Bringing a large workforce together with social enterprise technology

Compass Group Australia operates food and support services teams in business and industry, healthcare, education, defence, offshore and remote sectors. A project is currently underway to simplify communications among its 13,500 catering and support staff who are spread across 700 sites and 10 brands.

George Mifsud, executive director of HR and risk for Compass Group Australia, noted the goal of the project is to connect all Compass Group employees across 700 unique site locations in the country via any computer or mobile phone device. Using Mumba Cloud’s social enterprise communications and collaboration technology, it will assist in addressing HR, internal communications and IT challenges associated with engaging a large, dispersed workforce.

“Mumba Cloud will enhance existing efforts to improve communication between casual, part-time, full-time, office and non-office employees by allowing them to easily and quickly access company information and communicate with the business and each other. We see this as an important component for our employer of choice value proposition, as we seek to increase staff retention, attract new talent and reduce costs of administration, training and on-boarding,” he said.

The technology was first introduced as a pilot for Compass Group in April 2010 and has been gradually rolled out to its approximately 3000 office staff with web access  in 2014. Mumba Cloud’s app optimised for mobile is now available to Compass Group’s 13,500 site-based employees. The app has been designed to be light on mobile data usage because the average employee may not have a work phone or a computer at site, or is based in locations where signals are not always strong and charges can be high.

The technology allows employees to run competitions, surveys and communication campaigns with detailed reporting, all securely tied into payroll for easy automation and updates. It also helps staff communicate news and share updates with their colleagues, for example, events or new site openings, together with corporate information.

“Mumba Cloud links our organisation via an engaging and secure interface to ensure staff feel connected to the larger company and strategic direction,” said Mifsud.