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Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL)

The power of building a culture of Everyday innovation

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A unique joint venture between the Cabinet Office and Sopra Steria, Shared Services Connected Limited (SSCL) provides Finance & Accounting, HR, Recruitment & Vetting, Payroll, and IT Contact Centre services to central government organisations.

Formed in November 2013, SSCL has undertaken an award-winning transformation programme that’s included creating four Centres of Excellence and onboarding 300,000 users onto its standard operating platform.

Part of this was implementing Wazoku’s idea management platform to enable all SSCL colleagues to have a virtual seat at the ideas table.

Here’s how…

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67%+

global workforce engaged and more than 400 ideas created

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The SSCL Way

was established – a highly successful employee engagement programme

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80%

of employees attended The SSCL Way

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Winner

of the 2018 IdeasUK award in the People and Organisation category for The SSCL Way

“Our employees are the heartbeat of SSCL. The Innovation Station supports inclusivity and decision-making across our Centres of Excellence, supporting our team in having input.”

SSCL Managing Director

The background: the quest for business transformation and being innovative

Combining numerous company cultures at once is no small task. SSCL went through a period of immense change, with different traditional worlds transitioning to a new world of KPIs and SLAs, while migrating to a standard operating platform.

  • SSCL needed an innovation platform that could unify the company and allow for inclusive collaboration across its Centres of Excellence.
  • They wanted everyone to help define what their inclusive culture needed to be, and to ensure a two-way interactive approach to communication.
  • SSCL wanted an inclusive innovation tool that empowered everyone to share their ideas and be confident that all ideas would be considered.

The solution: the journey to a culture of innovation

SSCL selected Wazoku’s idea management platform to engage their employees. The first challenge was to name the platform. The winning idea was: The Innovation Station.

The HR and Operational Excellence teams championed The SSCL Way, an idea generated through The Innovation Station, with full support from executive sponsors, including the CEO, John Neilson.

They ensured the company culture focused on people-led improvements and built an award-winning employee engagement programme, putting their people at the heart of the organisation.

“We didn’t just want an innovative tool or a strategy. We wanted to evolve as an innovative organisation. We decided to work with Wazoku because they are a dynamic company and a great cultural fit for SSCL. The Wazoku platform is easy to use and supported our strategy.”

Rachel Summers
Director of Operational Excellence, Strategy and Transformation, SSCL

Outcomes & ROI

Successful challenges include:

  • Just One Thing: Employees are asked to name one thing that could be changed to improve the facilities and working environment internally.
  • Be More Lion: This is designed to encourage ideas that will further boost organisational pride and asks employees to be brave and different in their thinking on innovation and improvements.

Within twelve months, SSCL saw tremendous success with The Innovation Station. Over 400 ideas were submitted, engaging over 67% of employees. Through idea management, SSCL achieved improved customer service, facilities and processes.

SSCL also ranked 11 percentage points above the UK national average for Innovation & Continuous Improvement in Great Place to Work.

SSCL is now building a culture of Everyday Innovation throughout its Centres of Excellence.

What makes this programme unique?

The Virtual Seat at The Table:

While undergoing its incredible award-winning transformation journey, SSCL built the programme around its people, empowering everyone to participate and share their voices at one virtual table.

The Commissioned Artist:

The team hired an artist to ask 136 people to describe The SSCL Way and what they were most proud of. The artist then created a powerful view of this transformational journey, which became a constant reminder not to forget the story of its past, while looking towards the future.

The Board Game:

A custom-made combination of Monopoly and Snakes & Ladders was designed so all new employees could learn The SSCL Way, in an interactive, fun way.

Marie, The Finance Administrator:

Where the movement started! A perfect bottom-up approach to building the right culture. Marie wanted to feel part of the organisation and establish exciting ways to hit company SLAs, so she put forward the idea for The SSCL Way.