Change Management: Merging messages with an employee app.

See how RHI Magnesita transformed their company culture with an employee app from Staffbase.

Staffbase Customer Story RHI Magnesita with App images mobile and desktop and employee

The merging of two manufacturing giants.

At the end of October 2017, former competitors RHI and Magnesita successfully merged to become the world‘s leading supplier of refractory materials and products.
Today, RHI Magnesita has more than 14,000 employees on four continents, working across 35 production sites and more than 70 sales offices. Their workforce manufactures around 120,000 different products and supplies them worldwide to 180 countries, generating over 2.7 billion Euros in sales annually. Clearly the merger of these two industry giants has been a business success, but it didn’t come without challenges.

Communication challenges

Managing internal communication globally:

Reaching the 60+ percent of company employees who don’t work at a desk or have access to a desktop computer was a critical need for the newly formed organization. Before the app launch The only way to reach them was via printed communication.

Finding an interactive tool:

With such a large and diverse workforce, direct communication, stronger collaboration, and more employee involvement was a top communications priority.

Creating access to information:

With a new brand and evolving company culture, employees needed to be kept up-to-date on changes at all times. Integrating non-desk workers into the information flow was a must, no matter where they were working.

Involving all employees in company culture:

For a company with thousands of new faces, communication needed to be more than just top-down. Comms needed a way to promote interaction and create opportunities to connect for new colleagues.

The results: High reach and relevance.

14000

Employees connected across 4 continents, 35 production sites, and 70 sales offices.

Languages in one app. RHI now communicates to all their global employees instantly, using one unified platform.

70 %

Of employees use their employee app weekly-a major engagement boost.

More than just top-down news: RHI Magnesita employees have a new home base.

The app gives employees all the information that matters to them, from local news, to company announcements and guidelines, and go-to documents.

MyRHIMagnesita Employee App Mealplan example

MyRHIMagnesita Employee App startscreen with Merger announcement

MyRHIMagnesita Employee App document list

Case Study:

How RHI Magnesita combined forces and transformed their company culture with an employee app.

Learn how an employee app played a key role in successfully bringing together the newly-combined company's 14,000 colleagues and became a main drivers for cultural transformation.

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MyRHI Magnesita Employee App Startscreen desktop and mobile and app icon

Original use cases.

While the app mainly provides global and local news, there are many other use cases. For example, the CEO has their own news channel where they tell employees about strategic initiatives and report personally and informally about site visits. This direct connection-strengthened by the use of videos-is instrumental in conveying the new corporate culture and creating team spirit.

A seamless global rollout ✔️ Positive employee reaction ✔️

On the day of the official merger, the new app went live. All 14,000 employees could download a fully-branded touchpoint to their new corporate culture to their smartphones. Today MyRHIMagnesita has become the central information and communication hub for the newly merged company, playing an important role in promoting cultural change. By focusing on employees, the app serves to acknowledge their vital contributions to the company’s worldwide success.

We wanted more momentum, more direct communication, stronger collaboration, and more involvement on the issues. An employee newspaper could no longer fulfill these requirements. An interactive tool was necessary and important.

Stefan Rathausky Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at RHI Magnesita

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