Global food giant Mondelēz focuses in on employee experience for its 80,000 workforce

Global employer Mondelēz International says that by prioritizing an excellent IT experience for employees, it has reduced staff stress, maintained productivity during challenging COVID-19 waves —and has even started to contribute to a move to Net Zero.

The aim, says its Global Solutions Owner, Geoffrey Wright, is to sustainably improve all information technology workflow and head off and resolve any IT issues before a Mondelēz staff are even aware of them. He said:

“The solution we have chosen has given us visibility and insight into all our devices and applications. This is allowing us to act more proactively to IT issues that arise and mitigate any problems our employees experience. 

One of the things that became abundantly clear in this project was how technology interruption can impact the stress levels of employees, and therefore their overall mental health, so it was so crucial that we improved the IT employee experience.

Helping employees feel happier in the workplace

Mondelēz is a $26bn-plus U.S. Fortune 500 company. Based out of Chicago and partly created in 2011 out of the snack half of the former Kraft, the company markets a huge range of confectionery, food, and beverages on a global basis, including brands like Milka, Oreo, and Cadbury. 

The company has 80,000 individuals on payroll, but leadership had started to get concerned by increased staff departures both during and post- the 2019-2021 global pandemic. 

Wright said:

I've led many major ‘shift-left’ software testing initiatives since the pandemic, and my focus is on creating positive outcomes and helping employees feel happier in the workplace.”

Wright notes that while some turnover is always expected and inevitable, he and his team wanted to be sure technology wasn’t needlessly contributing to any increase. He said:

One thing in our control is ensuring that employees are happy with their tech stack. In today’s work environment, proactive and efficient IT support and a reduction of IT desk tickets is crucial.

That level of efficiency, he added, was seen as especially true if Mondelēz wanted to offer successful hybrid and remote work environments. He added:

It can be extremely stressful when you’re on deadline, finally distraction-free and in the flow, or just ready to have a productive day when technology fails you. That’s true whether you’re trying to do that in the office or at home.

Wright explained that even before lockdowns commenced, the organization had been looking for a solution that would allow it to get a better look at all the hardware and software issues employees were facing and so be a basis for proactive IT support. 

Less money being spent at the service desk level

The solution he and his team eventually chose has been a huge factor in creating what he styles as a better overall Mondelēz digital employee experience. That is because, he said, because it gives him ‘visibility’ into technology interruptions by quickly surfacing for IT all software, hardware or latency issues any Mondelēz programs may be experiencing. 

Wright stated that means IT can start to proactively address issues before they become problematic for employees.

It also helps the team reduce overall IT support cost, as the platform has helped to ‘greatly reduce’ the number of Mondelēz IT desk tickets that need to be opened. 

That both maintains Mondelēz team member productivity, plus leads to less money being spent at the service desk level.

Another benefit Mondelēz identifies out of this approach has been to make self-service password resets easy for every employee when they are decided to be necessary for the company, which is both, again, a way to curb cost but also maintains overall IT productivity and efficiency. He said:

Our team has focused on giving people experiences with as little IT friction as possible, so they can get back to the things they love. A great example is our remote technology stack campaign, when people said they wanted dependable wireless headsets. We worked with our suppliers to make sure we were able to mass deploy that asset for people over the summer. 

I can’t say people didn't leave the company because we gave them wireless headsets—but I can tell you it made a big impact on people's daily lives. Being able to roam around your habitat without being hardwired to a silicon cinder block is, in my eyes, an amazing win.

Wright also sees improving the Mondelēz digital employee experience as a core part of its overall sustainability strategy, where the production of just one email is claimed to generate 0.3g of CO2. 

In response, Wright is leading an awareness campaign around the environmental impact of employee IT usage, as encouraging everyone to shut down their laptops over the weekend equates to a significant amount of energy savings. It also, again, contributes to their overall productivity, as it’s a perfect way to restart and do necessary updates.

‘The same, if not even a better, IT experience’

Summing up the last few years of trying to make IT use a positive experience for his company, Wright said: 

When the world changed and remote work became so much more prevalent, the importance of all this increased tenfold. We needed to be able to provide the same, if not even a better, IT experience for employees working remotely as they would have in the office.