagement
Ascenti is the leading provider of physiotherapy and mental health services in the UK. Their national network of Ascenti clinicians deliver over 600,000 treatment sessions to people in the public and private sectors each year.
Their industry-leading digital health services modernise the patient experience, and with ‘Pulse’, their intranet powered by Oak Engage, they have been able to reflect their digital edge internally and level up their employee experience. We have worked together since 2018 and the results speak for themselves.
Industry: Healthcare | No. of users: 800+ | Area: UK
Results with Oak Engage
85% monthly engagement
Over 5,000 stars awarded annually
With a workforce spread across 300 UK clinics, Ascenti needed a tool to unite their colleagues on a single platform where they can quickly access information and collaborate with colleagues in what can often feel quite a solitary role when dealing with patients one-to-one. Ascenti’s intranet, ‘Pulse’, is accessible via desktop and mobile, which means that wherever and whenever needed, all employees can find everything work-related they could possibly want, all in one place.
The challenge
Outdated tools
Our partnership with Ascenti has been ongoing for a number of years and continues to go from strength to strength. As our product has developed over the years, so have the ways in which Ascenti uses it to develop their employee offering.
“Previously there was no central point of communication, no central staff database and no methods for teams to collaborate. Employees compensated for the lack of intranet by using other tools, therefore there was inconsistency across the business. We struggled with the lack of design capabilities and reporting on our old intranet so we weren’t able to create engaging content or draw conclusions on what employees were engaging with.”
The solution
Finding a partner in Oak
Ascenti needed an intranet platform that could drive employee engagement, improve company-wide communication and connect disparate employees. Our intuitive platform with cross-device access was the perfect solution. From our mobile app, content design, HR integrations, analytics tools and personalised homepages, it was clear how our platform would help Ascenti to achieve their goals and nurture their company culture.
Colleague involvement from the outset
It was evident that to get colleague buy-in, they needed to feel involved in the process. That’s why Ascenti asked colleagues to put forward their suggestions of names for the new intranet. They had a shortlist of over 40 name suggestions which proved that colleagues had taken the time to think about what the company stands for.
On the winning intranet name, Paige said: “We whittled the list down to a shortlist and asked our Leadership Team to vote on the final decision. The name that won the vote was ‘Pulse’. We think Pulse is the perfect name for our intranet, as it feels like it connects us all. Also, it’s a nod to healthcare, being the beating heart of connectivity and that we are constantly moving forward.”
Connecting dispersed employees
With therapists spread across sites up and down the country, the intranet is a central space to connect colleagues no matter where they’re based. With many frontline employees in roles where they may not get to socialise with colleagues between appointments, the employee app brings all the important company information and social spaces together in one place so that nothing gets missed.
Personalised homepages
Ascenti has streamlined the digital employee experience by ensuring that their people only see content that is relevant to them. Company-wide updates will be seen by all users, but then role, location and department specific information will filter through into each user’s feed based on their settings.
Homepages are a single source for everything a colleague will need day to day. They have quick links to tools and third party platforms, which can be tailored for each department, ensuring the tools they use most regularly are accessible in just one click. Content is also tailored via department pages, such as Careers, IT and Governance, so that those in specific departments can see all relevant information in one place.
Streamlined processes
Admin time has been significantly reduced with the ability to house HR documentation inside the Oak platform, which can be updated with ease. Colleagues can be confident that all policies within their intranet are the most up-to-date versions. When HR teams need to add or update a policy, there’s just one place that they need to update it, ensuring document version control.
With dedicated support pages for a range of different systems used by various departments, how-to guides and helpful resources can be stored in one safe place so that it is the first port of call with any issues. This has reduced the amount of queries coming to IT and support colleagues within the business, reducing repetitive admin tasks and streamlining overall operations.
A place to nurture company culture
Company culture now has a place to be celebrated and lived, day-in, day-out. With a large, dispersed workforce, some of whom are remote therapists offering virtual sessions, community hubs enable connections beyond the daily duties of work to bring people closer together, despite distance.
