How Argos Simplified Communications for All 90+ Employees

Background

Argos is a pet boarding and daycare business with facilities in four states. Each facility employs up to 30 employees. From the inception of its first facility, Eric Hougland, Director of Operations, has tried various ways to keep his managers and employees connected including email, text, and even handwritten sticky notes. It wasn't until Breakroom did he find something that everyone easily adopted and used consistently. Using Breakroom for communications dramatically increased transparency regarding critical issues and notably reduced errors made by the staff.

Main Challenges

Before using Breakroom, the main challenges Argos faced included:

• Multiple communication methods including Google Hangouts, email, text, phone, and sticky notes
• Leadership tried multiple workforce management platforms such as Deputy, When I Work, and Homebase but did not find a communication platform that worked for all of their staff
• Facilities are located in different states, making it difficult but necessary for staff and leadership to have reliable two-way communications
• Broadcasting urgent updates such as aggressive pet behavior and medicinal needs that all staff need to know
• Finding last minute replacements for no-shows would require managers to text and call each employee which takes a lot of time
• Managers spent a lot of time communicating important announcements to employees individually
  

Main Solutions

Breakroom helped Argos with the following solutions:

• Unified communications across owners, managers, and employees so multiple communication methods are no longer needed
• Separate accounts for each facility to keep communications relevant and organized
• A mobile app that was easy to use for employees of all ages and different levels of technological knowhow
• Read receipts shows managers and leadership who has read (and not read) important announcements
  

The Outcome

• Simplified communications and decreased frequency of missed messages
• Employees at each facility have direct channels of communication with managers and leadership
• Leadership has transparency into staffing and operational issues at each facility
• Decreased amount of time spent on communicating with managers and employees