Ridestore’s rise in happiness and engagement

How the introduction of Winningtemp helped this company to measure and increase the happiness of their people

As a retailer specialising in high energy, extreme sportswear, Ridestore epitomises cool. Their branding, rich with images of snowboarders soaring through the air, acres of soft, powder white snow beneath them and blinding rays of endless winter sun titillate the senses. And so, a company that sells exhilarating, thrill-seeking adventure to their customers must surely be super fun to be part of. But can they really replicate the same sense of excitement for their workforce too?

It comes as no surprise that high on the list of Ridestore’s values is the happiness of their employees – it’s what they sell, after all. A commendable ambition given that no less than a fifth of UK employees are unhappy in their job according to Wrike’s Happiness Index of 2019.

However, asides from traditional one-to-ones, the company had no tangible method of measuring the feelings of their people and as such, never understood the ‘full picture’ or scale of their people’s happiness.

With a growing workforce, they felt a mounting need to be able to determine on a company-wide basis the things that worked well, but also those elements that could be improved. All while maintaining the close-knit and supportive spirit they had enjoyed as a smaller team.

Acknowledging they should have something that could provide greater information than an annual survey or similar could deliver, they began researching employee engagement tools. Winningtemp seemed like a natural fit. For Head of Customer Experience, Lukas Fast it was an easy decision.

We’re a digital and almost fully remote company. We felt the tool was designed in a way that made it an easy integration into our workflow.”

The Covid-19 pandemic has seen an unprecedented rise in employees working from home. In April 2020, statistics released by the UK’s Office for National Statistics showed 49.2% of adults in employment were working from home, because of the social distancing measures introduced in response to the coronavirus pandemic. However, prior to the pandemic, as little as five percent of employees worked remotely.

Ridestore were forward-thinking in their business model long before it became popular or even necessary to allow employees to work from home. Unsurprisingly, they also have a heightened understanding of the importance of engaged people. However, when a global workforce is based remotely achieving unity and a tight connection to one another can seem a daunting goal.

Winningtemp allowed for Ridestore to connect and understand one another, no matter the time zone, nor the distance. For Julia Karlsson, Market Lead of CX Nordics, a key aspect was in the platform’s simplicity. “It only takes about 15 seconds to answer a survey. This provides us with a lot of data quickly and helps us create a trustworthy image of our company culture and how we are performing with regards to our soft values. From the start, Winningtemp was super easy to use. We could adjust and set up our own routine how we wanted it to work for us.”

No longer relying on instinct alone to determine the happiness of their people, Julia credits Winningtemp for converting feelings into usable data.

Before Winningtemp we could understand our company culture with our gut and by having conversations with our employees. We still have this on a regular basis, but now we can also get actual data on how our company feels.

Winningtemp has many features that can be tailored to the business and their unique needs. One such element that matches the overarching aims of Ridestore is the Praise function. Here, an employee can complement and congratulate any other employee.

Alessandro, Teammate for CX Italy & Content Production has embraced the tool wholeheartedly and thoroughly appreciates the ability to praise his colleagues. “Who doesn’t like receiving praise, acknowledging his or her hard work? I love the Praise feature! It takes just a few seconds, and you’ll make someone’s day a bit brighter.”

Understanding that to have the maximum benefit, Winningtemp needs to be used by every member of the company, he enjoys the fortnightly survey questions sent to him.

It’s such an interesting and useful tool that needs everyone’s opinion to work at its best. We all work remotely, so sometimes it can be difficult to understand how things are going with all the team members. Winningtemp allows me to immediately see how things are with its ‘Temperature’ feature.

For management, it’s the central dashboard that really offers a 360 perspective. Lukas says it is of high importance because it gives them that overall viewpoint and Julia agrees. “My go-to is definitely the admin view.

I can easily see in which areas my team is really satisfied in and what we need to work more with. I also really like the comments my teammates can give to give a better understanding of why they might not be as happy with something.

She says it is often an anonymous comment that leads to deeper discussions within the teams or in one-to-ones. “I like that it’s anonymous so that everyone really can express what they feel, even if it to begin with can feel uncomfortable.”

Ridestore are not just selling an exhilarating lifestyle, they are the living embodiment of the brand. They identified that the happiness of the workforce is crucial to success. By implementing Winningtemp they have achieved a deeper understanding of their employees’ satisfaction levels. Creating a digital space in which workers have the freedom and autonomy to ride the waves of creativity with confidence and support.

Lukas summarises the opportunities for global success that using the platform provides superbly.

Winningtemp gives us a tool to identify and take actions on patterns to reach new heights.

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