The Post Office

Find out how La Poste Group has succeeded in:

• developparticipatory innovation,
• encourage mutual aid and feedback from employees,
• to create a community of engaged ambassadors,
• better understand the needs of its customers and employees,
• solve their problems more quickly,
• and thus continuously improve the experience of its customers.

The French Post Office, in short

As the leading local commercial network in France, The French Post Office specializes in a multitude of businesses that include mail, parcels, banking, contact point networks, and digital tools. 

Its ambition: "tobecome the leading European platform for links and exchange, human and digital, green and civic, serving its customers in their projects and society as a whole in its transformations."
The French Post Office includes: 

• 17,000 contacts
• 245,000 employees, 
• 900,000 customers per day,
• 2.8 billion packages delivered worldwide,
• 34.6 billion in revenues, 41% of which are generated internationally.

Need and context

Initial context

Since 2010, the French Post Office has wanted to set up a participative innovation platform to encourage feedback from its network and Banque Postale employees working in the field (particularly postal workers and agents in a multitude of branches).

The main goal: to have a dedicated space where everyone can share ideas and best practices to improve the processes and tools in place in their department, and thereby offer the best customer experience possible.

Why Talkspirit?

The proximity and reactivity of Talkspirit's teams were very important criteria for the French Post Office, which wanted to work with a partner that listened to its needs and was able to renew itself continuously.

"A real work of proximity was done with the team, in order toadapt the platform to the needs of usersand make sure that it is always very modern and dynamic," reports Delphine Fougères." Thanks to the different workshops carried out,we were able to create functionalities that were far ahead of the intended expectations.

"Today, it seems normal to have such a device. but in 2010, it was extremely innovative."

Implementation Process

The platform—called "Together your ideas"—has evolved a lot since its beginning a few years ago. Based on user feedback, we've included several modules along the way, like:

• a home portalto share the group's news,
• a participatory innovation module that allows everyone to propose and vote for an idea or a good practice, 
• a help forum, where employees can ask and answer each other's questions,
• a space that lists irritants used by managers to report problems encountered by employees or customers.

A network of 20,000 employees along with the Postal Bank participated in the project, which ended in December 2022.

Benefits

1. Employees as actors of innovation

Thanks to the "Together your ideas" platform, the employees of the network and of the French Post Office can all be actors of change, no matter what their role (postal worker, customer service representative, or manager) or their location.  

‍"So , a postal worker who is in the Drôme can share an idea or a good practice that will be seen by all postal workers in France. The latter can then vote for the proposal, and comment on it," to improve the shared good practice. "At the local and national level, experts then check the feasibility of the proposal and integrate it into their project roadmap," explains Delphine Fougères.

2. Ideas proposed and recognized by all.

Various challenges have been set up at national and regional levels to encourage employees to come up with new ideas on specific topics (like how to better welcome professionals in post offices). "This challenge-based approach not only helps to boost employees' creativity, but also to develop recognition and commitment".

"The employees who participate most in the challenges are those who are in direct contact with our clients, such as account managers and area managers, who thus become ambassadors of our clients' needs and expectations.

Each year, employees submit between 800-900 ideas. The best ideas are then rewarded by a jury to give them greater visibility.

3. A platform that promotes mutual aid.

Employees who do not necessarily have ideas to offer can also visit the Help Forum to solicit feedback from their peers and ask questions about possible improvements. 

"Thanks to the Entr'Aide forum, we've seen the emergence of a community of employees who are experts on various subjects.We call on them when we renew or implement new projects, processes or IT tools.

In addition to identifying who is an expert on what topic, the forum helps to create close ties between employees between employees at various sites. This proximity is one of the fundamental values of La Poste Group.

4. Information shared more intelligently. 

On the "Together your ideas" platform, employees can get an overview of current events and challenges by going to the homepage. Photos, videos, carousels, and more. The content formats are varied and allow to share information in the most visual way possible.

In addition to the help forum, managers have the opportunity to discuss their respective problems in a dedicated irritants area. "This space allows managers in the territories to be in direct contact with the head office teams, and to report problems and needs more quickly (for example, development desires, or frustrations with certain tools).

5. Continuous improvement of the customer experience.

For La Poste Group, the tool's promise has been fulfilled, since Talkspirit has already greatly contributed to developing participative innovation. Thanks to the ideas and best practices brought up by each department, the group is able to regularly renew its work processes and tools, and thus continuously improve the experience of its customers online and in the post offices. 

For Delphine Fougères, the success of the platform is due to three key elements: 

• a very strong sponsorship within the company, 
• an agile project team,
• and a partner who listens (Talkspirit!).

Also read: How Do You Facilitate Adoption of Your New Collaborative Tools?