How the Town of Venelles Boosted Its Internal Communications With Talkspirit
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At a time of digital transformation, local governments are looking for new ways to energize their internal communications. To meet this challenge, the Town of Venelles turned to a enterprise social network that is 100 % French: Talkspirit.
Located near Aix-en-Provence, the Mairie de Venelles is responsible for meeting the daily needs of its 8,500 residents.
Key figures:
- 140 employees, 80 of whom work in offices
- 71% of monthly active users on Talkspirit
To modernize its ways of working, the town is increasingly betting on digital tools, and in particular collaborative solutions. In late 2019, it deployed Talkspirit to bring all its employees together on a single platform.
In this interview, Carine Ponsot, Internal Communications Officer, and Michel Gueit, Director of Digital Innovation and IT, discuss the reasons that led them to implement the platform and how they use it today.
In the photo: Michel Gueit (Director of Digital Innovation and IT), Philippe Sanmartin (Chief Administrative Officer) and Carine Ponsot (Internal Communications Officer)
end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code A key objective: sharing information better
“Before Talkspirit, we communicated almost exclusively by mail (and on WhatsApp in some departments)”, says Carine Ponsot, Internal Communications Officer. The result: information was scattered all over the place and was not accessible to all employees, especially those working in the field who did not have a professional email address or internet access.
To address this challenge, the Town of Venelles set out to deploy an enterprise social network that would streamline information sharing and better connect employees working across different sites — in offices and in the field.
“The goal was to bring together on a single tool all the information relevant to our employees, while making it easier for different departments to communicate with each other,” explains Michel Gueit, Director of Digital Innovation and IT.
Choosing a French tool in constant evolution
Talkspirit quickly emerged as THE solution capable of meeting the town’s internal communications needs. And for good reason.
“We found the tool very easy to use and intuitive. Data hosting in France and having a French point of contact was also very important to us. These factors were decisive for Mayor Arnaud Mercier, who also serves as a Metropolitan Councillor for Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis in charge of digital matters.
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And then we also noticed that the platform was constantly evolving, which convinced us that it would more easily adapt to our needs than an American tool like Workplace”, says Michel Gueit.
A deployment accelerated by lockdown
Deployed in late 2019 alongside other collaborative software, Talkspirit received strong support from the Chief Administrative Officer of the town, which helped drive adoption of the tool.
The platform’s ease of use also played a key role in the project’s success. “Among the 5 collaborative tools we implemented, Talkspirit was the one that was best received because it is very intuitive and easy to get started with,” reveals Carine Ponsot, who is also responsible for supporting employees through digital innovation.
Beyond these two factors, it was also — and above all — lockdown that accelerated the rollout of Talkspirit. During this period of mandatory remote work, “the tool helped bring employees together and maintain the team cohesion that is so essential when working apart.”.
A space for informal exchanges
“The informal groups created on Talkspirit were a real success at the start of the lockdown, because they allowed everyone to stay connected. During this period, we created in particular:
- a ‘Coffee machine’ group, where everyone said “good morning” and chatted regularly;
- a ‘Lockdown tips & tricks’ group, to share tips or activities to do during lockdown;
- and a ‘Classifieds’ group, where employees post a notice when they want to sell their furniture.”
And that is not all! Recently, several new informal groups have appeared. For example, there is now a group called “Un jour, une fleur” (“One day, one flower”), in which Nicolas Greff, a qualified gardener at the town hall, shares a daily riddle about a plant or a tree. “It really helps create a friendly atmosphere on the network,” says Carine Ponsot.
“We also created a group called ‘The Town Hall in the Kitchen’, where we share cooking recipes. For Candlemas, I posted the recipe for crêpes, and it went down rather well!”
Thanks to these informal groups, the Town of Venelles managed to engage the majority of its employees and spark new usage patterns on Talkspirit.
A platform that makes internal communications easier
Talkspirit is a real asset for internal communications within the town hall. “We publish our internal newsletter on it every month. So there is no longer any need to send it by email,” says a delighted Carine Ponsot.
The tool is also used to share:
- local events and news (such as the installation of an ice rink or the launch of a new show). The Culture and Local Animation department frequently publishes activities for residents of Venelles that employees might find interesting. Sabine Grimault, Director of this department and Head of the Culture, Sport and Animation Unit, uses Talkspirit to promote her cultural program to all employees and highlight the work done by her team (for example, events organized for local school children)
- HR information (such as training enrollment updates),
- best practices (for example, a practical guide to the annual performance review),
- as well as updates on new town projects.
“We also use it to run surveys, to find out what people think and want, to give individuals a voice, or to draw up schedules for training sessions or meetings, for example” adds Carine Ponsot.
“Whenever we need to communicate on a new project (for example, rolling out a new tool, or launching our sustainable development initiative ‘Venelles en transition’), we create a dedicated group on Talkspirit where we share all the relevant information and resources relating to the project.”
Almost every department uses it to communicate more easily, especially since remote work was introduced one day a week. This way, all employees are reachable at any time to answer a question or connect with each other.
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A tool used for recruitment
The platform also helps streamline information sharing between different departments, particularly when it comes to meeting the town’s recruitment needs.
“When we launch a new recruitment process, we create a private group with all the relevant people (such as HR, the department head, the elected official, the Chief Administrative Officer, etc.). We share all the recruitment-related information there, along with candidate CVs. That way, everyone can find the information in one place and, if needed, discuss the different applications,” explains Michel Gueit.
Crisis management on Talkspirit
Finally, Talkspirit helps streamline crisis management on a day-to-day basis.
“Whenever we need to manage a new crisis, we create a project with a list of actions and events to track. This allows everyone to know who is in charge of what, and what has or has not been done.
Recently, we experienced severe winds across the town. We created a project to track the actions to be carried out. The incident log was maintained on an OfficeNow spreadsheet”, which made it possible to follow events in real time, reports the IT Director.
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Clearly identified benefits
For the Town of Venelles, implementing Talkspirit has clearly paid off. Gone are the days of endless email chains. Now, “everyone asks their questions on chat, which has significantly reduced our internal email volume,” says Michel Gueit.
“With Talkspirit, information circulates faster, more easily, and more freely. It allows people from different departments and hierarchical levels to connect, and thereby strengthens cohesion among employees.”
Moreover, “the platform makes it possible to give greater visibility to each other’s work,” and thus to recognize the contributions of employees, adds Carine Ponsot.
end HubSpot Call-to-Action Code Talkspirit’s perspective on the Town of Venelles
With a strong focus on digital innovation, Venelles Town Hall has been able to adapt its ways of working and its internal communications to an unprecedented situation. Even outside lockdown, Talkspirit remains a firm favorite among the majority of employees. They use it to exchange on both work-related and informal topics, and to stay informed about matters that affect them.
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The next challenges? “Deploy Talkspirit across the town’s five schools so they can participate in exchanges and showcase their work. And convince the technical services to use Talkspirit more,” says Carine Ponsot.
“We would also like to make more use of the chatbot (which is still relatively little used) to make it easier to find information and resources internally”, adds Michel Gueit.
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Want to learn more about the value Talkspirit adds to internal communications in local authorities? Watch the replay of our webinar “Accelerating Digitalization in the Public Sector” to discover Venelles Town Hall’s story in more detail and pick up best practices for a successful rollout of your collaborative platform 👇
