Church's Chicken® Wins Employee Experience Champion Award

ATLANTA, Jan. 13, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Church's Chicken® has been selected as one of two of the first-ever recipients of the Employee Experience Champions Award, as recognized by Akumina, a leader in creating digital workplaces for global enterprises, in recognition of their exemplary efforts in transforming their corporate intranet into a unique and more modern digital workplace.  Otterbein University joined Church's as the second award recipient. 

Namely branded, Team Church's was designed as a one-stop shop to bridge the gap among corporate, field staff, restaurants, and franchisees, with a focus on increasing engagement and improving productivity.  "We knew we needed a better intranet; one that would serve a single, robust tool for corporate internal communications, team and core business applications, as well as messaging and collaboration," said Karen Viera, SVP & Chief People Officer. 

Through an exhaustive RFP process, the experts at Akumina were identified as perfectly suited partners for guiding Church's through the full design and implementation process. "They've been with us every step of the way," added Viera. She also credited Allyson Otey, the then-newly-appointed internal communications manager, for jumping in and leading the project through launch, and who continues to serve as the primary point of contact for Team Church's.  "Allyson really took ownership of this project; she increased awareness and utilization by showcasing new features, functionality and fresh content for our teams."  Viera was also quick to acknowledge another important resource and Church's employee, Justin Alemazkour the brand's senior IT systems analyst.  "At Church's, Information Technology has evolved beyond technical enablers; they are also our creative and business partners, and are integral in enabling the entire organization to connect digitally, work more productively, engage more frequently."

Delivering an Award-Winning Digital Experience
Prior to Team Church's transformation, intranet usage stagnated at 20 percent, due primarily to lack of relevant content, outdated information, and poor navigation.  Fast forward to its initial launch in 2018, usage of Team Church's skyrocketed to 80 percent among its users and has since climbed to 90 percent in 2019.

Today, Team Church's is a multifaceted digital workspace that encompasses technologies, interactive content, resource sharing, user engagement, and practical information for enhancing performance, all of which are regularly updated. A franchisee-focused homepage houses relevant business content, and easy to access, downloadable templates, recruitment best practices, and marketing materials. 

"Church's Chicken is the ideal Akumina customer. Their dedication to their franchise owners, restaurant managers, and overall workforce worldwide really drove their implementation of our product. They were a pleasure to work with, and it's impressive to see the rate at which they've improved employee engagement with their new, modern intranet site. I look forward to seeing their future work," said Andy Frades, VP of Customer Success at Akumina.

While the Team Church's intranet transformation has come a long way in two years, it isn't slowing down.  In 2020, the HR team will focus on opportunities to increase frequency and duration of user visits by driving more content, tools, and applications across all departments. The aim is to fulfill the vision to build a one-stop shop for boosting employee productivity, efficiency, and maintaining brand consistency, a winning combination sure to drive employee and franchisee satisfaction scores--- a strategic priority for the organization. 

"Successfully delivering a better experience for our employees with a more robust intranet was possible only through the partnership between our Communications and IT teams working collaboratively with Akumina to build a truly scalable digital solution for the organization.  Being recognized as Employee Experience Champion is a testament to that collaboration and innovative thought leadership."  Joe Christina, Chief Executive Officer. 

Click here to see the highlights and features of Church's new digital workspace, Team Church's.

About Church's Chicken®
Founded in San Antonio, Texas, in 1952 by George W. Church, Church's Chicken® is one of the largest quick-service restaurant chicken chains in the world. Church's® specializes in Original and Spicy Chicken freshly prepared throughout the day in small batches that are hand-battered and double-breaded, Tender Strips®, Honey-Butter Biscuits™ made from scratch and freshly baked, and classic, homestyle sides all for a great value. Church's® (along with its sister brand Texas Chicken® outside the Americas) has more than 1,500 locations in 25 countries and international territories. With system-wide sales of more than $1 billion, the system had a recording-breaking year in 2019. During two national media windows the brand drove sales performance that outpaced the broader QSR category.  For more information, visit www.churchs.com. Follow Church's® on Facebook at www.facebook.com/churchschicken and Twitter at www.twitter.com/churchschicken.

About Akumina
Akumina is the employee experience platform that empowers global enterprises to quickly create personalized digital experiences that help every employee in every role work smarter, not harder. By offering a customizable, brandable and multilingual platform that seamlessly integrates with leading enterprise cloud applications, Akumina delivers a contextual, collaborative, and engaging workplace experience to every user on any device. Akumina's customers include Whole Foods Market, GlaxoSmithKline, Vodafone, the Boston Red Sox and the Department of Defense. To learn more visit www.akumina.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

Contact: Kim Miller
866.571.3449
[email protected]             

SOURCE Church's Chicken

Related Links

http://www.churchs.com