Perceptyx Customer Story: Keurig Dr Pepper

Customer Success Snapshot

Listening Use Cases:
- Employee Engagement, Employee Lifecycle (Onboarding and Exit)
Our Partners:
- Alyssa Chase serves as Senior Vice President of Talent & Culture for Keurig Dr Pepper. With a tenure that spans more than a decade, Alyssa has been instrumental in navigating the company through a significant merger, helping to define and promote a new organizational model that combines the strengths of two major entities into one cohesive, people-first culture.
- Tonika Kottenbrock is Senior Director of Employee Diversity and Culture at Keurig Dr Pepper. Joining the company in 2020, Tonika focuses on embedding diversity, inclusion, engagement, and recognition within the fabric of KDP's culture.
The Challenge:
- Ensure that the voice of every employee — especially frontline teams in manufacturing, supply chain, and distribution — is heard and valued.
- Overcome logistical and engagement hurdles to collect meaningful feedback across a diverse, geographically widespread workforce.
The Solution:
- Partnered with Perceptyx for a dynamic employee listening program, offering intuitive solutions and real-time insights to foster a culture of continuous feedback and improvement.
- Conducted extensive engagement, onboarding, and exit surveys to capture feedback from the entire workforce, with a particular focus on frontline employees representing more than three-quarters of KDP's workforce.
- Utilized QR codes, text messages, and other communication channels to ensure convenient access for frontline workers to participate in listening events.
The Impact:
- Achieved an 89% participation rate in the most recent engagement survey, highlighting the effectiveness of KDP's communication effort and the value placed on employee feedback.
- Implemented tangible changes based on listening results, including work environment updates, and introduced additional engagement activities through Employee Resource Groups, demonstrating KDP's commitment to action.
- Enabled leaders at all levels to access and act upon employee feedback collected through the Perceptyx platform.
- Increased trust and transparency within KDP, with frontline employees seeing their suggestions and concerns directly addressed and resolved.
- Continued collaboration with Perceptyx to deepen listening insights and refine engagement strategies, ensuring KDP remains a competitive and desirable place to work.

Why Keurig Dr Pepper Chose Perceptyx

Listening to Support a Merger of Beverage Industry Cultures

Following a significant merger that unified the Keurig and Dr Pepper brands into a single entity, Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP) faced the challenge of blending two organizational cultures. Given its large workforce spanning roles from manufacturing and delivery to corporate, KDP needed a partner capable of enabling a unified, people-first culture amidst ongoing changes. The company sought to ensure that the voices of all employees were heard and valued.

A Listening Platform That Meets Employees Where They Are

KDP recognized that effective employee listening is essential not only for gathering insights, but also for addressing specific operational and cultural challenges across its diverse and geographically dispersed workforce. The organization partnered with Perceptyx to reach employees via multiple channels, including QR codes and SMS text messages. This enabled KDP to aggregate various feedback mechanisms via a singular platform that worked for all its people, regardless of location, minimizing disruptions and providing seamless, one-click connections even for those without reliable cellular coverage, wi-fi service, or computer access.

A Powerful Combination of Design and Domain Expertise

The agility and intuitive design of the Perceptyx platform were crucial for KDP, enabling leaders at all levels to engage with and act on feedback efficiently. Tonika Kottenbrock, Senior Director of Employee Diversity and Culture, emphasized the platform’s ease of use, stating, "It's very intuitive," which ensures that even those who are "technologically challenged" can fully utilize the system. This accessibility is vital for democratizing data and empowering employees in all parts of the organization. Moreover, KDP appreciated Perceptyx's commitment to continuous improvement and innovation, aligning with their own forward-thinking ethos to "Drink Well. Do Good."

The search for a new employee listening partner was driven by KDP's need for a platform that could keep pace with its evolving requirements. "We were really looking for a partner that would flex and grow with us," said Chase. This search led KDP to Perceptyx, chosen for its agile survey products, quick insight delivery, and ability to effectively connect the dots across different listening points.

