50%
purchased seats filled during launch event alone
1 in 4
employees using the app within first few months
100%
purchased seats filled within first year
Increase
in team camaraderie and connectivity between frontline and desk-based team members
About LA Family Housing
LA Family Housing helps people transition out of homelessness and poverty through a continuum of both housing and support services. Its team of nearly 600 dedicated employees provides life-saving services that help the most vulnerable population in Los Angeles.
For more than 40 years, LA Family Housing has provided two different types of case management to help end homelessness in Los Angeles. The first stage is navigation, which involves guiding those who are unhoused through the various systems, programs or resources to ultimately find permanent housing. The second stage is stabilization, where teams provide continuing support to build a community of resources that enable their participants to remain housed for the long term.
Finding the key to wellbeing
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, LA Family Housing expanded its services to include health education, disease prevention and COVID-19 testing. Teams began delivering 1,300 meals every day to 250 interim housing facilities and provided internet hotspots so that children could participate in remote schooling. On top of these additional services, they also stepped up to manage five sites for thousands of medically frail and older adults experiencing homelessness, and six other interim housing projects that were part of California’s Project Homekey initiative.
Industry:
Charity / Non-profit
Number of employees:
560
Platform features:
Employee wellbeing app
As was the case for many organizations providing crucial services on the frontline of the pandemic, LA Family Housing was forced to pause its non-essential internal programs – including its staff wellbeing program. But two years later, the organization was ready to relaunch and help its heroic team members rediscover the Key to Wellness.
They were eager to introduce something new and exciting that would connect employees from all across the network, particularly those based outside the central administration office.
So Jesse and the training team began the search for a tool that would take their new wellbeing program to the next level and encourage participation from across the entire workforce. They arranged demos with providers of different solutions to consider what would best fit the needs of LA Family Housing.
Reward Gateway | Edenred’s wellbeing app came out on top due to its engaging and easy-to-use interface.
Program goals
- Connect staff across the network of offices, shelters and remote locations
- Promote engagement with the new “Key to Wellness” program
- Fill at least 50% of the “seats” purchased as part of their initial license
- Interconnect the app with the broader program by utilizing the communication features and prize-giving
Introducing the Key to Wellness Program
In early 2023, LA Family Housing hosted an employee event to launch the new Key to Wellness program and introduce the app.
The initial uptake was incredibly positive, with around half of the purchased seats being filled during the event. The training team continued to drive program engagement and participation with a wellbeing newsletter, which marked the start of a different theme each month. The newsletter would promote all the challenges, spotlight the winners and highlight prizes from the previous month.
To make sure the program’s message was reaching frontline employees across the network, physical copies of the monthly newsletter were shared in the facilities and wellbeing content became a standing agenda item in the monthly All Staff Meetings on Zoom.
Jesse and his team were determined to drive engagement for long-term success. They used all different communication channels to ensure that every employee was aware of the program and had the opportunity to get involved, including signage in key locations and QR codes taking people straight to the app.
LA Family Housing managed to set up and launch the program quickly and efficiently by using the pre-configured library of tools, stencils and templates. The technical side was managed, which gave the training team the freedom to focus on the creatives, campaign features and notifications.
Since the launch of Key to Wellness, the admin team has received positive feedback from staff members across the network.