Organizations recognized in Digital Workplace of the Year 2021 awards

December 23, 2021 Updated: April 6, 2022 by

While it was Adobe that took home the overall Digital Workplace of the Year award for 2021, the independent judging panel also decided to highlight some other organizations to acknowledge their commendable achievements in specific areas of practice.  

The Awards are produced by DWG and celebrate organizations and practitioners who have excelled in creating well-executed, high-performing digital workplace environments that year. 

So, in no particular order, here are the judges’ additional awards from the 2021 Digital Workplace of the Year Awards

Finning receives an award for Employee Wellbeing

In a first win for an organization in the manufacturing industry, Finning impressed the judges with its timely and effective work to support employee wellbeing. Where other organizations have tended to focus on providing wellbeing content during the pandemic, the team at Finning went a step further, making an immediate difference through the power of user communities. Extending the conversation around safety from the physical to the psychological has resulted in safe and inclusive online spaces for all employees, where they can share experiences and support each other through the pandemic and beyond. Community activity happens within a smart, integrated ecosystem that enables a seamless employee experience and fosters a culture dedicated to employee safety, wellbeing and inclusion. 

The Coca-Cola Company receives an award for Governance

Among the key pillars of the best digital workplaces is cross-functional, multi-level governance. Done well, this helps to ensure sustainable progress for the digital workplace programme – and yet it’s surprisingly hard to come by! For this reason, the judges wished to acknowledge The Coca-Cola Company for its standout performance on governance, underpinning a programme of work focused on enabling employee productivity and supporting culture change. A cross-functional council is responsible for the management of an integrated roadmap, with an ‘Architecture Review Board’ ensuring that new tools are seamlessly integrated. Standards, ownership, roles and responsibilities are all clearly articulated within this model. As one judge commented: “The governance framework supports the overall strategy and is tied to enterprise bodies such as the Architecture Board. Importantly, governance is a holistic approach and not just one tied to specific initiatives.” Another simply described it as the ‘nirvana’ of digital workplace governance, which, we think, says it all! 

Fidelity Investments receives an award for Associate Experience

Winners of an award for Strategic Vision in 2020, Fidelity Investments returns in 2021 with a story of how that vision has been implemented and is now delivering an exceptional associate experience. The judges were impressed by the people focus that runs right through the digital workplace programme at Fidelity Investments under the leadership of award-winning leader Graham Kennedy. An associate-centric approach is at the heart of an ambitious programme of work at Fidelity to transform the digital workplace experience. Initiatives to simplify and unify the associate experience and make it fit-for-hybrid have been informed by a varied and ongoing programme of user research, and implemented by ‘digital workplace squads’ specifically focused on areas such as Associate Voice & Journeys, Personalization & Productivity and Work From Anywhere. An active network of digital heroes support change management and adoption activities to help associates make the most of the digital workplace ecosystem. 

DOM.RF receives an award for Innovation

Russian financial development institution, DOM.RF was recognized by the panel of judges for its innovative approach to the digital workplace. Innovative elements include extensive interactive dashboarding to support decision-making for a range of roles, AI-powered employee burnout analysis based on 100+ behavioural metrics and a unified onboarding tool for new recruits – among others! As one of our judges remarked: “It is rare to see teams share features like these used to support decision-making, performance and the health of the organization. These are a very rich and powerful set of features.” A data-driven approach furnishes the team with impressive stats that demonstrate the impact, such as 4x reduced time spent searching and 5x less time spent on approvals, as well as estimated savings of $1.3m from employee burnout prevention and better office space utilization saving $8m.  

Fidelity International receives an award for Hybrid Enablement 

Pivoting fast to support hybrid working is a mark of moving with the times in which we live and work. In this vein, a special award for Hybrid Enablement acknowledges Fidelity International for its digital workplace app that enables a dynamic working environment driven by the pandemic. The judges were impressed by the thoughtful and thorough approach to an app designed to operate ‘in the flow of work’ as employees return to the offices. Features such as desk and room booking, meeting room technology integrations, dynamic building access and identifying when frequent contacts are in the office are underpinned by a cross-functional collaboration between corporate property services and collaboration. In the words of one of the panel: “The rationale for this application is clear and concise. It resolves core challenges around dynamic working and allows employees to get things done in an efficient and concise manner, so they can focus on their core work activities.” Also check out the ‘One to Watch’ award in the Digital Workplace Leader of the Year category, awarded to Fidelity International’s Ashley Knight for his pioneering work on the digital workplace app. 

The awards provide the perfect opportunity for you and your organization to share your digital workplace achievements with peers and to gain global, industry recognition! 

Perhaps your organization will be a winner in 2022? Look out on our website for entries opening February 24, 2022. 

Judging note: Susan Quain, Associate Director, Global Digital Channels at Fidelity International, was recused from judging the Fidelity Investments and Fidelity International Digital Workplace of the Year entries. 

Categorised in: Digital Workplace of the Year Awards

Elizabeth Marsh

Director of Research

Elizabeth Marsh is DWG’s Director of Research and author of its latest report ‘Digital workplace overload: How to reduce employee technostress’ (available free on our website). She’s worked as a practitioner, researcher and consultant in the digital workplace field for over 20 years and is a strong advocate for digital literacy and digital wellbeing at work. Elizabeth is currently doing a PhD at the University of Nottingham focusing on employee technostress and the potential of mindfulness to help reduce it. She also co-authored – with Paul Miller – the book ‘The Digital Renaissance of Work: Delivering digital workplaces fit for the future’.

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