Better Information Sharing with Talkspirit: Solimut Mutuelle's Story

How do you share information with 450 employees spread across the whole of France, while giving the company's people more visibility? To take on that challenge, Solimut Mutuelle de France turned to Talkspirit.

Solimut Mutuelle de France is a mutual insurer built on solidarity, offering supplementary health cover and personal protection benefits to individuals and companies. Its goal: to guarantee access to healthcare for all, whatever the income of its members.

Key figures:

• 440,000 members
• 450 employees spread across 4 administrative sites and 57 service points
• 89% active users per month on Talkspirit

In this interview, Elise Attia, Internal Communication Manager at Solimut Mutuelle, looks back at the reasons that led her to implement an enterprise social network, and at the way Talkspirit is used today.

A recap of this customer story is also available in video form 👇

A need to move beyond top-down information

"When I joined the company, there was a clear need for internal communication. The tool already in place was an intranet used mainly to push information down, and employees were not really buying into it", says Elise Attia. Only management and the internal communication could share information, limiting exchanges between sites and the flow of feedback from employees.

Read also: Replacing Your Intranet with Talkspirit: Mutualité de la Réunion's Story

"Our challenge was to bring in interaction and give greater visibility to the employees who carry the company's projects. Given that our sites are very far apart from each other, we also needed to build connections between employees who sometimes don't know each other at all. Something our previous tool simply couldn't do."

The search for an enterprise social network

To address these challenges, Solimut Mutuelle de France decided to implement an enterprise social network.

"We took the time to study our needs and the various solutions on the market. Talkspirit quickly stood out thanks to the availability and responsiveness of the team. Whenever we had a question, we got an answer within half a day!

The fact that it was a French solution was a clear advantage, both for team communication and for ensuring the confidentiality of our data. Our legal team was thrilled, it meant fewer GDPR headaches.

Before rolling out Talkspirit, we were also able to speak with an existing customer whose use of it was similar to ours, which reassured us in our choice. After all, a customer who advertises a vendor to its prospects is generally a good sign!"

A rollout disrupted by the Covid crisis

"Initially, we had planned to launch the platform with a communication plan structured to showcase all its features and benefits. We had also identified ambassadors, whose job was to drive the adoption of Talkspirit in their departments."

Read also: [Webinar] 6 Key Steps to Boost the Adoption of Your Collaborative Software

But that was without counting on the arrival of the Covid crisis!

"The first lockdown was announced just before Talkspirit's launch. To meet the strong demand from our employees, we had to put the tool in place in less than a month." So the company was unable to launch its communication plan as planned. But that did not stop it from rolling the tool out successfully!

Information sharing made smoother

"On top of the structuring groups, we created a 'Coffee Break' group, where employees got together to talk about everyday subjects during lockdown. And then, little by little, we created other groups to share different types of information." Today, the platform includes:

• Thematic groups (IT, HR, etc.)
• a general group where we share information addressed to every employee,
• Working groups, where we exchange information about projects,
• Monitoring groups, in particular for legal monitoring, and media monitoring, which runs solely on RSS feeds,
• a group called "Talkspirit Help & Tutorials", where we share resources for getting to grips with the platform,
• resources closed to comments, for sharing information and links to our tools."

Employees and internal communication can then share information in the groups through a post, or one to one on the chat.

"Posts are one of the features we use the most on Talkspirit", adds the internal communication manager. "That is where we share all the information and documents employees need (whether templates, logos or even HR forms), which means we send fewer internal emails.

We also have a directory of our agencies that lets us easily find the address of each agency and the people who work there." Finding information has never been so simple!

Freedom of speech taking hold

"At the start, there was a lot of hesitation: employees did not really dare to post, because they were used to a very top-down system. But today, mindsets are starting to shift.

Over the past few months, we have had more and more new people posting and commenting on posts regularly. Real freedom of speech is starting to take hold!", explains Elise Attia.

Projects and employees in the spotlight

"As well as making information sharing easier, Talkspirit lets us showcase company events and projects, and in particular the successes of each department.

For example, as soon as a new contract is signed, our sales people share the news directly on Talkspirit, which always generates a lot of engagement."

And they are not the only ones! "There is also the 'solidarity actions' department, which shares charitable initiatives and events in posts (for example, to highlight the Green Father Christmas initiative, which collects gifts in all our agencies to pass them on to Secours Populaire). And then the prevention department, which regularly launches prevention campaigns internally and for our members.

When we communicate about projects, I try to make sure the person leading the project speaks for themselves on Talkspirit, so that it is their work that gets the spotlight, and not only internal communication, which is more of a facilitator."

Events that generate engagement

"Alongside that, we organise talks and events that take place directly on Talkspirit, and they are special moments for employees. For the past two years we have run a prevention week, during which several speakers come and talk live about a range of subjects (relaxation therapy, yoga, naturopathy, and so on) and share their good practices.

Sometimes it is partners who speak, other times it is the company's directors. And it is always very much appreciated by employees. Our next talk will take place on the new LiveNow webinar module. We can't wait to use it!", says Elise Attia enthusiastically.

Support, a key element in making adoption easier

Support played a key part in the adoption of Talkspirit. The reason? "We have a population that takes time to adopt new tools", explains the internal communication manager. "So we try to support employees as much as possible, often case by case, and lead by example on our side.

For example, we are soon running a best practices workshop with our prevention department to help them use Talkspirit better and make the most of all its features. For the release of the LiveNow module, I am also planning to create a tutorial to help our employees get to grips with the tool." So there is no excuse left for not getting started!

Concrete benefits

Two years after launching Talkspirit, the success is undeniable. "It lets us highlight our various projects and the people behind them. When an employee creates a post, they can see their colleagues' reactions and encouragement live, which is really very beneficial.

It is a tool that creates closeness and trust between employees. With Talkspirit, we manage to know who does what, and to get to know our colleagues in other departments better. A lighter, more approachable tone is also starting to take hold, which encourages people to speak up."

Another key benefit: everyone can share and access information with complete ease. "Today, employees' first reflex is to go and look for information on Talkspirit. I think that is the best indicator we could have, on top of statistics that keep going up."

Talkspirit's take on Solimut Mutuelle

At Solimut Mutuelle, information no longer flows only downwards: it is also cross-functional and upward. Employees are now free to talk to each other, to congratulate their colleagues and to give their opinion on topics that matter to them, strengthening everyday interactions.

Read also: Streamlining Information Flow with Talkspirit: the Gîtes de France Story

The company also intends to develop these uses further. Two months ago it put in place the FAQ chatbot. The goal: "to answer recurring employee questions automatically, in order to save time day to day".

It also wants to "multiply in-person events in order to strengthen team cohesion. Events that will be showcased and promoted directly on Talkspirit." Because to build connections, talking remotely is not enough: it is also essential to "see each other for real".

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Would you like to know more about the value Talkspirit brings to internal communication? Contact one of our experts or book a personalized demo with our team.

And if you are looking for inspiration, check out our practical guide to discover how 10 of our customers use Talkspirit to energise their internal communication:

Access the Practical Guide

In our practical guide "10 Initiatives from Our Customers to Improve Internal Communication", you will find: 10 examples of companies using Talkspirit to improve their internal communication, along with tips and tricks for sharing information better and strengthening cohesion within your company.

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Author: Emmanuelle Abensur