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in IT, accounting, communication & marketing,
or in the human resources department. Access
to information and discussions was distributed
very unevenly between these desk workers and
the frontline employees in the slaughterhouses
and processing halls. “We therefore sought a
solution that we could use to promptly and
comprehensively inform every employee,“
said André Vielstädte, Director of Corporate
Communications at Tönnies. “Furthermore,
we wanted to move away from the traditional
top-down culture that we practiced and move
towards transparent, two-way communication
that actively involves the workforce.“
The communication tool they implemented to
solve this problem had to be multilingual, since
Tönnies employs people from 80 countries.
Access to information had to be individually
managed by location, and the solution needed
to function both as an app on the smartphones
of frontline employees and on desktop work-
stations in the offices. Furthermore, it should
have the capability for live chats, employee
feedback, and individual questions.
Quick and flexible
The decision was made to obtain the digital and
mobile-first communication and collaboration
platform called Beekeeper. At the heart of the
solution is an employee app. Since January
2020, the tool has enabled Tönnies’ employees
to communicate anytime, anywhere, and there-fore
give them the ability to quickly and flexibly
act in times of crisis as well. The workforce
is kept up to date without missing important
information and, thanks to the integrated inline
translation function, the information is trans-lated
and delivered directly into the respective
native language of the employees.
Tönnies had already created an internal crisis
team early on during the coronavirus pandemic.
Company management uses streams in the
Beekeeper app to inform thousands of emplo-
yees about new safety measures in real time
and in several languages. For instance, they
informed employees that they needed to wear
oder die Einbahnstraßen-Regelungen in Gängen
und auf den Fluren des Betriebes.
Krisenmanagement per App
Am vom Coronavirus besonders betroffenen
Standort Rheda-Wiedenbrück leistete die App
zudem in der Phase der Quarantäne wertvolle
Dienste: „Die Beschäftigten wollten zum Bei-spiel
wissen, welche Verhaltensregeln sie in der
Quarantäne beachten müssen“, berichtet André
Vielstädte, „wie sie mit Familienmitgliedern im
gleichen Haushalt umgehen sollen oder wie die
Lohnfortzahlung geregelt ist. Sogar die Lebens-mittelversorgung
der Mitarbeiter wurde teilweise
über die App geklärt und organisiert.“
An allen Standorten nutzte die Belegschaft die
App intensiv und stellte unzählige Fragen an die
eigens ernannten Corona-Experten im Unterneh-men,
die dank der App umgehend beantwor-tet
werden konnten. Für diesen schnellen und
transparenten Informationsfluss erhielt Tönnies
viel Lob aus der Belegschaft – natürlich via App.
WHO IS BEEKEEPER?
Beekeeper AG, headquartered in Zurich
and with a GmbH in Berlin, is a provider
of a mobile employee platform for digi-tizing
internal and operational commu-nications.
With its solution, the company
makes the workplace mobile accessible
to more than two billion non-desk
employees worldwide. Communication
takes place via private or group chats
as well as via streams. There is also the
option of handling operational processes
on the move, such as shift planning or
payroll dispatch.
Since 2012, Beekeeper’s solution has
primarily supported companies in the
manufacturing, healthcare and municipal
sectors. The employee app connects each
team member with the entire company -
in real time via mobile devices, desktop
or screens. Third-party systems integrate
easily and securely with the solution
through the Beekeeper Marketplace.
Beekeeper now employs over 180 people
at six locations worldwide.
www.beekeeper.de
WER IST BEEKEEPER?
Die Beekeeper AG mit Hauptsitz in Zürich und
einer GmbH in Berlin ist Anbieter einer mobilen
Mitarbeiter-Plattform zur Digitalisierung der
internen und operativen Kommunikation. Mit
seiner Lösung macht das Unternehmen welt-weit
über zwei Milliarden Non-Desk-Mitarbei-tern
den Arbeitsplatz mobil zugänglich. Die
Kommunikation erfolgt via Privat- oder Grup-penchats
sowie über Streams. Darüber hinaus
besteht die Möglichkeit, operative Prozesse
mobil abzuwickeln, wie beispielsweise die
Schichtplanung oder den Lohnabrechnungsver-sand.
Seit 2012 unterstützt Beekeeper mit seiner Lö-sung
vorwiegend Firmen aus der Produktion,
dem Gesundheitswesen sowie der kommuna-len
Wirtschaft. Die Mitarbeiter-App verbindet
jedes einzelne Teammitglied mit dem gesamten
Unternehmen – in Echtzeit über mobile End-geräte,
Desktop oder Bildschirme etwa in Pau-senräumen.
Drittsysteme lassen sich über den
Beekeeper Marketplace einfach und sicher mit
der Lösung integrieren. Inzwischen beschäftigt
Beekeeper über 180 Mitarbeiter an sechs Stand-orten
weltweit. www.beekeeper.de
masks at their workstations and made them
aware of the new one-way traffic rules in the
company halls and corridors.
Crisis management via app
At the Rheda-Wiedenbrück location, which
has been affected most by the coronavirus,
the Beekeeper app served as a vital channel
for information during the quarantine phase:
“For instance, the employees wanted to know
which behavioral rules they needed to follow
in quarantine,“ says André Vielstädte. “The
way in which they are supposed to deal with
family members in the same household or
how the continuation of wage payments will
be sorted out. Even the food supply for the
employees was partially clarified and organized
via the app.“ Employees at all Tönnies loca-tions
frequently used the Beekeeper app and
asked numerous questions to the coronavirus
experts that were appointed in-house at the
company. These experts were able to respond
to the employees’ questions immediately thanks
to the app. Tönnies was highly praised by the
workforce for this fast and transparent flow of
information – through the app, of course.
Autor/Author:
Jens Dreisewerd
Country Manager
Deutschland/Germany
Beekeeper GmbH
Berlin
KOMMUNIKATION
COMMUNICATION
1 / 2021 25
Fotos: Tönnies Holding