Engage supports Direct Line Group with unprecedented staff mobilisation

Engage Solutions Group (ESG) has announced details of another lockdown go-live. Less than a week after contract signing, insurance provider Direct Line Group (DLG) went live with ESG’s employee app as a key part of its Covid-19 response.

The accelerated partner selection and delivery came as DLG moved quickly to manage the change of circumstances caused by the pandemic. DLG wanted to establish a communications channel to support its 11,000+ colleagues as they mobilised to work from home or continued to operate across the insurer’s accident repair centres.

Jason Gowlett, DLG’s Director of HR Operations explains: “We have always been very proud of our people and they have continued to step up to the plate, working with us to ensure we continue to provide the level of service our customers expect. With a proportion of people having no work email or work phone, the circumstances called for something more agile and focused than our existing technology as a core touchpoint.

“ESG allowed us to engage and communicate directly with our colleagues via smartphones, opening up a dedicated ‘direct line’ to keep them fully informed of developments, to make support available as needed, and to reassure them as we work through the changes that Covid-19 brings.  Given we had some custom requirements, the speed of deployment was rapid, and ESG impressed us with its responsiveness and ‘can do’ attitude.

“Interestingly, while communications has been the initial driving force, the broader functionality within the app aligns very well with our ambitions pre-Covid to look at engagement and enrich the colleague experience further.”

Phil Wedgwood, ESG’s CEO comments: “DLG was exceptionally quick off the mark in adapting to the ‘new normal’. The obvious priority was ensuring that staff were kept in the loop, but more than that it was about building a really strong connection between the ‘middle’ and newly distributed workforce. To get the app live in less than a week was a remarkable achievement by all concerned – and we’re committed to one week go-lives for the foreseeable future so that customers can move quickly to support their workforces in this new socially distant world of ours.”