Delivering Award Winning Communications For Mitie

Founded in 1987, Mitie is the UK’s leading provider of Facilities Management, with over 77,500 colleagues across Europe. Mitie’s diverse workforce delivers a range of outsourced services, including engineering services, security, cleaning, care, and custody.

In 2019, Mitie’s internal communications team were exploring new and exciting ways to reach colleagues on the frontline and identified the need for a printed magazine. The vision for the magazine was to share news, successes and celebrate the exceptional work delivered by their colleagues.

Listing qualities they wanted in a design agency, Mitie wanted a partner that would be flexible, accommodating, and creative. After meeting A Story Called, Mitie’s search was over.

As Senior Internal Communications and Engagement Manager, Holly Ranson explains:

“We wanted an agency who would feel like an extension of the Mitie team and who would understand our brand and get truly involved from start to finish to deliver our new communications channel.”

Mitie has a sizeable workforce across the UK & Ireland who are traditionally harder to reach via digital channels. So, Mitie knew they needed something available in every location to ensure that every colleague could access the latest news to help them feel more connected to the company.

When Mitie set out to create the magazine, the main priority was to create something that was fun and engaging, and not too corporate. They particularly wanted to produce something that was eye catching enough to entice time-poor colleagues during their breaks. Although naturally, there was hesitancy from their CEO and executive team to go down this route, fearing a printed magazine was an “old fashioned” way to communicate, the team were confident this was the right path.

Knowing how important it was to produce a magazine that met Mitie’s goals, A Story Called teased out the aims for the magazine, design preferences, how Mitie wanted it to feel, the familiar story features to be included in the flat plan and acted as a sounding board to bounce ideas and concerns off.

Holly reflects, “We needed to feel we were in a safe set of hands with designers and copywriters who would listen to us. We also needed flexibility in the design and editing process, and most importantly would be helpful and make us feel confident in our decision-making. A Story Called stepped into this role with ease, the result being the launch of their internal employee magazine ‘The Exceptional’ – named in honour of the company’s vision to deliver the exceptional, every day.”

Holly explains, “Since its launch in December 2019, the quarterly magazine has grown from strength to strength and has become the hub for company news. It’s been so well-loved by our colleagues; we’ve increased the number of pages as so many people were reaching out to share their local stories in the hopes of being featured in the magazine.

“Our CEO and executive team can see how it’s transformed the way we communicate internally and as a result the magazine has driven employee advocacy.”

In 2020, Mitie entered the magazine in the National Institute of Internal Communications Awards, which are dedicated to identifying and celebrating outstanding internal communication work by organisations, individuals, and teams.

The team took home an award for the Best News Magazine, with the judges commenting “This publication is incredibly well thought out, from planning and execution. The content is well written, very human and with mixed formats, and there is great use of imagery to engage the reader. A fantastic new, news channel.”

The magazine launch was a big, bold move by Mitie, but they’ve never looked back, continuing to look to A Story Called for support on countless key projects.

“Since the inception of our partnership with A Story Called, our relationship has grown and the team has helped us create many more successful campaigns, including producing numerous videos, collateral to support our large-scale transformation programme, and materials for our company-wide event, Team Talk Live, which reached more than 30,000 people.”