BDO Unibank - Innovation in House Organizations and Publications
Name of Organization / Company: BDO Unibank / Comm&Sense - Roar
Category: Award for Innovation in House Organizations and Publications
Entry Title: BDO: The Wayfinder
BDO Unibank is the Philippines’ largest bank to date, with more than 38,000 strong employees.
While BDO wishes to be highly regarded and trusted by the general public, it naturally desires the same from its own employees—who are considered both an audience and, collectively, ambassadors of the bank. The BDO management values the well-being of its employees and always strives to be the company that its employees would take pride in, regard highly, and come to love. With this in mind, internal communications is a key aspect of the management’s efforts to connect with, inform, and give assurance and encouragement to its employees.
Prior to 2018, BDO has been coming up with its monthly internal publication called “BDO in the News.” However, as the publication’s name itself connotes, it was a very straightforward and limited transfer of information: information moves only from management to employees and limited only to news updates.
Admittedly, this was not in keeping with principles of good internal communications; such, ideally, should be a two-way exchange of information and ideas. As all good communicators know, the mutual sharing and exchange of ideas and information result in greater and more productive collaboration between the management and employees in many areas.
BDO’s Corporate Communications wanted to level up the bank’s internal communications and make it more effective and productive for everyone. And so it drew up plans for improved communications with its internal stakeholders, starting with its newsletter.
Thus The Wayfinder was born, a publication that features inspiring true-to-life stories about BDO, its leaders, and employees. A nod to the bank’s tagline, “We Find Ways”, The Wayfinder was conceptualized to showcase more stories of employees finding ways for clients and colleagues. The publication was also designed to make it appealing for the millennial-dominated workforce of BDO. Ultimately, it was envisioned to help attain two goals: a.) to instill pride among employees and b.) to contribute to building an organization of brand ambassadors.
The regular publication of The Wayfinder is spearheaded by the Corporate Communications Unit of BDO Unibank. BDO CorpCom changed the editorial direction for this new publication and didn’t want to limit the publication’s content to what its regular writers would produce. Instead, it became editorial policy to ask employees to contribute for publication real-life stories about their business unit as well as their experiences working at the bank. Overall, this was a way to show one another how the bank’s corporate values are applied—effectively and for everyone’s benefit—on a daily basis.
On January 30, 2019, BDO held a Wayfinder Week to mark the newsletter’s launch. Freedom Walls were set up at the bridge way of BDO’s Corporate Center in Makati, Philippines, as well as on the 6th floor of its main office in Ortigas. Employees were asked to write their answers to the question: “What makes you a Wayfinder?” on the freedom wall. Each of the walls also contained testimonials from various employees on how they found ways for BDO clients and colleagues. The Freedom Walls served as a collective platform for employees to express how they live out the bank’s mantra of finding ways for their clients. It was also a statement of resounding support to the ideals of The Wayfinder.
Today, from nearly zero contributed content, The Wayfinder publishes 3 to 5 contributed content. Demand for copies also swelled by 12.5 percent, comparing the copies circulated from 2018 to 2019.
The Wayfinder was able to transform the usual corporate newsletter from just keeping people in the know, to keeping people invested and involved in living out BDO’s corporate values. Being true to its name, The Wayfinder found a way to make a simple tool for communications become an instrument to forge and strengthen solidarity, goodwill, empathy, compassion, and cooperation.
Credits
1. BDO Corporate Communications
2. Comm&Sense
3. Roar
Files & Links:
THE-WAYFINDER-JULY-AUGUST-2020.pdf