Discover how Arizona Public Service is transforming the employee impact and value on investment of their total rewards program with employee insights using Total Rewards Optimization(TRO) and personalized communication delivered at scale using Embark.
In the ever-evolving human resources landscape, creating a seamless and engaging employee experience is crucial for maintaining a motivated and informed workforce. Arizona Public Service (APS) recognized they needed to improve their employee communications and partnered with WTW to implement Embark, a personalized communication solution that has revolutionized how the company connects with its employees.
Personalized and Relevant Content
One of the primary challenges APS faced was making HR communications more relevant and accessible to employees. WTW tackled this by advising on the best data and messaging to use for personalizing content. "We worked closely with the HR and communications teams to tailor messages effectively," noted Carmen Jandacek, Director of Total Rewards. "Personalization has increased engagement and made the portal a go-to resource for employees."
User-Friendly Communication
Ensuring the experience was easy to navigate and understand was another critical focus. WTW implemented strategies to structure information clearly and avoid overly complicated narratives. "WTW provided multiple demos and had consultants meet to build excitement and trust among both leadership and employees," said Jandacek. "These efforts have paid off, with positive feedback and higher adoption rates."
Executive Buy-In and Trust
Gaining support from key stakeholders was essential for the project's success. WTW managed executive buy-in by demonstrating the value of Embark through multiple presentations and demos. "The consultants were instrumental in showing the leadership team the future vision and benefits of the portal," shared Jandacek. "Their credibility and alignment with our needs ensured strong support from the top."
A Standout Technical Setup
From the outset, WTW provided extensive guidance and support in designing and implementing the technical components of the platform. According to Carmen Jandacek, "WTW's technical expertise was invaluable. They ensured that the portal had a strong framework and a consistent look and feel across all pages, which was a significant improvement over our previous HR portal."
Continuous Improvement and Expansion
APS has evolved their Embark experience over time, moving from a basic communication tool to a comprehensive platform for all HR-related information, including benefits, retirement, learning and development and personalized total rewards values. WTW continues to offer ongoing support and consultation, helping to integrate new features such as the employee engagement survey. "The portal has become a game-changer for our HR and communication efforts," said Jandacek. "WTW's deep expertise has been crucial in this transformation, and we are excited about the future expansions, such as integrating an alumni portal and moving the employee engagement survey to the Embark platform."
The Embark platform, with WTW's strategic support, has transformed how APS connects with its employees. It has provided a better platform for communicating benefits, rewards, and other HR information, and the active listening features have been instrumental in gathering valuable feedback and improving the overall employee experience. "We are thrilled with the results," concluded Jandacek. "WTW's partnership has been a key factor in our success, and we look forward to continuing this collaboration to further enhance our HR and communication strategies."
By leveraging Embark and WTW's employee experience consulting expertise, APS has set a new standard for employee engagement and communication, demonstrating the power of a well-designed and well-executed HR portal.
As we at Arizona Public Service approach developing our total reward strategy, we wanted to make sure that our programs recognize the voice of our employees as a really key insight. And to accomplish that, we utilize the Total Rewards Optimization survey to collect that valuable feedback.
We were able to really identify some opportunities to enhance our benefits, to better understand the opportunities and gaps that we had in our current Total Rewards framework. And all of that data collected, right, all of the different things provided some really bright line quick wins that had generally minimal investments that we could shore up gaps in our framework right away, and we would not have had that line of sight without the triangulation of employee leadership and benchmarking data all brought together.
