How OLX Group achieved rapid engagement recovery during major organizational changes

OLX is a global leader in the online marketplace industry, operating under the parent company Prosus BV, a division of Naspers. With a strong presence across nine countries and more than 20 markets, OLX connects buyers and sellers through its platform, facilitating transactions for a wide range of products, including cars, electronics, household goods, and clothing.

Boasting 73 million active listings monthly, the company's mission is to make it easy for anyone to buy and sell anything. However, its success journey hasn't been without challenges. In recent years, OLX like any other tech company, faced external headwinds. The company decoupled certain parts of its business and rightsized to streamline operations and focus on its profitable business and core markets of Europe and South Africa.

As with any organizational transformation, these transitions brought both opportunities and challenges for OLX. While it allowed the company to focus on its core markets and improve efficiency, it also meant a shift in culture and potential disruption within the organization.

In a bid to ensure a cohesive and engaged workforce during these significant changes, OLX designed a continuous listening strategy, which was implemented with the support of Culture Amp. This strategy resulted in its overall engagement score increasing by 11% and improvements across all engagement factors.

Challenge: Maintaining employee engagement during significant organizational changes

In January 2023, OLX went through a major organizational transformation. Along with a company wide restructure, a new CEO had also been appointed - change was a constant.

Just like any change, there is a risk of perceived instability among the workforce. This can cause uncertainty, stress, and even potential disengagement among team members. However, recognizing that an engaged workforce that feels listened to is a crucial factor in driving business success, OLX knew it needed to prioritize maintaining high levels of employee engagement during this critical time.

"We were conscious that the changes that were happening were going to make people feel unstable," shared Jess Matthewman, Global Head of Employer Brand at OLX. "We knew that one of the best tools we had in our arsenal to help with this was Culture Amp."

Solution: Leveraging continuous listening with Culture Amp

OLX has been partnering with Culture Amp to support its employee listening and company culture initiatives since 2017. So, when it came to maintaining employee engagement during this critical period, the company turned to Culture Amp's employee engagement platform and people scientist team to support its new strategy, ‘Shifting Gears,’ in pivoting its organizational culture and engagement forward.

"The consulting services from Culture Amp were invaluable. Their people scientists helped us design our survey strategy, ensuring it was impactful and aligned with our goals. They also provided deep insights into the data, helping us understand the nuances and take targeted actions." - Jess Matthewman, Global Head of Employer Brand at OLX

One key area OLX recognised would be pivotal in maintaining engagement was the inclusion of managers, as Manjuri Sinha, Vice President of Talent Success and DEI, explains.

“Taking into consideration the importance of strong Manager relationships in driving employee engagement, and as part of our ‘Shifting Gears’ strategy, we designed and launched our new OLX Manager Capability Framework”.

The aim of this framework was to provide Managers with the tools, training, and resources they needed to effectively communicate with their teams, understand their concerns, and foster a supportive work environment. And given the pace of change at OLX, they turned to Culture Amp to equip their Managers with a feedback tool that would give them frequent information on what they need to prioritize to increase engagement in their team.

This is where the symbiotic unification of OLX and Culture Amp proved itself to be a match made in heaven.

Together, a continuous listening approach was implemented, consisting of mini pulse surveys every two months as well as an annual employee engagement survey. This approach supported the Manager Excellence program by allowing OLX to gather real-time data and insights on employee sentiment, identify any issues or concerns, and take immediate action where necessary. Plus, with the ability to filter results based on locations and teams, the company was able to gain a more in-depth understanding of how different pockets of employees were feeling during this transition.

Creating an actionable continuous feedback loop

Central to OLX's strategy was to ensure that employee feedback was not only heard but acted upon. This involved a structured approach to reviewing and democratizing survey results and implementing changes based on the feedback received.

Within a week of the survey closing, meetings were held with Leadership and Management teams to review survey results, identify key areas of concern and create action plans ahead of the next survey. The company also committed to sharing survey results and action plans with employees via Management to help build trust and show employees that their feedback was valued and taken seriously.

"By acting on the feedback we received, we were able to show our employees that their voices were heard and valued. This was crucial in maintaining engagement," shared Jess.

Fostering a vision-driven culture

On the back of the feedback, OLX made a concerted effort to align all employees with the company's vision and strategic goals. This involved a series of workshops, roadshows, and team offsites designed to reinforce the company's mission and how each employee contributed to its success.

Strengthening employee wellbeing programs

Additionally, recognising the impact of organizational changes on employee wellbeing, OLX introduced comprehensive programs which included access to mental health resources, such as BetterUp Care which offers unlimited access to well-being mentors, and coaches.

Results: Significant improvement in engagement and communication - the fastest employee engagement bounce-back rate when benchmarked to similar companies in Europe.

By March 2024, OLX saw a remarkable turnaround in its engagement scores. In fact, the overall engagement score increased by 11%, with improvements across all engagement factors. Supercharged by targeted actions and strategic use of Culture Amp's tools and services, the continuous listening approach resulted in substantial improvements across various key metrics. These include:

• Increased Participation: Along with the rise in overall engagement scores, OLX's continuous listening and targeted actions increased participation by 5%, showing an 83% participation rate in March 2024
• Improved Employee Perception: The action item "I believe action will take place" saw a 9% year-on-year increase - a testament to OLX's efforts in making their survey results actionable.
• Improved Trust in Leadership: Employee perceptions of leadership communication significantly improved. The targeted initiatives to enhance transparency and consistency in communication were well-received, leading to a notable increase in scores related to leadership trust and clarity - rising by 15 points.
• Results ahead of external benchmarks: By leveraging Culture Amp's benchmarking tool across Europe, OLX also found that, compared to other companies that had undergone similar changes, they had the fastest employee engagement bounce-back rate (4% above the external benchmarks).

"The mini pulse surveys allowed us to stay ahead of potential issues and make informed decisions quickly. Plus, having that external validation and support from Culture Amp's people scientists was invaluable in helping us confirm that we were on the right track and to continue evolving our engagement strategy." - Jess Matthewman, Global Head of Employer Brand at OLX

Building a stronger, more engaged workforce through continuous listening

The success of OLX's engagement strategy highlights the power of continuous listening and targeted action. By using Culture Amp's tools and services, coupled with its own initiatives and programs, OLX was able to create impactful internal initiatives, driven by Managers and HRBPs, that successfully drove resilience and maintained engagement in turbulent times.

Through regular pulse surveys, Management empowerment, fostering a vision-driven culture, prioritizing employee well-being, and creating an actionable feedback loop, OLX was able to improve engagement and rebuild trust and confidence in the company during a time of significant change.

Overall, OLX's journey serves as an inspiration for organizations facing challenging times to prioritize employee engagement and communication as key pillars of their strategy. By continuously listening, and empowering managers to take action, companies can foster a positive work environment that drives growth, success and employee engagement. And most importantly, they can reaffirm their commitment to their employees and show them that they are valued members of the organization's journey towards a brighter future.

“At OLX, we strongly believe in putting our people first and a key part of this is ensuring that they know that their voices are heard. Working with Culture Amp has enabled us to achieve our aim of elevating our employee listening. Rather than a one-way street of feedback, we now have a continuous listening and action loop. This has allowed us to empower our managers with data and show a tangible, quick response to what our people have told us is important.” - Christian Gisy, CEO at OLX.