Officeworks builds staff safety apps

Officeworks has built bespoke apps on ServiceNow to guide staff in complying with workplace safety protocols and to simplify reporting of hazards and incidents.

Head of safety, health and wellbeing Travis Callander told iTnews that the company developed a Stay Safe App, Hazard App and Incident Reporting System.

“These three systems were built into [our] existing ServiceNow platform,” he said. 

Officeworks’ latest sustainability report [pdf] states that “a review of IT system capabilities” identified potential technology upgrades to support “safety, health and wellbeing initiatives.” 

The review recommended “ServiceNow be customised, easily accessible and user friendly for team members.”

“We recently upgraded our systems and introduced all safety reporting into the one platform, the Stay Safe App, to ensure all reporting was in the one place for our team members, making it more user-friendly," Callander said.

“We also upgraded the software to have it available on mobile and desktop applications.” 

The incident reporting system, meanwhile, is set up to streamline "reporting requirements for board and governance reports" across the business.

The Stay Safe App and Hazard App have also been made available “to all team members across our business,” Callander said. 

Expanding ServiceNow

Complying with safety protocols and reporting incidents are not the first tasks that Officeworks has made easier for team members by building an app on ServiceNow.

Officeworks also previously partnered with the MSP Thirdera to build a self-service IT support mobile app on ServiceNow; the program -“Penny” - encourages staff to try resolving errors themselves before lodging a service desk ticket. 

For more than a decade, ServiceNow was only used for Officeworks’ IT service desk, but over the past few years the platform was expanded to streamline and digitise several operations and administrative tasks across facilities, HR and customer services.

For example, ServiceNow’s incident response module was customised to Officeworks’ security team’s operations, and Officeworks’ HR division began using ServiceNow for timesheet analysis and to automatically fill vendors’ details into contract management templates. 

Converge Life

Officeworks also launched an optional app that staff can download onto their personal devices to help them track and improve their physical and mental health and wellbeing. 

Officeworks national health and wellbeing manager Amie Fasolis told iTnews that ‘Converge Life’ had several tools, including a “gratitude journal, move challenge, and the ability to book EAP [The Employee Assistance Program] services directly through the app.”

The app was provided by Officeworks’ health and wellbeing partner Converge International, which also provides information sessions about physical and mental health.