Tonika Kottenbrock, Senior Director of Employee Diversity & Culture, agreed: "The opportunity to gather insights across listening channels to get a comprehensive view of the employee experience was very attractive."

Kottenbrock lauded the Perceptyx People Insights Platform for its intuitive design and adaptability, which has made it an indispensable foundation of the company's comprehensive listening strategy. "It's very easy. It's very intuitive," she said, pointing out how this accessibility ensures that leaders across KDP can engage with and act on employee feedback efficiently. “I call myself technologically challenged, but I can fully utilize the Perceptyx platform.” This ease of use, Kottenbrock pointed out, is paramount for KDP, where “democratizing data and insights helps us empower people at all levels.”

Moreover, Kottenbrock appreciates Perceptyx's commitment to continuous improvement and innovation, which aligns perfectly with KDP's forward-thinking ethos: “We are excited to use all of the new features the platform has to offer, [from] advanced analytics to AI, and more are constantly being added.”

Listening to Frontline Teams

Frontline employees, from production to distribution, are integral to KDP's operations, making their insights invaluable for driving improvements and innovations. The company goes to great lengths to facilitate survey participation among these workers, employing a variety of access methods from QR codes to text messages, ensuring that every employee, regardless of their role or location, can easily contribute their perspective.

Alyssa Chase underscored the imperative of involving frontline teams in KDP’s listening strategy: "It's critical that we have the voice of our frontline included in any listening that we do," with efforts eventually leading to an impressive 89% participation rate. This extensive reach across the workforce ensures that every employee's feedback contributes to KDP’s culture and decision-making.

The leadership’s commitment to this process is evident in their proactive planning and communication, which includes building survey participation into team schedules and starting discussions well before the survey period opens.

Acting on Employee Feedback

Kottenbrock shared how feedback led to significant workplace enhancements, from logistical improvements to operational changes, underscoring the localized impact of such actions. "We are doing this because you asked for it," Kottenbrock said, indicating the direct correlation between employee feedback and implemented changes.

Kottenbrock further explained the value of actionable feedback: “There are so many examples from female frontline team members who said, 'Hey, it'd be great to have a mother's room,'... or 'hey, it'd be great if there could be some flexibility in the hours that we work,' and we could work to get those ideas implemented."

This grassroots approach to change management through employee listening underscores KDP's commitment to fostering a workplace that is both responsive and adaptable to the needs of its people.

Expanding for the Future

As KDP looks to the future, its ongoing partnership with Perceptyx is a key part of its commitment to enhancing employee engagement and continually refining company culture. Alyssa Chase and Tonika Kottenbrock are both optimistic about the continued high caliber of insights and action that the partnership will bring. Together, they anticipate leveraging the comprehensive data and analytics provided by Perceptyx to shape future initiatives designed to embed employee feedback into KDP's strategic planning and decision-making processes.

A Listening Partner of Choice

The strategic value of this partnership cannot be overstated, with Chase underscoring its foundational role in KDP's broader success. The continuous cycle of listening, feedback, and action not only serves to improve KDP's internal operations but also plays a crucial role in strengthening the company's position in a competitive talent market. This focus on maintaining a workplace where every employee feels heard and valued is central to fostering an environment of growth, innovation, and inclusivity.

KDP's leadership is committed to ensuring that the company remains a place where employees are not only engaged but also empowered to make significant contributions to its vibrant culture and ongoing success. As Chase said, "We were really looking for a partner that would build on this listening advantage with us. Perceptyx, which I’d describe as ‘capable’ and ‘innovative,’ was our partner of choice." This vision for a flexible, responsive partnership has driven the alignment between KDP's forward-looking culture and Perceptyx's purpose-built, ever-evolving People Insights Platform.

Employee Listening Feedback from the Frontlines Drives Change at Keurig Dr Pepper