Francesca’s enables store associates with mobile collaboration tool

Francesca’s Holdings Corp. extending the functionality of its employee app to allow them to communicate and work together.

The apparel and accessories retailer is building on its May 2022 deployment of Yoobic One, an all-in-one digital workplace platform, among its 3,000 frontline employees. Yoobic One app features include automation to handle simple or repetitive tasks, as well as real-time learning, collaboration and communication capabilities.

Meanwhile, Francesca’s managers can use the app to generate and share content, giving all employees mobile access to up-to-date policies and in-store promotions.

Now, Francesca’s is rolling out Yoobic Communities, an expansion of the Yoobic One app designed to drive frontline engagement and provide employees a shared space to build collaboration and teamwork.

Leveraging the new Communities feature, Francesca’s seeks to enable frontline associates to create common-interest networks and design and launch their own micro-communities within the organization. The hoped result will be organic team building based on personal friendships and collaborative opportunities. 

In the beta Yoobic Communities test group, weekly app logins by participating associates increased by 33% per user. Test employees were also more involved with the platform, as the Communities feature drove 43% more engagement than the existing top-down digital Yoobic One Newsfeed tool.

“We have really transformed the way we work at Francesca’s with Yoobic,” said Sarah Brown, director, field training and guest experience, Francesca’s. “Yoobic was a critical tool to transition from email and streamline communications with our store teams. We really love the Communities feature. It is another layer that brings our team together in a meaningful way and it has been a game-changer.” 

“We strive to build a family unit at Francesca's,” said Katie Kepic, district team leader, Francesca’s. “We want a strong sense of camaraderie and community when it comes to peer-to-peer engagement. Our teams are utilizing Yoobic Communities to embrace our districts and be inclusive. Everyone can get to know each other and celebrate all things Francesca’s throughout the day in the app. It's given us the ability to transition away from email and really create a place of support and engagement for our teams.”

“At Yoobic, we know that meaningful employee engagement is the key to boosting employee morale and performance—as well as the agility, resilience, and profitability of the organization as a whole. The Communities feature was designed to organically elevate that engagement and bring frontline teams together in a powerful and effective way,” said Fabrice Haiat, Yoobic CEO and co-founder.