On April 11, 2024, the HR and marketing profession gathered once again at the third edition of the Connect Conference. This year, more than 120 professional speakers delivered excellent content, and of course, the recognition of the best, thought-provoking internal corporate communication ideas was not neglected. Let's see this year's winners!
The Game Changer Award rewarded innovative and strategically minded solutions and campaigns by Blue Colibri, which could serve as examples for other companies. These solutions, realized through the application, reported successes in internal communication, HR administration, employee engagement, or onboarding/e-learning processes. This year, applications arrived under the slogan "Small idea, big impact!" The main evaluation criteria were the novelty and impact of the idea, as well as how much it could serve as inspiration for other organizations.
Within Tudás TRANSfer, various topics are covered by knowledgeable, expert colleagues at Trans-Sped through presentations that can be followed in person or online, with the content being available for later viewing. The events are interactive, allowing for questions. Employees of the company can gain useful knowledge and tips from the diverse range of topics (e.g., labor law, social media, photography, driving techniques), both for their everyday lives and their work. The project not only facilitates knowledge sharing within the company but also improves information flow among employees in different departments and areas.
"Colleagues were very enthusiastic even during the planning phase of Tudás TRANSfer. All invited speakers agreed to participate. We managed announcements, current news related to events, and post-communication within the application. At the first event held during working hours, 6 people were present in person, 10 online, and afterward, 54 colleagues watched the presentation video. On average, 150 clicks were made on news and events within the application."
Tégla, the series of reports with colleagues at „Új Ház” Építőanyag Nagykereskedelmi Zrt., aims to better acquaint colleagues with each other to improve collaboration. The short conversations provide insights into their lives outside of work: their hobbies, sports activities, or any leisure activities that might be interesting to others. The reports also discuss how the skills developed during leisure activities can impact their daily work.
"We started with simple recordings using phones or meeting tools, then published them after some editing. We progressed by purchasing Bluetooth microphones for better sound quality and using professional editing tools to include images or illustrations in the videos. Our goal was to have at least 50% of colleagues view the content, but we exceeded that, and the number of clicks was the highest in our system. The interaction rate was also the highest for this news."
Gamification is a useful tool in engaging employees in various areas, such as knowledge transfer, strengthening corporate culture and expected behaviors, raising awareness of compliance, and also has significant employer branding value. MFS Defense Zrt. incorporated numerous playful elements into its internal communication and training.
"We started with quizzes, and the Advent quiz became an annual tradition. Later, with the expansion of Blue Colibri features, we gradually extended quizzes to onboarding and introduced new gamifications like detective games, finding hidden errors in drawings, and crosswords. The games can be dedicated to the entire workforce or selectively to designated organizational units, allowing targeted impact where needed."
The unconventional event series of Tiszamenti Regionális Vízművek Zrt. is an excellent example of how a gossip topic can become a well-structured communication strategy. One of their colleagues in Szolnok, Tibor Kubala, initiated a fundraising campaign within the company after participating in the Budapest–Bamako desert rally, which is also a charity event—collecting school supplies for African families. Tibor's adventure was integrated into corporate communication and widely promoted (TRV App, Facebook, Instagram).
"We set the expectation that at least a hundred employees would participate in our guessing game, three hundred would follow Kubala Tibor's journey through the app, and we would gain new Facebook page followers. In the end, 134 people played with us, the Bamako posts were read by an average of 320 colleagues, and the Facebook posts were seen by an average of 2000 people. During the campaign, our page gained 100 new followers. The posts received 379 reactions, and they were shared 24 times."
One hundred percent of the employees with employment contracts registered on the internal platform of Plazmaszolgálat Kft., with a registration rate of 98.7% considering the total number of employees. Plazma Placc provides solutions for employees in various situations throughout their employment lifecycle—covering approximately 90% of the employee journey:
"When introducing Plazma Placc, our main goal was to create a platform that employees would willingly use, voluntarily engage with—not just a mandatory company platform. The goal of previously introduced functionalities was the same: to increase activity, commitment, and the popularity of the platform. Over the nearly 2.5 years since its introduction, it has reached this level, so our new challenge is to cover as many processes on the Placc as possible from the employee lifecycle (with a focus on digitalization and automation)."
The main goal of WHC's efficiency improvement project was to make Navigator the primary and only platform for internal processes and solutions. By redirecting traditional processes to Navigator and automating processes, they aimed to save at least 20% of time and resources and improve employee experience. Navigator's usage was therefore widely expanded:
"Blue Colibri and this project contributed to our strategic goals of increasing employee commitment and experience because this is a platform where employees can handle issues, initiate processes, give and receive experiences. Our main metric is the quarterly monitored engagement rate, which is continuously increasing (2021: 75%, 2022: 78%, 2023: 80%). The other metric is harmful turnover, which has clearly decreased, and we expect continuous decline in the coming years."
The winners of the Blue Colibri Best Engagement Award are selected by the Blue Colibri jury. The award is given to partners where the app is most frequently downloaded, where there is the highest activity through the app, and where there is the greatest commitment to using the app.
Winners – Engagement
Under 200 employees: ZNET Telekom Ltd.
200–1000 employees: MFS Defense Ltd. and Mapei Kft.
Over 1000 employees: Samsung Electronics Hungary Ltd.
Congratulations to the winners, and we hope to see you again at the next Connect Conference!
