Rayonier chose Happeo as Their All-in-One Knowledge and Comms Platform

The challenge: an intranet overhaul that was long overdue

Rayonier, a real estate investment trust based in Florida, USA, owns and manages over 2.8 million million acres of land, with around 420 employees worldwide, spread out across the U.S. and New Zealand. 

Rayonier’s internal comms and knowledge management operation was comprised of Meta’s Workplace and SharePoint, with Workplace to act as an employee engagement platform and SharePoint as an intranet site. 

This setup was a struggle for Rayonier for a number of reasons. First, the organization found SharePoint to be too archaic and rigid for their needs and was also difficult to update, given their lean team with no true owner of the platform. Meanwhile, Workplace wasn’t providing a space for deep work to happen, and was just an extra tool meant to connect employees, but was not gaining the traction Rayonier had hoped. And to add to this, neither platform had a strong employee engagement rate. 

"Workplace was viewed as social media in a negative way for our employees. We did not see a lot of engagement, and things were not shared in a timely fashion on the platform and it truly was just an extra fluffy tool that employees could take or leave." — Emily Stimler, Employee Communications Manager at Rayonier

The solution: an intranet our teams would actually want to use

The goal of Rayonier leadership was to combine all their needs into one platform, a platform  that could both act as a central source of truth and provide structured internal communications and allow employees to collaborate and connect easily. They also needed a solution that IT, Internal Comms, and HR could be joint leaders around. 

"When we set out to find our new internet solution, we thought we would build something internally. But once we started looking at what was in the market, we were immediately drawn to Happeo. We loved that it is a Google solution and could work seamlessly with Google Workspace, and how it combined both traditional internet capabilities with the social components."

Rayonier’s new intranet "The Landing" brings together its global workforce and boosts collaboration across the U.S. and New Zealand.

Involving employees in the onboarding process

"Even though our Happeo site could be up and running within a month, we wanted to take the time to phase out our former intranet platform to make sure we did not lose any important pieces of information," says Stimler. The entire journey from start to finish took about six months. 

And because their employees would be using the product every day, the project team leaders wanted to involve them from the start. Keeping employees in the loop allowed them to gather valuable end-user feedback, instead of just looking at the platform from a communication or IT standpoint. Rayonier selected a group of employees to be early adopters to provide feedback and helped create more buzz among various teams.

Rayonier also had a naming contest closer to our launch, and our Happeo site ended up being called ‘The Landing’. This referred to a landing page and the forestry term, which resonated with our employees. As the winner of the naming contest would win a prize, this helped to boost engagement, get people excited, and helped to create internal buy-in.

The result: a new intranet to support and engage the workforce

Increased productivity

"As soon as employees started to use the tool, they loved it. Using the search functionality, they could easily find what they were looking for, such as files stored in Google Drive and employee contact details. Our employees used the directory to find information about colleagues from across the world, including their names, phone numbers, location, and even the best way to contact them.” — Emily Stimler, Employee Communications Manager at Rayonier

Happeo also makes it easier to broadcast news and announcements. Whether it's congratulating an employee on a promotion, welcoming a new employee, or reading about the latest company news, there’s no longer a need to rely on email. This aspect of the platform was super useful during the Covid pandemic, as it helped employees feel connected to the company, even when working remotely.

"We have quite a few field employees who are not desk-bound every day. The Happeo mobile app is an excellent way for them to feel connected. They can access the entire Happeo environment right from their mobile devices."

More two-way communications

The Rayonier platform is constantly evolving and growing. Over time, the organization encouraged teams to launch their own channels to communicate and collaborate directly in one place, instead of spending ample time looking through cumbersome email threads.

Rayonier teams have channels for business-related matters such as specific project teams, and even non-business ones. For instance, they have a channel dedicated to pets, where people share pictures of their furry friends, a channel for people who love reading, and employees who love cooking.

"Happeo allowed us to streamline our communications and knowledge management efforts. In the U.S., we have a one-stop shop for employees, and everything is now centrally located. There's no more figuring out, wasting time, trying to find a form. When they go to our Happeo site they will find what they’re looking for."

"Our employees really enjoy using the platform. When I look at the analytics, I see that almost a hundred percent of employees use the site. This high level of engagement is what we love about Happeo." — Emily Stimler, Employee Communications Manager at Rayonier

 

The most seamless and helpful intranet we’ve ever seen

"Intranets are very personal to me. They've been part of my career since I started working in communications, and unfortunately, I’ve had a lot of experiences with outdated intranet solutions. 

Happeo is intuitive on the front end for our employees and simplifies my job as a manager and admin. Having a tool that is easy-to-use and that I can manage on my own, not having to rely on Happeo to add everything on their end, makes my life easier."

Happeo offered Rayonier support setting up The Landing, while leaving room for customization. Happeo supports teams with templates for easy page building, but also allows for  customization of various design elements to match branding. 

"Honestly, it was an easy decision for us to choose Happeo. From the beginning, we have seen 100% participation and engagement from our employees across the globe."