Jankel is a world leader in advanced protection systems for vehicles and occupants. Established as a small family business in the UK in 1955, Jankel has since expanded to two locations within the UK—its headquarters and a production facility—and overseas subsidiaries in the United States and Amman, Jordan. Since COVID-19 hit the UK, Jankel recognized the need to safeguard the wellbeing of its employees, protect its production capability, and maintain the delivery of innovative solutions to its customers. To achieve this, Jankel allowed all employees who were not directly essential for production to work from home and permitted production to continue onsite at reduced risk with stringent covid-safe arrangements in place.
The challenge: transitioning from paper-based to digitized HR processes
As Jankel grew from a small to a mid-sized company employing 180 people in its UK offices, it became clear that they needed to make changes to their HR processes. Jankel was inputting employee data largely by hand, using time cards for attendance and printed spreadsheets for record-keeping. The time had come for them to implement a modern HRIS to replace the outdated processes that they had been using and centralize and digitize all of their people data.
The solution: Bob’s automated workflows
Following Jankels’ implementation of the Bob platform, the HR team was able to input all employee data, spreadsheets, and records into one centralized system. Now Jankel has automated tasks set up for all of their HR needs, such as onboarding, offboarding, and vacation reporting, and is continuously configuring new features to smooth out HR processes. In 2021, the HR team will launch performance appraisals on Bob and create e-filing for employee files which will eventually completely replace all paper-based files.
The challenge: launching Bob remotely to Jankel’s teams during COVID-19
When the HR team at Jankel was ready to launch Bob to their employees, it became clear that some employees were more comfortable using online platforms than others. The HR team realized that to attract and engage their cross-generational team, they would need some creative solutions.
The solution: creating intrigue to boost engagement through a company-wide teaser campaign
The company organized a teaser campaign to engage the team before launching Bob. They held a competition among the employees’ children to design a poster to “meet Bob”. These posters ranged from silly, to funny, to just plain bizarre and drew people into the community conversation. The HR team set up and populated Bob with all of the employee data ahead of time, ensuring that there would be no glitches or distrust in the new system.
Following the launch, the HR team set up onboarding days at each of the UK sites, inviting each staff member to set up a time slot to receive Bob training and support. The training went well and all employees quickly became familiarized with the platform, thanks to Bob’s easy and intuitive employee user interface.
The challenge: supporting the wellbeing of Jankel employees while working remotely
Jankel’s HR team is made up of qualified mental first aiders who were acutely aware of how the ongoing remote working arrangements and pandemic restrictions were negatively impacting the mental health and wellbeing of their employees. Employees were regularly approaching HR for help, advice, and support on how best to handle challenges such as isolation from their colleagues and quarantine arrangements. The HR team realized that to keep things moving and achieve their goals, more was needed.
The solution: using Bob to engage employees and to identify who needs additional support
Jankel’s HR team uses Bob’s polls and surveys to check in with employees and their COVID-related stress levels. It helps them to identify which employees need additional support and determine what measures the company should take to lighten the mood, encourage camaraderie, and celebrate significant holidays. Response rates via the Bob platform are high, signaling high engagement.
Main takeaways:
- With Bob, Jankel has moved from paper-based HR processes to a modern, digitized HRIS platform, increasing efficiency.
- Jankel can now onboard new employees remotely before their starting date using Bob, saving time on traditional “first-day paperwork.”
- Jankel’s HR team can stay in touch with and engage remote employees using Shoutouts, Kudos posts, surveys, and polls.
- Using Bob’s surveys and polls features, Jankel’s HR team can discover what their employees want and need during stressful times, whether it’s counseling for employees in distress or determining what virtual activities they should organize to further enhance team building and community.
- Using Bob’s friendly and approachable format, Jankel can reach out to a cross-generational audience, and attract and retain the very best people.