“We use hubs frequently for different purposes including internal competitions, campaigns and for daily recognition. Using hubs helps us to connect and engage with over 1000 employees who are based nationwide and virtual. We use a hub for our ‘Colleague Appreciation Board’ where employees can post any shout outs or mentions throughout the year.”
On the ‘Colleague appreciation board’ Hub, Ascenti employees can post shout-outs and mentions for their colleagues. The board has gets over 150 posts each year.
In addition to this, the ‘Ascenti and Advo Stars’ programme is based on the company values: Dependable, Caring, Pioneering, United. Employees can send a star to a colleague based on one of these values. This then feeds into their annual VIP (Values in Practice) Employee Awards.
Internal campaigns
Encouraging user generated content and participation from colleagues across the intranet has helped Ascenti’s employees become more comfortable sharing their own updates and being more sociable on the platform.
Ascenti hosted an internal campaign to encourage colleagues to share photos of their favourite walks throughout the month of May, where a winner would be chosen at random to win a National Trust yearly pass and a £100 Mountain Warehouse voucher. There was great uptake and involvement from staff, even the Executive Team and Senior Management took part by writing their own articles about their ‘Step-tacular May’.
This campaign not only encouraged more people to share their own content and explore or interact with others’ posts, but once they were inside ‘Pulse’ they were more active on the intranet and were able to explore other updates across the site.
Another initiative which drove engagement was their ‘Word of Intention’ campaign which was hosted on a Hub within ‘Pulse’. Employees were invited to share their word of intention for the year ahead and their reason why, really giving them the chance to think about how they live and breathe the company values in action. This saw great engagement with comments and interactions from colleagues across the business, with over 50 contributions! The winning word which received the most votes was ‘Determination’.
An added bonus was that anyone who shared their word of intention was entered into a prize draw to win a staycation for two at a Champneys Spa resort.
Another driver of engagement in the run-up to Christmas each year is the Countdown applet within Oak to create an Advent calendar. Behind each door is a question about Ascenti for employees to submit their answers. All correct answers are entered into a draw to win a prize each day. Engagement was sustained throughout the whole month and is successful every year in keeping morale and motivation high throughout December.
Personalised onboarding
With two brands within the Ascenti umbrella that use ‘Pulse’, the onboarding process is different for each of them. Is this an issue? Certainly not! Separate onboarding homepages have been created for each brand so that the introduction to each company is personalised and contains the right branding, company information and features within the onboarding process that are specific to each business. This ensures that every new starter is clear on exactly what their company does and the processes or regulations they need to follow.
Putting employee recognition front and centre
VIP Awards
Employees can nominate colleagues across award categories including Inspiring Leader, Above and Beyond, Dashing Debut, Acing It and Employee of the Year.
A judging panel made up of cross-department employees will choose their Gold, Silver and Bronze winners, which are announced during the virtual Christmas Party in December each year.
Previously processed through a time-consuming and confusing form, nominations are now submitted with ease using Oak’s Awards applet. This helpfully stores all information within the platform, making it easier to revisit when it’s time to start judging. Whenever a colleague is nominated, they are notified and can then explore the other nominees and any other nominations they may have received. The opportunity to share appreciation for colleagues and potentially be awarded is a huge boost to employee engagement and morale, keeping employees excited about living out the company values every day.
In 2024, the VIP awards received over 600 nominations across all categories in the 4 week nomination period, which was an incredible 67% increase compared to 2023. A notable increase in nominations came from the customer support department which proved that they were much more engaged in the new award process. This has helped to structure nominations into a better format that helps with judging: Situation, Task, Action, Result.
“Employees’ nomination writing has improved because of the questions we are asking and the fact that they can see other people’s nominations as examples. We had really positive feedback from the new and improved 2024 awards and we are excited to continue to use this feature.”
Experience with Oak
Paige summed up her experience with Oak: “We have a great relationship with our account manager, Katy, who is always on hand to answer any queries. We also have monthly calls to check in, so we can update her on any exciting upcoming projects. The Oak Support Team are excellent; whenever we raise a ticket they are quick at helping and if they can’t fix it straightaway, they keep us updated on the situation. Oak are constantly inviting us to virtual events and in-person meet-ups to update us on new products, so we always feel like we work in partnership with them.”
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