Marston's PLC transforms internal communications with Vouch

• Company: Marston’s
• Industry: Hospitality
• Headquarters: Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England
• Size: 10,000+

‍Marston's PLC is a leading pub and hotel operator in the UK with more than 185 years of experience bringing local communities together. With 10,500 employees spread across 1,400 locations, Marston’s embraces diversity and encourages its people to come as they are.

With a dispersed and predominantly younger workforce (50% Gen Z), Marston’s requires a tool that enables it to reach each employees in an authentic way that doesn’t resemble generic, old-guard employee communications.

"Our biggest challenge is about how we can communicate and get our messages to our people," explained Sam Rock, senior employer brand partner at Marston's. “We want to talk directly to our people and encourage two-way communication.”

In December 2023, Marston’s turned to communications platform Vouch to transform its approach to internal communications. Vouch empowers businesses to create compelling, on-brand videos that showcase their culture. No editing, design, or production skills — or app downloading — necessary.

Marston’s uses Vouch to communicate weekly, monthly, and quarterly updates to employees via internal communications avenues, including intranet and social channels. Directors love using Vouch because it’s personal, direct, and brings out both corporate and individual personalities to better connect with its young workforce, Rock said."

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The business has really embraced the platform," Rock said, emphasizing the positive reception from both leadership and staff. The platform's engaging video format has proven particularly effective in capturing the attention and responses from team members. "We've got a couple of people which we are now affectionately referring to as 'Vouchers'," Rock added.

Vouch's intuitive interface has empowered employees at all levels to create and share videos, fostering a culture of communication and collaboration. But Marston’s wasn’t simply looking for a transactional partner. Marston’s wanted to work with a team that was agile, responsive, and just fun to interact with.

“Our brand is all about people,” Rock said. “When we talk about people, it’s not just our people. Our business strategy is being proud of your pub, creating memorable experiences for our guests, our people, and also the communities we work with. The cultural alignment between Marston’s and Vouch — we just get on. Vouch is like us. They are our type of business. They are our type of people. They are very down to earth, easy to get on with, easy to do business with. Nothing is ever any bother.”

Marston's partnership with Vouch has transformed its internal communications, empowering the company to reach and engage its dispersed workforce in a meaningful way. The platform's engaging video format, ease of use, cultural alignment, and focus on two-way communication have proven instrumental in fostering a stronger sense of community and belonging within the company. As Marston's continues to leverage Vouch's capabilities, it anticipates even greater success in employee engagement, retention, and overall business performance.

“We are working towards having an always-on comms plan, moving from reactive to being more planned and proactive,” Rock explained. “Vouch is a key comms channel that is part of internal and external marketing mix, to be used to help communicate our strategy and also to gather our people’s experiences to enhance our employer brand.”