Innovator from ČSOB: I know that Journals for employees was the right step

There are people who cannot imagine a year without the Journal. And some even like the Journal so much that they order not one, but hundreds. We are talking about people from companies who decide to give the Journal to their employees, managers or partners. One of them was the ČSOB company, for which we created 1000 personalized Bulleťák. We interviewed the internal communications manager at the time, Zuzana Fraňová, about the reasons why ČSOB decided on Žurnál and what it means for them. She currently works as an innovation study specialist.

How do you approach employee development and well-being at ČSOB?
Like any company, we also try to make our employees happy. And maybe even a little more - we want to give it added value, and that is sometimes hard to find - especially when we need to find a balance between the budget and a good and useful product. Lectures on how to have a work-life balance are already everywhere. That's why we were rather looking for a way to bring them that balance outside of work.

What was the reason for you to start thinking about buying diaries for your employees/managers/…?
We thought about an item that would be not only decorative but also useful (useful gifts are the best 😊). We found that diaries are a good choice for (almost) everyone. We just really liked your Bulleťáky, not only because of the possibility of personalization, but mainly because of their content and date universality.

Why did you decide to use the Journal?
Out of all the madebythe products, the journal seemed to us to be the best choice. It is universal and I personally really liked that we were able to bring ourselves, our values, and company culture into it. We were looking for a way to get strategic things to new colleagues as naturally as possible, which are necessary for getting to know the company, but at the same time, few people will search for it repeatedly. We put ourselves in the shoes of a newbie, who is bombarded with a lot of information from all sides. The bullet that he receives is not only to help him sort out his thoughts, but at the same time he has our values, which we are guided by, at hand.

What was the employee feedback on the Journals?
They received the bulletins as part of the welcome package on Introduction Day, which is essentially a welcome day at ČSOB. There they will get to know the brand strategy, company benefits and the like. We consider this Journal to be one of these benefits. We were looking for something that would be "just ours", unmistakable. Something that colleagues will know and want to show off to their friends.

So far, I have only heard positive feedback on Bulleťák, I know that it was the right step.

Over time, how do you evaluate the cooperation with Žurnál Vy?
We handed out the first newsletters in January 2022. I already see them as a fixed part of our welcome packages, and I believe that this has gotten under the skin of my colleagues as well. 😊

What do you appreciate most about the Journal?
I really liked the possibility of personalizing the Bulleťák and the original design - I think the black leather cover is very elegant. As they say - I look and see that it's not just any notebook.

Can you give us an example from practice when the Journal helped you the most? (planning a specific project, ideas for a specific project, sketches, reflection...)
In addition to Bullets for new employees, the company also has Ideas for innovators. ČSOB has a Surf Studio, which is actually an incubator for ideas, people come to us looking for inspiration. Our task is not only to follow trends in the world, but also to inform our employees about them. The brainteaser helps me a lot to sort out the thoughts that usually come to me "just like that", completely outside of work and outside of workshops. Until now, it was quite difficult for me to sort these thoughts - I wrote them down in my mobile phone, text messages, e-mails,... Now everything is in one place 😊

Personally, I like that if a person is lost or wants to be structured, the Journal allows him to do so. If he wants to be a rebel and loves organized chaos, both the Challenger and the Bullet will win him over anyway.

Do you have any "trick" of your own in the Journal that helps you?
For me it's a bookmark, a million bookmarks sticking out of it.