Roche UK and Virgo Health win 'Best Employee Engagement Programme' award

Roche UK and Virgo Health have taken the top prize in employee engagement at this year’s UK Corp Comms Awards, collecting the award at the London ceremony last month.

The medical education specialists created ‘Roche and the Pipeline Laboratory’ to transform the company’s employees into brand ambassadors after an internal survey showed only 36% of workers understood its pipeline disease areas.

The Swiss pharmaceutical giant aimed to improve employees’ knowledge of the science behind pipeline products so that they might be able to better communicate its value to patients, healthcare professionals and pharma alike.

By combining high science with popular culture, Virgo and Roche took employees ‘on a journey of scientific discovery’ through interactive sessions and multichannel content.

Over 300 employees took part in the Pipeline Laboratory event, which included talks from senior leaders on Roche’s role in shaping healthcare systems, break-out sessions on oncology, immunology and neuroscience pathways, and ‘fireside chats’ allowing attendees to quiz Roche’s experts on key industry issues.

The event also ran videos on medical advances, hosted an exhibition room detailing the company’s pipeline history, and created a film showing how each employee plays a part in supporting patients.

Sue Neilen, head of communications at Virgo Health, said: “This was a bold campaign that recognised the role that creative multi-format communications play in engaging employees on an emotional level.

“We’re delighted to be recognised for our work in supporting Roche build corporate trust through strengthening internal pride.”

A post-event poll saw the number of employees confident in their ability to articulate Roche’s scientific ambitions rise from one-third to 83%, while 90% said they better understood the disease areas and 97% said they were excited about Roche’s future.

Explaining their decision, the UK Corp Comms judges said: “This was an original programme which focused on specific outcomes. It was creative and well-executed, and clearly moved the dial.”

Article by Rebecca Clifford