How to Retain Employees Through an Internal Employer Brand: The TECHNOTEX Case
June 19, 2025
Today’s labor market presents companies with a difficult challenge. Finding valuable specialists is not easy, and retaining them is even harder. In these conditions, an internal employer brand becomes an important tool for building a loyal team.
TECHNOTEX has demonstrated in practice that systematic work on corporate identity through digital tools and emotional symbols produces measurable results. This article explains which HR tools helped our client increase eNPS and employee tenure.
About the Client
TECHNOTEX is a Russian oil and gas manufacturing company with production and engineering centers in several cities and a workforce of 800 employees.
The company’s distinctive features are its geographically distributed team and a clear division into two main categories of employees. Two-thirds of the team are office employees, while one-third work directly in production. The average age is 32–42. All these factors created a need for a common information space and determined the choice of tools for building a sustainable corporate culture. These tools combine digital solutions with emotional symbols.
Three Tools for Developing the Internal Employer Brand at TECHNOTEX
Average employee tenure is one of the key indicators of HR strategy effectiveness. An external employer brand attracts talent, but it is the internal employer brand that retains people and turns employees into company ambassadors. For TECHNOTEX, developing the internal employer brand became a natural continuation of its corporate values: development, collaboration, and safety. These principles were embodied in HR tools.
The HRBOX employee portal became the digital support for the value of collaboration, creating a space for open dialogue between employees and management where every voice can be heard. Bari the Dachshund, the mascot, leaves no one indifferent and connects the company’s history with employees’ personal achievements. The youth community conveys confidence in a professional environment where team initiatives are supported.
The Employee Portal Connects Business Units
When two-thirds of employees are office workers located in different regions and one-third are a production team, the company needs a tool that gives everyone equal access to information. The HRBOX portal became that solution alongside a Telegram channel.
Carousel on the TECHNOTEX portal home screen
The TECHNOTEX team uses the following tools on the portal:
- an activity feed where employees can comment on news, congratulate colleagues, and take part in surveys;
- a direct line to the CEO, displayed in the carousel on the portal home page;
- an idea box where every employee can suggest a process improvement and the best ideas are implemented.
At production sites where computers and mobile devices are unavailable because of safety requirements, important news is shown on screens installed in the workshops.
When choosing an employee portal, TECHNOTEX looked for a digital solution that also offered HR functionality, including requests, onboarding, and assessment. HR expertise and a practice-oriented approach were important arguments: Vasilina Sokolova, an active HR director with many years of experience at major Russian companies, participates in the development of the HRBOX platform. Special attention was also paid to service support.
Give your team access to the corporate information, services, and tools they need for work
Learn more about the capabilities of the HRBOX employee portal
HR Checklist: How to Make an Employee Portal Popular
- Provide equal access by considering the needs of every category of employee.
- Involve the team in filling the portal by motivating employees to create content and share ideas.
- Create a single point of entry by bringing all company services and communications together.
- Focus on usefulness by enabling only tools that genuinely simplify work processes.
- Address employees’ specific needs by allowing them to quickly:
- submit a request for leave or a certificate,
- suggest an improvement,
- receive an answer from management.
For detailed instructions on how HR can prepare a company for the introduction of an employee portal, read the article.
Mascot: A Unifying Symbol and a Status Attribute
The need for symbols and identity arose as soon as the employer brand development strategy was being designed. To create the key connecting element of corporate communication, the company needed one symbol that would:
- visually embody the company’s values and history,
- work for every employee, from engineers to shop-floor workers,
- create a sense of belonging to a common cause.
This is how the story of Bari the Dachshund began. The mascot won people over because the HR team chose a participatory design process. Company employees were involved in finding and creating the mascot from the very beginning.
Association Surveys
Employees voted on the question: “What animal do you associate the company with?”
A Linguistic Discovery
The name “Techno Dachshund” emerged naturally. The wordplay maintained a connection with the brand and added recognition. A dog is considered loyal and fast, while a dachshund is intelligent and mobile, which suited an industrial company with an engineering profile.
Personalization Through History
The name Bari honors Alexander Veniaminovich Bari, the founder of the first Russian engineering company. This gave the character greater depth by connecting it with the industry’s identity.
A post introducing Bari on the TECHNOTEX portal
The mascot’s core image was developed with support from the HRBOX team. The illustrators held several meetings, collected requirements for the character’s appearance, shape, and clothing, and helped bring the idea to life.
Learn more about the other additional services we offer in HR expertise and corporate communications.
The internal “Dachshund” currency also became part of the corporate culture. Employees save it to obtain branded merchandise in the portal’s company store.
Bari the Dachshund, the company’s favorite symbol
However, the main symbol of recognition is a Bari plush toy. It cannot be purchased and is awarded only to the best employees. Receiving Bari from the CEO became the highest form of recognition and turned the mascot into a living symbol of the company’s values.
In addition, Bari’s image on merchandise, patches, and communications creates an emotional connection. Bari is a “colleague” who unites the team and makes the corporate culture warmer.
“A mascot communicates the brand’s main idea more effectively. The character’s expressions and gestures help us establish a stronger emotional connection with our employees. Our dachshund Bari attracts additional attention to the brand and helps expand the audience and employee loyalty. He is a symbol of our good fortune in all competitions and contests. He brings people together, makes relationships within the company warmer and more human, and fills employees with positive emotions.”
— Natalia Volkova, HR Director at TECHNOTEX
HR Checklist: How to Make an Employee Portal Popular
- Involve employees in choosing the character’s appearance and personality.
- Add depth through a name with a story and a connection with the mission and values.
- Make the character part of everyday life, including learning and communications, not only souvenirs.
- Keep the character alive through regular content and updates.
Employer Brand Ambassadors: Making Employees the Face of the Company
Corporate ambassadors are employees who voluntarily become representatives of the company’s values, talk about work from the inside, and strengthen trust among both colleagues and the wider market. At TECHNOTEX, the youth community took on this role: its members create content for the portal, participate in internal events and organize them, and help newcomers adapt.
HR Checklist: How to Develop Internal Ambassadors
- Choose people based on engagement rather than position—the best ambassadors genuinely share the company’s values.
- Give them tools: a publishing platform, access to exclusive information, and social media templates.
- Motivate them with more than money through recognition, participation in strategic meetings, and status attributes such as Bari.
- Do not control them; guide them. Preserve authenticity while helping with content and communication.
- Scale historical success by using ambassadors’ experience to engage new employees.
The Impact of an Internal Employer Brand on Employee Retention Metrics
Over two years of consistent work, TECHNOTEX demonstrated that an internal employer brand directly affects employee loyalty by reducing turnover and increasing engagement.
Key Results
- eNPS growth from 37% to 65%
The figure stood at 37% in 2023 and reached 65% by 2025. This increase was made possible by the introduction of the HRBOX portal for transparent communication, Bari the mascot for emotional connection, and the youth community for involving employees in the company’s development.
eNPS growth over two years
For comparison, average eNPS in manufacturing and resource companies remains low*, while the median value in Russia is +26.1.
- A 60% increase in average employee tenure
In 2023, employees stayed with the company for an average of 1.5 years; by 2025, that figure had reached 2.4 years. This is especially significant for the manufacturing sector, where turnover is traditionally high.
During a labor shortage, the internal employer brand becomes an investment. TECHNOTEX showed that even in traditionally “non-emotional” industries, companies can reduce turnover and increase loyalty by taking a systematic approach to internal corporate communications and the development of their internal employer brand.
Planning to introduce an employee portal? Calculate the cost and apply for a free HRBOX demo