Giving Frontline Workers a Voice Through SaaS Innovation
The Idea Factory
Context
At Lactalis, a 3,000-person distributed workforce spanning manufacturing and corporate teams, the people closest to the product - the factory-floor employees - had some of the best insights. But like in many organizations, those insights were often trapped.
There was no clear path for frontline employees to surface problems or propose improvements to decision-makers who could act on them.
To unlock this untapped knowledge, we implemented Soapbox, a SaaS-based employee engagement platform that functioned like an internal social network. Employees could submit, vote on, and collaborate around ideas, creating visibility and elevating local innovations to national leadership.
Challenge
As promising as the tool was, adoption across manufacturing environments faced major friction.
Many employees didn’t have regular access to digital tools, and there was deep skepticism around whether leadership would actually act on their ideas.
Without trust or tech access, even the best platform would fall flat.
Below: It was critical to deeply understand the manufacturing environment, people and culture if this initiative were to be a success.
Approach
I owned this initiative end-to-end, from concept to execution to ongoing rollout strategy. That included pitching the project to the executive team, working directly with the SaaS vendor (Soapbox), and leading all internal communications, branding, and engagement.
Key elements of my approach:
Executive Alignment: Secured leadership buy-in with a pitch that tied frontline insights to innovation, retention, and business improvement.
Vendor Partnership: Managed the relationship with Soapbox, aligning product capabilities with our internal needs and rollout strategy.
Internal Branding: Rebranded Soapbox as The Idea Factory - complete with visual identity, tone of voice, and a custom cow mascot to reflect our culture.
Communication & PR: Built and executed the full internal communication plan—including announcements, walkthroughs, email campaigns, plant posters, and spotlight stories.
On-the-Ground Rollout: Personally visited each major site, hosted team trainings, and promoted adoption via a pattern-breaking tour (including walking office floors in a cow onesie to spark conversation and trust).
Tech Enablement: Implemented station-based kiosks in manufacturing sites so employees without personal devices could participate.
Ongoing Check-ins: Ran quarterly performance and engagement reviews across regions, gathering feedback and optimizing communications and incentives as needed.
Below: A Desktop concept of the corporate access, simple enough to use on tablets that were distributed to the 16 national manufacturing sites.
Result
Increased frontline participation across plants and regions despite digital access limitations
Sparked a cultural shift, from disengaged suggestion boxes to empowered frontline voices being heard company-wide
Created cross-departmental visibility for shared problems and solutions
Positioned the initiative as a case study in employee-centered SaaS rollout and internal storytelling
The initiative deepened trust, morale, and interdepartmental collaboration through small changes that traveled to decision makers faster.
Takeaway
Giving people a voice is powerful, but only if they believe someone is listening.
This project taught me that SaaS tools alone don’t drive transformation; trust, storytelling, and creative human activation do.
My approach blended behavior insight, employee empathy, and strategic comms to create a program that people wanted to participate in, not just one they were told to use.
This wasn’t just about surfacing ideas. It was about proving that the people doing the work every day had value far beyond their job descriptions.
Below: Product-led on-boarding would present too much friction for our users. To gain early trust we created traditional corporate communications and analog challenges. I even dressed up in a cow onesie and gave out “I signed up” Idea Factory stickers similar to voting day; using community tactics to break down barriers and build momentum.
Recommendation:
Ambra was instrumental in helping Lactalis Canada launch, adopt, and grow their social innovation program. She was able to drive both front-line and C-Suite level buy in and quickly remove unforeseen road blocks.
I consistently looked forward to our monthly meetings as she would always bring some of the most creative and effective communication plans that I have ever seen. She would be an asset to any team she joins or leads.
- Susan Tran (SoapBox Customer Success Lead)