Norah

“Oneteam makes the company feel more united. It’s no longer head office on one side and the branches on the other, it feels like one company.”
– Esmay Schipanski, People & Culture Manager at Norah

About Norah

Norah is a fast-growing women’s fashion brand with 95 boutique stores across the Netherlands and Belgium. In just ten years, the company has built a loyal customer base that values personal style advice and friendly service. Offering excellent customer experiences is a top priority, which means engaged and well-informed employees are essential.

We spoke with Esmay Schipanski (People & Culture Manager) and Maaike Mosch (HR Advisor) about how Oneteam helps Norah connect teams, strengthen engagement, and support productivity.

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The challenge

Before Oneteam, Norah relied on a mix of email, phone calls, and an intranet. But the intranet was barely used, and the email flow overwhelmed employees in the stores. Maaike recalls: “Only 8% of employees actually used the intranet. Emails all went to a general store inbox, so part-timers had to scroll through days of messages to find what mattered. Often they didn’t, and important updates were missed.”

Esmay noticed the same problem at a broader level: “With so many new colleagues joining during our growth, keeping everyone engaged became more complex. People weren’t always up to date on brand guidelines or operational priorities. And with so many separate emails from operations, HR, and marketing, the message often got lost.”

In short, communication was:

• Fragmented across multiple channels
• Overloading store teams with irrelevant emails
• Too one-directional, leaving little room for interaction
• Creating a gap between head office and the stores

All of this made it harder to ensure consistency across locations and to keep employees feeling connected to Norah’s mission.

The solution

Norah explored several platforms and tested them on three criteria: usability, look and feel, and available features. Oneteam stood out on all three. “We especially liked the academy, survey, and document management functionalities,” says Esmay. “And the fact that one of our employees had used Oneteam before and was so enthusiastic gave us even more confidence.”

With Oneteam, Norah found a single platform for everything: internal communication, onboarding, surveys, events, and document management.

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The approach

In February 2022, Norah launched a pilot in one store district. Maaike explains: “We involved key users right away and asked them for feedback. The reactions were very positive, which gave us the confidence to roll it out across all stores by April.”

The implementation was smooth, and Norah continues to gather feedback to refine processes.

The results

Today, all 700 employees use Oneteam. From sales associates and warehouse staff to district managers and the marketing team. Adoption is very high, with 96.5% of employees active on the platform.

Weekly updates are shared through document management, including essentials like delivery schedules. And beyond formal communication, there’s space for culture too. “In our Coffee Talk channel, colleagues share fun customer stories or informal updates,” says Esmay. “That really helps to bring people together.”

Maaike shares: “We asked all employees how much more engaged they feel with Norah since using Oneteam. On a scale of 1 to 5, the score was 4.3. That reflects the positive effect across the whole organization.”

Employees consistently mention how much easier it is to stay informed and connected:

• “I only work a few hours a week, but thanks to the platform I’m always up to date on the latest news.”
• “Oneteam makes the company feel more united. It’s no longer head office on one side and the branches on the other, it feels like one company.”
• “With Oneteam, you are always up to date. It encourages engagement and makes sure everyone has access to the same information.”

Esmay adds: “Productivity in the stores has greatly improved. Employees always know where to find information, which makes their work easier and ensures consistency in how we present ourselves to customers."

Oneteam also scored 4.1 out of 5 when employees were asked if the app adds value to existing ways of communication, another strong indicator of its impact.

Looking ahead

Norah has no plans to slow down. Esmay outlines their next steps: “We want to improve onboarding and offboarding through the Oneteam academy. We’ll also keep researching employee engagement and look for ways to strengthen it."

"Competitions across the organization could be a fun way to stimulate interaction. All of this helps us remain attractive as an employer, bring in new colleagues, and reach our ambition of becoming the largest women’s fashion brand in the Netherlands.”