Canadian Tire: Grand Slam Win For Involving Employees

As excitement continues to build for the Jays, I started thinking about how this week’s topic of Social Media and Employee Involvement draws several parallels to baseball. Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC) is a solid team. It’s one of “Canada’s most shopped general merchandise retailers” (CTC, 2015)  and is “strengthened and supported by a Financial Services sector (CTFS).” (CTC, 2015). Yes, its outfield is well positioned with a vast external Social Media presence; Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and Linkedin, but its infield is quite impressive and should be commended as well. The use of Social Media within this company has been a key contributor to involving their employees.

Canadian Tire has continuously strived to involve their employees at every level within the company. It was ranked in the 2016 Top 100 employers in Toronto with Employee Engagement being a contributor to this ranking. (Globe & Mail, 2015). In addition to the company’s “inTIREnet” (intranet) is their online feedback forum “HotiDEAS” which provides employees a way to pitch ideas to senior managers.

But most significantly, CTC has recently become the largest user of Facebook at Work in Canada.  It “is easy-to-use, secure and available on desktop and mobile devices.” (CNW Group Ltd., Feb 2016). I had the opportunity to speak with Cam Thomson, Digital Marketing Manager at CTFS. He confirmed that CTC’s Facebook at Work is the “company’s primary forum to engage employees at all levels to share knowledge and collaborate from anywhere.” Each division and department has a banner (group) and there are many smaller user groups as well. He cited an example of how efficiently employees from many demographics can post in these user groups while others can quickly offer feedback on product development. Simple surveys of the users within any group can be instrumental in gathering immediate opinions such as picking an employee favourite from a short-list of suggested products to bring to market. This has resulted in a “shift of behavior from broadcast to dialogue” (Cam Thomson, 2016) and thus achieving a highly engaged social forum.

Lessons for Others

Without question, Canadian Tire has set a very high standard for successfully creating an internal social community. Facebook at Work will continue to optimize online engagement and employee involvement within the corporation. A great team, a Grand Slam win for Canadian Tire Corporation!

If you have concerns as to the accuracy of anything posted on this site, please send your concerns to Peter Carr, Program Director, Social Media for Business Performance.

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