Customer Story: Paultons Park Family Theme Park: So much more than just messaging

Traditionally Paultons Park had communicated with staff through email, notice boards, screens in staff rooms, and an extranet, but as Head of HR, Darren Vann explains: “Our People has improved the way we engage with staff. It’s given us a more immediate means of communication, particularly as the App is phone-based and the majority of our staff aren’t sat at a desk with access to a computer. Paultons had been looking at how it communicated with its 640 staff for some time, exploring different methods to appeal to its diverse range of workers with no particular joy, until the company partnered with smartphone-driven workforce management platform, OurPeople. Park employees work across 11 different departments including the more obvious catering, retail and park operations to engineering, grounds and gardens and livestock — the park still boasts impressive themed gardens with exotic birds and animals, which were a feature of the original estate.

“As a seasonal business, only 120 of the 640 staff are permanent, but they all perform extremely diverse roles and work different patterns. Most don’t have access to IT as part of their role. In fact, less than 10% of our overall staff have their own email account, which was proving a challenge when trying to find a communication method that would engage everyone. We needed something that would work easily on the go.

OurPeople grabbed their attention because it’s more than just a messenger app. They are now able to post files, such as rotas or Policies & Procedures, as well as being able to message staff in small groups or individually and send broadcasts to larger groups of staff, such as internal vacancies, events, and surveys. OurPeople allows them to target messages to specific staff which ensures people only receive relevant messages rather than diluting their interest by bombarding them with messages that don’t apply to their role.

Vann continues: “Our People has extremely helpful in bad weather too. As the Our People console is web-based we can log in to the App from outside the office and send messages before people start work and hopefully before they even leave for work. In these situations, it also helps us be clear about who we would like at work, if possible, and who isn’t required, by being able to send targeted messages.”

The App can also act as a diary and an educational tool, enabling Paultons Park to enlist staff on education programs, including surveys and quizzes, as well as search and view operating procedure manuals and action plans.

Staff at Paultons Park are truly engaging with the App, with an impressive 83% on average of broadcasts ‘seen’. Since January 2019, 158 cards have been sent, receiving almost 17,000 swipes from staff that have engaged with them, and, the 115 files that have been uploaded have been downloaded more than 10,500 times.