Retailer Next uses radio to boost comms with DC employees

NEXT’s distribution employees are no small group. To serve its UK and international customers, NEXT has a network of 14 distribution centres spanning the UK and two internationally. Within their UK-based network, there are 10,000 employees ranging from pick and packers to fleet drivers.

Large, deskless workforces such as this can pose a challenge for companies looking to drive employee engagement. For NEXT, this was particularly present for their fleet of drivers, who spend the majority of their shifts alone with limited time on the business site.

To reach their employees, NEXT strategically rethought their internal communication. Engagement across existing channels was fairly good but not perfect; 80% of their employees use their internal social media, while 70% were reading the company emails. Both of these channels are screen-based, but given many deskless workers on-shift have limited access to screens, this provided telling insight into why engagement was not higher.

To bridge this engagement gap, NEXT needed an internal comms solution that could be used on-shift and did not require continued screen use. Audio was the tool to bridge this gap and this is where their Radio.co partnership came into play.

Through their partnership, NEXT have been able to offer all their distribution employees a means of staying up to date through audio, in the form of their fully secure, private radio stream, Radio NEXT.

Available 24-7 and only to employees, the radio stream follows the format of a typical radio station, but with a strong focus on the business. Company news and updates such as overtime opportunities are interspersed with themed shows, DJ takeovers and music requests, designed to keep employees both up to date and entertained.

Being available for drivers to listen to on-shift gives Radio NEXT a distinct advantage over their other internal comms channels. Drivers can be kept updated with the business all within their contracted work hours, boosting engagement for this cohort.

NEXT communications and engagement manager, Catherine (Flo) McAleese said: “Not every communication is right for everybody. Some people like to read, some people like to listen.

“Drivers are a very hard group to communicate with. Radio is absolutely perfect [for them].

“Radio is just one of those tools, so hopefully when we have lots of different tools we’ll be reaching the majority of people we want to communicate with.”

Engagement

While solely playing music or the radio is common in warehouses, it means companies lose the opportunity to reach their employees and capture their attention. For their warehouse staff, NEXT reported that a strong engagement tool alone is the music requests.

Radio NEXT presenter, Joey Wilby, further explained the advantage of having an internal company radio stream, over playing commercial radio.

“Commercial radio stations are a product that’s ‘at you’ but because we can bring [the radio stream] internal, we can make it specifically for people. You can request songs that are played instantly and if there’s news about the business you want to know, you can hear it.”

NEXT incorporating Radio NEXT into their internal comms strategy shows how deskless workforces can be reached with streaming technology, requiring only an internet connection and listening device for employees tuning in. Commonplace equipment like PA systems in distribution centres or vehicle stereos and driver smartphones make this internal comms channel easy to implement.

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