At Universal Orlando Resort, our Team Members have some of the most unique jobs in the world. Where else can you get paid to launch coasters into a raptor paddock, scare guests in an evil-triplets-themed haunted house or build an entirely new theme park from the ground up? With the opening of Universal Epic Universe on the horizon and thousands of new Team Members being recruited and onboarded to support this new park, our Internal Communications team faced its most challenging (and fun) year yet.
We harnessed the power of storytelling to achieve the following goals:
Recruitment: Attract and onboard thousands of new Team Members in alignment with the opening of Universal Epic Universe.
Retention: Celebrate and retain current Team Members across our destination by fostering a sense of belonging and recognition.
Cultural Advocacy: Champion our company culture and values, reinforcing our commitment to an inclusive and fun workplace.
Reputation Management: Uphold and enhance our positive company reputation through transparent and proactive communication, reinforcing Team Member pride.
Strategy:
Our Universal Orlando Internal Communications department is an eight-person team servicing 26,000+ Team Members. We’re committed to the following strategy:
We strive to be the most creative, relevant and engaging internal communications department in the travel and entertainment universe. Through effective communication, we connect, inform and inspire our Team Members, prospective Team Members and community through meaningful storytelling, driving employee engagement and loyalty in a way no one else can.
Our goal is to empower Team Members with clear, timely and consistent information. We aim to drive engagement through dynamic content, inspire action by sharing meaningful stories and support a culture of collaboration that reflects our company's values and mission.
Execution:
We utilize a variety of digital channels to execute on this strategy:
1. Team Member Intranet: Our most significant undertaking was the creation of a new, bi-coastal Team Member intranet, a successful partnership with our Corporate Communications and Digital and Technology teams. While we partnered closely on the platform's development, the Internal Communications team is responsible for crafting the videos and written stories that bring it to life. Previously, we relied on a public website as the hub of Team Member information, but it lacked search functionality and the ability to schedule content, limiting its effectiveness. With the launch of our new SharePoint site, Team Universal, we created a gated, searchable portal exclusively for Team Members. This platform not only delivers essential and timely information but also strengthens connection and inspiration through the stories our team creates.
2. Team Member Social Media Accounts: Our team fully operates three accounts across Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook. We create social-first content to entertain, inspire, educate, recruit and retain Team Members. By leveraging social media to communicate with Team Members, we modernize our communication while solidifying Universal Orlando Resort as an employer of choice, attracting top talent and fostering community.
3. Email Newsletter: Our bi-weekly email newsletter, UOTM News, keeps Team Members informed and engaged with concise, impactful content. Following the launch of Team Universal, we completed an overhaul of the format of UOTM News to ensure it remains relevant while driving Team Members to the new site. The newsletter now features quick, engaging short-form content, while in-depth stories — previously a part of UOTM News — are published on Team Universal. This shift allows us to share motivational content more frequently and connect with Team Members in a more dynamic way.
4. Email Alerts: Our email alerts are designed to communicate critical information with precision and speed. By incorporating color-coded banners at the top of each email, we enable Team Members to quickly discern the urgency and relevancy of information, ensuring appropriate and timely action. Recently, our scope expanded significantly with the addition of Universal Epic Universe, bringing in thousands of new Team Members into our communications network. This expansion reinforces our role in keeping an even larger workforce informed, aligned and empowered.
Volume and Resourcing: Our eight-person team published 600+ social media posts (including 70+ videos), 26 editions of our email newsletter (UOTM News), 80+ long-form stories for our newsletter and intranet (Team Universal) and 225+ other Team Member emails.
Revolutionizing our Intranet: We officially launched Team Universal on December 3, 2024. From December 3-31, 2024, the site garnered nearly 750,000 visits. Users spent an average of over five minutes on the homepage alone, demonstrating not only widespread adoption, but also sustained engagement with the platform.
Social Media Growth and Engagement: In 2024, we achieved significant growth across our social media channels, gaining over 31,000 new followers overall. Our average engagements on LinkedIn increased by 109% year-over-year (YoY), while Instagram saw a 76% YoY increase. Notably, our 7.88% engagement rate on Instagram, reflecting a 20% YoY increase, highlights the effectiveness of our content. With a focus on increasing video content, we boosted our average video plays by 186% this year. These metrics emphasize our commitment to creative that resonates deeply with our audience.
Recruitment: Starting in April 2024, we adopted a digital talent marketing platform to track job applications influenced by our social media posts. Over nine months, our posts influenced over 20,000 job applications. This result underscores the effectiveness of our social media strategy in attracting new talent.
