How Mirro Transformed pastel's Workplace Culture and Employee Engagement
Industry: Advertising Services
Company size: 41
About: pastel is a Romanian communication agency with a strategic and creative approach.
pastel is an integrated communication agency that emphasizes strategic creativity, collaboration, responsibility, transparency, and passion. The agency has an entrepreneurial organizational culture that promotes continuous learning, diversity and inclusion, work-life balance, and team spirit.
Andreea Niculcea
Chief Operating Officer at pastel
With Mirro, we have quit disparate tools and transitioned smoothly and swiftly to a single, intuitive solution for human resource management. Mirro’s performance system has proven to be a valuable tool in evaluating and improving employee performance. The evaluation process has become more transparent and engaging, fostering constructive dialogue between employees and managers. Regarding the Mirro functionalities that led to our acquisition decision, their holistic approach and adaptability to our specific needs were decisive.
The business challenge
pastel sought to enhance its performance management process and build a culture of continuous improvement. The main challenge was to transition from anonymous to signed and continuous feedback, which is the main component of an effective performance management system.
Another challenge was consolidating different HR processes into a unified, intuitive, user-friendly, and easy-to-understand platform. Additionally, HR was spending "too much time filling out Excel spreadsheets," so they needed an automated tool to reduce manual labor.
The solution: Mirro
pastel chose Mirro because it offers a comprehensive solution that seamlessly integrates all HR processes, has an intuitive interface, and offers robust functionalities that support employee engagement goals.
As Andreea Niculcea, the Chief Operating Officer at pastel, explained, Mirro has “a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate, robust tools for tracking and managing employee performance, and an integrated recognition system that promotes a culture of appreciation and recognition within the organization.”
The Mirro adoption process was smooth and well organized, with several training sessions from the Customer Success team. Moreover, pastel’s HR and management teams ensured everyone understood the benefits and functionalities of Mirro, facilitating a smooth adoption.
The business outcome
With Mirro's help, pastel transitioned from disparate tools to a unified performance management platform. Before Mirro, the team relied on disparate tools, such as Excel spreadsheets, for performance tracking and feedback. Mirro has integrated these processes into a single platform, improving efficiency and employee experience.
Mirro's performance management system has been pivotal in pastel's journey toward enhancing employee performance by fostering transparent evaluations and encouraging constructive dialogues.
Enhancing culture through performance management and continuous feedback
Before Mirro, pastel’s performance management process was cumbersome, involving spreadsheets and emails. With Mirro, the team has a centralized system that allows for continuous feedback, real-time performance tracking, and simplified performance reviews. This has made the process more efficient and transparent, improving communication and goal alignment.
Although pastel conducts annual performance reviews, the team values timely feedback and adjustments, ensuring that employees stay aligned with their and the company's goals. Mirro has facilitated this by providing reminders and tools to schedule and conduct reviews, making the process more structured and consistent.
Before Mirro, pastel offered feedback but not in an organized way. The team mainly used email or WhatsApp to give and receive feedback. They are implementing an ongoing feedback process through Mirro, encouraging regular meetings and feedback exchanges between managers and team members. Through this approach, pastel aims to promote a culture of open communication, allowing for immediate recognition of achievements and timely identification of areas for improvement.
Toward effective recognition programs
As a company that puts people first, pastel has always made efforts to ensure that each team member feels appreciated. Showing appreciation at work is essential in enabling team members to publicly recognize the contributions of colleagues, fostering a sense of community and belonging.
pastel has always prioritized appreciation but lacked a tool to measure its impact on employee experience and engagement. Recognizing the importance of a culture of recognition, pastel plans to integrate Mirro’s Kudos function into daily routines to foster appreciation among colleagues, believing it will significantly boost team morale and engagement.
Aligning goals across the organization
pastel has implemented the OKR framework through Mirro, which has brought more clarity and alignment to their goal-setting process. This framework has helped ensure that everyone is working towards the same goals, improving focus and productivity throughout the organization.
By implementing Mirro, pastel managed to:
- Save substantial hours in administrative work with an integrated HR tool.
- Streamline and improve the performance management process.
- Ensure alignment and transparency through OKRs.
Andreea Oprea
Executive Director at pastel Association
I've been using Mirro for a year at the pastel Association, and the platform has greatly simplified how we manage team performance and objectives, even in a relatively small team. Although we don't have a dedicated HR department, Mirro has taken over some of that role, allowing me to better focus on the team's strategic goals and assess team performance. In the past, these appraisals were often postponed due to a lack of time, but with Mirro's help, we have been able to manage them efficiently and on time.
The platform has provided us with a well-structured and intuitive framework for setting goals and tracking progress, bringing additional clarity to our work. The ability to give and receive continuous feedback has also strengthened internal communication, contributing to the team's professional development.
All in all, Mirro has been a true partner in our performance management, providing us with the tools to improve our internal processes and maintain a clear focus on our goals. I highly recommend this platform to any organization that wants to optimize its team management, regardless of its size.
Laura Iane
Executive Creative Director at pastel
The biggest surprise was seeing how naturally 'kudos' was integrated into our vocabulary. I would have thought we'd run out of time to convey our small, everyday appreciation, but Mirro proved that we can.
What’s next for pastel
pastel plans to continue optimizing its HR processes with Mirro, focusing on improving employee engagement and productivity. The company aims to leverage people analytics provided by Mirro to make data-driven decisions and continuously enhance its performance management and recognition systems. The team is also exploring new functionalities and integrations within Mirro to support continued growth and development.
About Mirro
Mirro.io enables high-growth SMEs to build transparent and thriving workplace cultures that foster employee well-being and improve talent retention. Our performance management platform helps organizations overcome hybrid workplace disengagement by encouraging a sense of purpose and stimulating social sharing and community belonging around the globe. Teams and individuals that use Mirro are happier, highly engaged, and more productive.
As a user-friendly and highly social platform, Mirro drives more than 5k monthly interactions between team members through recognition, OKRs, continuous feedback, and meaningful performance conversations.
Innovative companies like eMAG, Tazz, Hochland, E Co., and noissue. use Mirro to empower their teams and nurture healthy, solid work relationships.
Just like pastel,
you too can build meaningful experiences for your people
