Van Tilburg

"Oneteam is so much more than an internal communication tool. It's where our colleagues stay connected, get to know each other beyond their own team, and feel proud to be part of Van Tilburg. It really strengthens our team culture and the openness we have with each other."
- Deveny Kok, marketing & communications employee at Van Tilburg

About Van Tilburg

Van Tilburg, the largest fashion store in the Netherlands, is based in Nistelrode and spans over 15,000 square metres of retail space across several buildings, including fashion, sport, kids, lingerie and outlet.

Nearly 600 colleagues work there, from the shop floor to the office and atelier, across departments like sales, HR, marketing, e-commerce and buying. With such a wide mix of roles, locations and working hours, reaching everyone consistently is a real challenge.

The challenge

Before Oneteam, internal communication ran through several channels at once. On the shop floor, most updates were shared during daily team briefings, supplemented by screens in the store and canteen, the occasional email and WhatsApp groups.

It worked, but it had its limits. "During a daily briefing, you never have everyone together. One person doesn't work on Thursdays, another not on Saturdays. So updates and internal messages regularly slipped through the cracks," says Deveny, marketing and communications employee at Van Tilburg.

Important information usually got through, but updates about other departments, team wins and internal initiatives often didn't reach everyone. "You're not going to send a company-wide email for every fun story," says Deveny. "But those are exactly the messages that create engagement, pride and a sense of belonging."

WhatsApp added its own complications. It was quick and easy, but work and personal life started to blur. "WhatsApp is a private channel. Getting work messages on your day off isn't great," Deveny adds.

Practical processes were fragmented too. Expense claims came in via separate emails and surveys ran through external pages. Employees had to jump between different tools, while HR and finance received information in bits and pieces and had to process it all manually.

The need was clear: one central place where communication comes together, where colleagues can find what they need and where there's also room for everything that makes work more enjoyable and personal.

The solution

Van Tilburg discovered Oneteam through their retail network, the Mode Alliance run by EK Retail. Within this network, similar organisations share knowledge and challenges, and the need for better internal communication came up regularly. That's how Oneteam was first put forward as a solution.

"Oneteam was a great fit for our challenges, especially because you can bring multiple systems together in one place," says Deveny. "We were able to add shortcuts to Dyflexis for rosters and to our own Van Tilburg Academy for product knowledge, and connect it to AFAS for our HR structure."

Combined with features like documents, surveys and the timeline, it means everything works for colleagues from a single app. "It just matched really well with what we were looking for," says Deveny.

The way the platform communicates also suits the team well. The timeline feels familiar and works intuitively, so colleagues pick it up quickly. "They already know this kind of layout from social media, so it feels natural straight away," Deveny adds.

The approach

Van Tilburg kicked things off with a pilot group of HR staff and floor managers, giving them time to properly test how the platform worked in practice.

Once that first phase went well, Oneteam was rolled out to the rest of the organisation. The focus wasn't on making it mandatory, but on building enthusiasm. "We didn't present it as: you have to use this," says Deveny. "It was more: look at everything you can do with it."

The first posts were all about exploring and getting comfortable with the platform. Colleagues got examples of how it could be used and what was possible. That was backed up with flyers on the shop floor and information in the onboarding welcome pack. New colleagues still receive a personal invitation that highlights the fun side of the platform.

And their approach worked. Colleagues started using it and soon began posting their own updates, both within their own team and beyond. "We noticed that colleagues started sharing things off their own initiative. That really grew over time," says Deveny.

The results

One place where everyone comes together

Since launching Oneteam, the platform has quickly become a standard part of how Van Tilburg works. By now, 98% of colleagues are on it, and messages are read by an average of 85 to 90 percent of the team.

Where communication was once scattered, there's now one place colleagues go to stay in the loop. That makes it not only easier to reach everyone, but also to see what's landing and what isn't. "You can see how many colleagues have read something," says Deveny. "And if a particular department is lagging behind, you can follow up in the next daily briefing."

More insight into each other and the work

At the same time, it's not just a place for top-down updates. Colleagues use the platform actively themselves, whether it's a team sharing a new collection that's just arrived or a department organising something special.

"You notice that colleagues get to know each other better," says Deveny. "You hear things like: 'I loved your post on Oneteam' Or: 'I had no idea you've worked here for so long!'. That kind of interaction happened much less before, simply because those stories never reached the whole organisation."

Events also play a clear role. From brand events to bigger themed days in the store, colleagues are kept in the loop through the app. "We share an overview of what's coming up that month," says Deveny. "So colleagues can pass that on to customers too."

Less hassle, more clarity

Beyond communication, the platform also helps simplify practical processes. A good example is claiming back gym membership costs. Where that used to go through separate emails, it now runs through a form in Oneteam. "Colleagues fill in their details and upload a receipt," says Deveny. "And finance can download everything in one go. It saves us a lot of time and back-and-forth."

Day-to-day contact between colleagues has changed too. Since not everyone has a work email address, a lot used to be sorted via WhatsApp. Now it happens through the Oneteam chat. "For example, if someone wants to swap a shift or has a question," says Deveny. "You can easily find each other, without having to exchange phone numbers."

That also brings more calmness, because work communication stays in one place. Colleagues decide for themselves when they check messages and whether they turn notifications on. In an organisation where many colleagues work irregular hours, that makes a real difference.

What stands out most, perhaps, is how quickly it's become part of everyday life. "In the beginning, people needed a little time to get used to it," says Deveny. "But now colleagues just know: if there's something going on, it's on Oneteam."

Conclusion

For Van Tilburg, one of the greatest benefits of Oneteam lies in strengthening the connections between colleagues. People are more aware of what's happening across the organisation, they get to know each other better and feel part of the bigger picture more quickly.

"You see more engagement and more pride in working at Van Tilburg," says Deveny. "Colleagues share what they're doing or what they've achieved, and that gets noticed."

At the same time, the platform makes day-to-day work more organised, because everything around the employee experience comes together in one place. "It feels completely natural to us now," says Deveny. "We often have moments where we think: this would be great to share on Oneteam."

The partnership with Oneteam, Deveny says, is exactly what it should be. "We don't have much to worry about, it just works. And when something comes up, it's picked up quickly."