A frontline workforce across multiple sites

The Joseph Heler Ltd. is a family-owned cheese manufacturer that supplies the UK’s major supermarkets, food manufacturers and also exports to more than 40 markets internationally.

The challenge: engaging a factory-based workforce

Joseph Heler operates in a fast-paced, high-output environment typical of food manufacturing. With around 460 employees, most based on the factory floor across three sites, effective communication was always going to be a challenge.

We spoke to Sarah Griffith, People Director at Joseph Heler.

We’re a family-owned business in a fast-paced environment, so everything happens really quickly. That’s why communication has always been a big thing for us.

Sarah Griffith

Sarah Griffith People Director, Joseph Heler

With no company email addresses for factory workers and mixed shift patterns across sites, traditional communication channels fell short.

How did Mo help?

When Sarah joined the business nearly two years ago, Mo was already embedded in the company culture. Coming from a similar manufacturing background, she immediately recognised its value:

Coming to Joseph Heler and seeing that we had a platform like Mo, it was just a game changer for me from a people perspective. You do have that real direct link and direct contact with colleagues almost instantly.

Sarah Griffith

Sarah Griffith People Director, Joseph Heler

Mo has provided a single, reliable channel for communicating across sites, shifts, and job functions. From celebrating birthdays to broadcasting leadership updates, the platform keeps everyone aligned.

“All of our workforce uses Mo. There’s not a single aspect of Mo that we don’t use – we have weekly Boosts, we use it for our value recognition awards, length of service rewards, birthdays and other celebrations. It’s used really widely.”

Mo is the central hub for communication at Joseph Heler – “Now we have one message that goes out to everybody at the same time. It’s a real-time communication tool.”d helped every team member feel more included and informed.

Keeping culture strong across sites

When Mo was first introduced, Joseph Heler operated from a single site. As the business expanded to include two more, Mo became an essential piece of the puzzle:

“Communicating multi-site without something like Mo would be really, really difficult. Notice boards can’t be the main point of communication. We’ve got night shifts, day shifts, people working on and off the floor – it’s not possible to reach everyone effectively without a tool like this.”

Sarah compares the business’s current experience with her previous company, where communication inconsistencies were a daily frustration:

“We just couldn’t target the workforce with any consistency. With Mo, it’s one voice, one story, and that’s really, really positive.”

Driving engagement and belonging

While communication was the catalyst, Mo’s value quickly extended to employee engagement and recognition. Joseph Heler has embedded Mo into daily life across the business:

  • Weekly Boosts to nudge colleagues to share
  • Value recognition awards
  • Length of service celebrations
  • On-the-spot voucher rewards
  • Idea-sharing through our dedicated suggestions feature

It is a communication tool, but it’s also an engagement tool for our colleagues to find out what’s going on and to keep in touch with each other. It’s really nice to see when it’s somebody’s birthday at the Nantwich site, that somebody at the North Wales site will post a happy birthday message.

Sarah Griffith

Sarah Griffith People Director, Joseph Heler

Mo’s familiar, social-feed-style interface means even those less confident with tech can navigate it easily.

Real results: 99.8% engagement survey completion

The people team recently ran a company-wide engagement survey, heavily promoted through Mo. The result? A staggering 99.8% participation rate.

“Mo was an absolutely pivotal tool in the comms around that. We had daily updates to teams about how and when to fill in the survey. The uptake was phenomenal.”

As a next step, Sarah and her team are using Mo to launch focus groups and employee champions, keeping the momentum going and ensuring transparency and follow-through.

Favourite Feature? Instant, On-the-Spot Rewards

When asked to name her favourite feature, Sarah doesn’t hesitate:

“The ability to give rewards to colleagues is really positive. Managers can give instant, on-the-spot rewards to colleagues for demonstrating good behaviours. It’s a great recognition tool to have in your pocket.”

Looking ahead: a great place to work in the making.

The team has ambitious plans to build on their success, with a Great Place to Work certification in their sights for 2026. Mo will be integral to that journey, ensuring that employee voice, recognition, and visibility remain central to Joseph Heler’s evolving culture.

For a manufacturing type workforce where you don’t have desk-based colleagues, it’s a game changer. You can get to your workforce quickly, in a way they’re comfortable with.

Sarah Griffith

Sarah Griffith People Director, Joseph Heler

Joseph Heler’s story is proof that even in traditional manufacturing environments, culture and communication can thrive with the right tools. Mo has helped them deliver consistency, clarity, and connection to every corner of the business.

Solve your retention challenges with Mo.

Moments

Celebrating Moments that matter improves team connection and boosts productivity by creating a collaborative, recognition-rich culture.

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Rewards

Incentivise your people to do their best work with meaningful rewards. Forget old-fashioned systems. Our Rewards are designed to have maximum impact.

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Boosts

Encourage positive behaviours and activate your managers with automated prompts designed around your company values.

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Assistant

Stay on top of your employee experience with smart suggestions designed to empower busy managers. The Assistant is the perfect tool for people-first management teams.

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Nominations

Stay on top of your employee experience with smart suggestions designed to empower busy managers. The Assistant is the perfect tool for people-first management teams.

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Integrations

Keep everyone in the loop. Mo integrates with your current tech stack, including Microsoft Teams, Slack and your HRIS software.

Need a quick answer?

If you’re short on time, these speedy FAQs will help you get to an answer. If you need further help, we offer 30-minute calls with our experts.

Mo is an online platform that empowers leaders to reward and recognise hard work. Our reward and recognition software is designed to make appreciation a daily habit by encouraging employees to celebrate the Moments that matter via a centralised social feed. We help improve engagement, reduce attrition and bring teams together.

Learn more about rewards and recognition

Our software can help you reduce attrition, lower hiring costs, and improve team productivity. We do this by bringing teams together for success. If you want to hear more about the benefits, book a call with one of our experts →

We’re not just good. Mo is built for hybrid and remote teams. Learn more about why we’re great for distributed teams.

Mo makes it easy to engage staff who are distributed, global, hybrid or part-time by bringing them together on a centralised platform. We streamline annual awards, keep track of your team engagement, and take the stress out of employee rewards. Learn more about rewards.

According to Work Institute, it could cost your organisation up to 33% of an employee’s salary to replace them. Mo leverages recognition to improve your employee engagement, helping you reduce attrition rates and save money. We focus on bringing teams together through Moments that matter and never charge reward fees. Learn more about recognition and engagement.

Absolutely! We make it easy for you to add Mo to integrate with systems like Microsoft Teams and Slack. It’s simple to get data from your HRIS into Mo.