Foto: Inger-Elisabeth Følling Ness, Senior HR Consultant at Coop Norge SA
"This opens up completely new opportunities for us to work purposefully with the work environment and engagement."
Coop is one of Norway’s largest employers, with around 24,000 employees spread across 57 cooperative stores and the central organisation Coop Norge SA. To strengthen the employee experience and simplify HR in a complex structure, Coop Norge SA has invested in CatalystOne – and now CatalystOne Engage. The results speak for themselves: higher participation rates, deeper insights, and better follow-up.
"We’ve never seen this level of participation in our employee surveys. We also receive a wealth of valuable comments. This opens up completely new opportunities for us to work purposefully with the work environment and engagement,” says Inger-Elisabeth Følling Ness, Senior HR Consultant at Coop Norge SA and the project lead for the Engage rollout.
For years, Coop Norge SA relied on a traditional employee survey tool. But it offered limited insight and demanded too much manual effort from HR and managers.
"We spent far too much time on preparation and admin, only to end up with reports that offered little actionable insight. As we increased our focus on organisational development and employee engagement, it became clear that we needed a more modern system,” explains Følling Ness.
Four years ago, CatalystOne was introduced to manage HR Master Data. Last year, the HR team expanded the solution by implementing CatalystOne Engage for employee surveys. Combined, these two solutions ensure data is always up to date, and HR processes are smoother. Everything is integrated in an app available to all employees: MinCoop.
"The strong integration between Engage and CatalystOne is incredibly valuable. With full control of our master data, we know everything is accurate before we send out surveys. It saves us time and gives us confidence in the process,” says Følling Ness.
Coop Norge SA runs one large annual employee survey and follows up with quarterly pulse surveys to regularly check in on organisational sentiment. A key goal has been to increase managers’ ownership of follow-up actions and actively use the insights to support development.
"We’ve moved from a clunky, outdated system to something everyone finds easy to use – whether they work in a store, in corporate management, or behind the wheel of a truck. It had to be easy to participate, and the SMS solution has been key for reaching those who don’t have daily access to a PC,” says Følling Ness.
Including the surveys as tasks in MinCoop has also made participation easier.
"Getting reminders through different channels – email, SMS, and MinCoop – has really boosted engagement. Employees can click directly into the survey, which has definitely contributed to our impressive response rates."
"We’ve reached an 85% response rate – something we’ve never come close to before."
The pulse surveys also perform strongly, both in terms of participation and insights.
"We received over 2,700 comments in our latest survey – and every single one is gold. It shows a high level of engagement and a genuine willingness from employees to contribute to improvements."
Thanks to AI-powered features in Engage, comments are automatically categorised, giving HR and managers a clear overview of the key themes.
"It makes it so much easier to prioritise. If a department needs better communication or more clarity around priorities, we can take targeted action right away."
Where earlier surveys took time to analyse, results now appear instantly – accessible to HR, managers, and employees alike.
"Managers love being able to easily access and present the results – in meetings or presentations. They have access to ready-made PowerPoint templates and can quickly share insights with their teams,” says Følling Ness.
A major improvement is that employees can now see results for their own department.
"This adds a whole new level of transparency, while still ensuring anonymity. When employees see that their feedback is shared and taken seriously, they’re even more motivated to contribute next time."
Coop includes both the national organisation and a number of independent cooperatives. It was crucial to find a solution that worked for the whole organisation, while also giving cooperatives flexibility to run their own surveys.
"We’re well on our way. In addition to the central organisation, between 8 and 10 cooperatives – covering around 15,000 users – are already on board. Our goal is to offer the solution to all cooperatives that want to join,” says Følling Ness.
Coop is also preparing to launch onboarding and offboarding surveys later this spring.
"It’s incredibly valuable to measure how new employees experience their onboarding – and just as important to get honest feedback from those who are leaving. This gives us a solid foundation to improve our processes and work even more effectively with wellbeing and development,” she says.
Coop Norge SA has set a clear engagement target for 2030: an Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) of 20.
"We’re currently at 15 – already a strong result – but we want to do even better. We’re confident that CatalystOne and Engage will help us get there. The most important thing is that we use these insights to make real improvements. And I truly feel we’re doing just that,” Følling Ness shares.
And that, perhaps, is the best proof that the combination of great tools and engaged people delivers real results.
"I’m proud to be part of an organisation where so many people want to contribute and get involved in our development. With the tools we have now, we have everything we need to succeed."
Coop Norge SA is the central organisation for Norway’s cooperative societies, owned by the cooperatives themselves. Its role is to manage shared functions like purchasing, logistics, and chain operations—laying the foundation for strong local performance and competitiveness towards both members and consumers.
Coop is Norway's second largest grocery retailer. With over 2.6 million members, the business is owned by its customers through membership in local cooperatives.
Coop Norge’s role is to safeguard and create shared value on behalf of Norway’s cooperatives, and to support the cooperative societies in operating for the benefit of their members. The organisation works to strengthen the cooperative model, promote what makes Coop unique, and acts as Coop’s representative in public forums. Coop Norge also plays a strategic and commercial role, working to ensure the best possible conditions for the cooperative societies. In addition, it handles savings, financial services, property management, communication with members, and the development of attractive membership benefits and offers.
Identity
At Coop, we take pride in our identity as a member-owned business. Through efficient and professional operations, we aim to maximise value for both members and consumers.
Innovation
We embrace new knowledge and technology, and we work to influence development in ways that align with the interests of consumers.
Honesty
At Coop, we keep our promises. Customers should feel safe shopping in our stores, and confident that they receive transparent information about our products and operations—information that matters to their choices.
Care
We show care—for people, animals, and the environment. Our ambition is to contribute to a more sustainable society.
Influence
Our business is shaped by member influence, employee perspectives, and active dialogue with the world around us.
More than 200 Nordic organisations manage HR using CatalystOne’s HR software.
“We’ve never had this level of participation in our employee surveys, and we receive a wealth of valuable feedback from our people. It gives us entirely new opportunities to work purposefully with the work environment and engagement.”
– Inger-Elisabeth Følling, Senior HR Consultant, Coop Norge SA
