How a Costa Coffee Franchisee Group Transformed Employee Development with Eko

Challenge

The Costa Coffee franchise group faced several challenges in fostering learning and growth among their dispersed workforce. Their onboarding processes for new employees were inefficient and time-consuming. Employees received irregular or non-existent updates on their progress towards KPIs. 

Additionally, frontline employees often received delayed information about the latest Costa operational updates and product changes due to the lack of a centralized information system, negatively impacting customer service performance. Ensuring consistent training standards across all branches was difficult, and communication was fragmented across multiple applications, leading to information overload and loss.

Solution

Eko provided a comprehensive solution by enabling easy access to company documents, policies, and learning materials, creating an engaging onboarding experience for new hires and driving long-term growth for existing employees. A centralized communication hub ensured that information was always up-to-date, accessible, and transparently shared.

<sprscript-green>USE CASE 1<sprscript-green>

Using the Library as a Centralized Learning Hub

As a Costa Coffee franchisee, Soar Group needed to maintain the high standards of the globally recognized brand. It was crucial for all frontline employees to be well-trained in product knowledge, operations, and customer service skills to deliver a consistently high-quality customer experience. Implementing Eko’s Library centralized learning resources and training materials in bite-sized chunks. This feature enabled employees to digest information easily in various formats, rather than switching between different sources and reading lengthy manuals. 

The accessible and engaging learning channel made onboarding and training highly effective. By keeping information in a centralized repository, learning became an ongoing process for all employees, empowering staff to be better equipped in their roles and ready to handle customer requests effectively. Consistency in training was ensured across multiple sites.

<sprscript-green>USE CASE 2<sprscript-green>

Using Thumbs Up to reward success and share feedback

Soar Group recognized the importance of engaging new employees, particularly millennials, to boost long-term retention rates. They implemented Eko’s Thumbs Up to foster a culture of recognition and rewards within and across teams. This new feedback channel boosted staff morale, motivating them to reach new growth milestones and complete training effectively. Sharing Thumbs-up commendations made learning more rewarding for employees and enhanced relationships between staff and management through dynamic feedback.

<sprscript-green>USE CASE 3<sprscript-green>

Using Broadcast and Chats to inform staff on product and operational knowledge

Keeping non-desk workers connected and informed on the latest company developments was challenging across Soar Group's 17 franchise branches. They utilized Eko’s Broadcast to push important updates to the entire workforce transparently and instantaneously, with insight into readership through Read Receipts and Acknowledgements. 

The management team organized communication through Topics, creating subtopics within Chats for better organization and traceability. This ensured crucial product information was not lost in conversation and staff could easily catch up on projects after onboarding. 

These features enabled employees to communicate effectively and stay informed, regardless of their location, ensuring managers that information shared was up-to-date and reached the frontline instantly.

“The speed of communications to my staff through Eko has saved me a lot of time - I would say in the 10s of hours a week”

— Berian Burtt-Jones

Operations Manager of Costa Coffee Soar Group

‍Results

Implementing Eko significantly improved workforce development at Soar Group. Eko made training and learning efficient, engaging, and easy for employees. Information on new product launches is now shared with frontline staff daily, keeping them up-to-date with company developments.

Progress on employees' KPI targets is discussed every Friday without managers needing to visit each branch. Staff have constant access to the knowledge base, equipping them with continuously updated information to perform their roles confidently. Employee learning milestones are rewarded with customized Thumbs Up stickers, strengthening the culture of feedback and boosting morale. This approach led to a 50% reduction in the time required to onboard new staff to workplace tools.

“Having to pull out a 150-page manual and read through it is daunting. Now staff can just pull out their iPhone and learn in their own time, and I think that’s fantastic.”

— Omar Chagani

Managing Director of Costa Coffee Soar Group