Panel Bright Paris, Smarter Employee Hubs
How Leading Companies Build Smarter Employee Hubs
The modern workplace is moving fast, and the tools we use to connect need to keep pace. How can an employee hub do more than just share information? How can it become a true driver of business success and create a smarter, more inclusive experience for everyone? At the Bright Conference, a panel of business leaders gathered to answer these very questions.
Panel discussion included:
- Nadia Zaoui of Airbus
- Henry Elworthy from John Lewis Partnership
- Gregory Taieb from Crédit Agricole Assurances
These are not just communicators; they are architects of experience, and their platforms have earned accolades for their impact. The discussion, "How Innovation-Driven Employee Hubs Can Improve Employee Experience," revealed a clear vision for the future: employee hubs designed by employees, for employees. Let's explore their insights.
A Vision for the Future: From Tool to Transformation
The panel kicked off with a big-picture question: What is the vision for an employee hub? The answers pointed toward a significant shift from a simple communication tool to a dynamic platform that reflects the needs and voices of the people who use it.
Airbus: Designed by Employees
For Airbus, a global leader in aerospace with nearly 150,000 employees, the vision is clear. Nadia Zaoui explained their goal is to move beyond a platform that is for employees to one that is designed by them. "We want them to own it," she said.
This means a complete review of their editorial strategy, a focus on better content management for their 300+ communities, and a redesigned homepage. The challenge? Leadership feedback that "the hub is not working, we can't find anything." Zaoui’s team is tackling this head-on by using data and performance metrics to drive change, proving that a more personalized, streamlined approach gets results.
John Lewis Partnership: Driving Reach and Efficiency
At the employee-owned John Lewis Partnership, internal communication is investor relations. Henry Elworthy shared their dual vision: reaching all 70,000 "partners" with compelling content while consolidating technology to save money and reduce friction.
Their editorial mindset is key. "We want to make sure that the content that we're offering on our app is just as good, if not better, than you'd find on something else on your phone," Elworthy explained. With plans to have nearly 20,000 pages of policy and operational content on their LumApps platform, the goal is to create a single source of truth for everything from "how to clean a fish counter" to booking holiday time.
Crédit Agricole Assurances: A Single Entry Point for All
For Crédit Agricole Assurances, the vision was to unite employees from different entities and IT systems onto one platform. Gregory Taieb described the mission to create "one single entry point for all the knowledge of the company, all the applications... all the processes."
A key part of their strategy was empowering employees to contribute. They expanded their contributor base from 40 to 300, ensuring that knowledge experts could publish content directly. Now, their vision is evolving with technology. "We see a strong opportunity with AI in order to empower the employee with stronger recommendation, thanks to AI, content creation, and better personalization," Taieb said.
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Making It Happen: Strategies for Success
A powerful vision needs a solid plan. The panelists shared their strategies for getting stakeholder buy-in and turning their vision into a reality.
Data-Driven Narratives at Airbus
At Airbus, the key to convincing leadership was performance measurement. "We brought a strong culture of performance, measurement, metrics, KPIs," Zaoui shared. By benchmarking their intranet against others and showing a 5% increase in views and visitors, they were able to change the narrative. They proved that a revamped editorial strategy—with shorter articles, better headlines, and more human-centric content—was working.
A Common-Sense Business Case at John Lewis
Getting investment for an intangible benefit can be tough. Henry Elworthy’s team grounded their business case in common sense. They calculated the cost of time employees spent browsing the intranet and the number of searches made—a staggering 4.5 million in one year.
They made a simple promise: "If we were to just take 10% of the time that people spend on the platform and make that more efficient, that in itself would just pay for the investment." By appealing to leaders' own experiences of struggling to find information, they secured the buy-in needed to move forward.
Building Consensus at Crédit Agricole Assurances
Crédit Agricole Assurances’ strategy was rooted in inclusivity. They created a large, diverse user panel and conducted one-on-one interviews with the entire management committee. This ensured that the new platform reflected the needs of everyone, from operational staff to executives.
They even involved the user panel in naming the intranet and early testing. "When you actually contribute to creating something, you're injecting your value into that product," noted the moderator, highlighting the "IKEA effect" that drives higher adoption.
The Next Wave of Innovation
So, what's next? The panelists shared their roadmaps for continuous improvement, with AI, personalization, and user-centric design at the forefront.
For Nadia Zaoui, the top priority is fixing the number one irritant for Airbus employees: search. They are looking to implement solutions like LumApps AskAI to deliver better, more relevant results. They also plan to enhance personalization by defining user personas and pushing content based on interests.
Henry Elworthy is also optimistic about AskAI, seeing it as the "primary digital assistant for our business." They envision a future where employees can ask the platform about their ticket subsidy balance or the status of an IT ticket. They are also expanding their use of Microapps, building on the success of the 30 they’ve already created for tasks ranging from visitor booking to fun, BuzzFeed-style quizzes.
Gregory Taieb’s team is focused on managing their growing network of contributors and leveraging AI to help non-communicators create high-quality content. He noted with surprise that their local content creators "really love the AI features in content generation because it lets them publish and create content very easily."
A Future That's Built for Your Employees
The message from the Bright Conference was unmistakable: the most innovative employee hubs are the ones that put people first. They are built on a foundation of empathy, driven by data, and designed for continuous evolution. By listening to employees, empowering them to contribute, and leveraging smart technology, organizations can create a digital experience that doesn't just inform—it connects, inspires, and drives success. The future of the employee experience is not about a one-size-fits-all solution; it’s about creating a hub that is truly yours.
Actionable Takeaways for Your Organization:
- Start with Your 'Why': Create a clear, unifying vision or manifesto for your employee hub.
- Listen to Everyone: Involve employees from all levels and departments in the design and decision-making process.
- Use Data to Tell Your Story: Ground your strategy in performance metrics and user feedback to get buy-in from leadership.
- Embrace Experimentation: Don't be afraid to try new things, whether it's gamification, AI-powered content, or new ways of personalizing the experience.
Blair Williamson is the Global Content Marketing Manager at LumApps, where she leads content strategy to help organizations transform the way they connect and engage with employees.
She creates thought leadership and practical resources on topics like internal communications, employee engagement, and the future of work.
Passionate about helping companies align teams and strengthen culture, Blair brings insights that inspire action and spark conversation around the evolving workplace.
