The challenge of connecting with more than 30,000 people
At Grupo Éxito, operations happen in real time. In stores, employees serve customers, restock products, solve issues, and coordinate multiple tasks happening in parallel. Everything moves quickly and requires clarity, agility, and constant communication.
However, reaching every person was not easy.
Internal communication relied on announcements, emails, interviews, and posters distributed across different locations. While these channels made it possible to share information, they did not always ensure that messages reached the entire organization in a timely manner.
The main challenge was reaching the more than 28,000 employees who work directly in the operation and represent over 90% of the workforce. Because of the nature of their roles, many of them do not regularly use a computer or corporate email.
Human Resources management was also spread across different channels and systems. To submit a request, employees had to navigate through several steps, know the right process, or rely on intermediaries and HR assistants.
This created delays, increased the need for support, and made it difficult to provide a consistent experience across the company.
A simple experience for a large-scale operation
Grupo Éxito needed a comprehensive tool that could centralize Human Resources management and fit naturally into employees’ daily routines.
The platform had to be simple, intuitive, and similar to the apps people already use in their everyday lives. Humand was the solution that best met those needs.
Adoption was immediate: from the very first day of launch, more than 50% of employees were already active on the platform.
From that point on, Humand became the main point of contact between employees and the Human Resources team. Today, employees know they can use the platform to stay informed, resolve a question, or start a request without relying on multiple channels.
Some of the main use cases include:
- Internal communications: company news and updates can reach more than 30,000 employees directly and simultaneously, regardless of store, location, or business unit.
- Service Management: Grupo Éxito centralized different types of requests, each with its own approval flows and levels of control. Employees can manage requests related to financial assistance, bank account changes, and benefits, among other processes.
- Time Off: employees can submit requests directly through the platform. Humand automatically notifies the corresponding managers and enables the entire process to be completed without opening multiple communication channels.
- Forms: around 2,000 forms are submitted every week, helping the company collect information and organize processes that previously required several steps or support from the HR team.
- Learning: Grupo Éxito uses Humand to manage legally required training courses that need traceability and completion records. The platform also makes it possible to train external suppliers and align them with the company’s procedures and culture.
- Onboarding and Learning: new employees can start training from day one, while the Human Resources team can support and monitor the process in a more structured way.
- Knowledge Library: teams can access processes, materials, and guides from one centralized space, keeping essential information always available.
More autonomy for employees
Before Humand, many questions depended on knowing the right person or reaching out to an intermediary. To complete a request, employees often needed support from an HR assistant at different stages of the process.
Today, each person can start and track requests independently through the platform.
This transformation not only simplified the employee experience, but also allowed the Human Resources team to use its time more strategically.
Grupo Éxito currently has more than 150 agents managing employee requests. Every week, the platform receives approximately:
- More than 1,500 vacation and leave requests.
- Around 2,000 service tickets.
- Close to 2,000 forms.
- More than 1,500 completed training courses.
In total, more than 3,000 requests related to services, vacations, and leave are managed through Humand every week.
The platform makes it possible for each request to reach the right team, follow the corresponding approval flow, and be resolved in a clearer, faster, and more personalized way.
From a large company to a more connected one
Nearly one year after launch, 100% of employees log into Humand at least once a month, and eight out of ten do so every week.
These usage levels have established the platform as Grupo Éxito’s main internal management channel and as an everyday ally for the Human Resources team within the operation.
However, the most important impact goes beyond the number of requests processed or the operational efficiencies achieved.
In an organization with more than 30,000 people, Humand helped restore something that growth and business scale had made increasingly difficult: the ability for every employee to feel heard, supported, and part of the same community.
For the first time, the entire organization has a single voice capable of reaching everyone equally.
This greater sense of connection also contributes to two key retail metrics: operational efficiency and reduced employee turnover.
With Humand, Grupo Éxito went from being simply a large company to becoming a more connected and approachable one.
“Humand gave us back something that the scale of the business had taken away: the ability for every employee to feel seen.”
In an increasingly digital environment, Grupo Éxito will continue expanding the way it supports its teams, with Humand as its main ally for reaching employees in an immediate, simple, and personalized way.