Turning a Platform Migration Into a Cultural Reset

When Meta announced Workplace was shutting down, we knew the loss would be felt across the company. Workplace had been more than a tool. It was where field crews saw new protocols, where dispatchers shared quick reminders, and where we celebrated milestones together.

Losing it could have left a gap. Instead, it pushed us to rethink how we communicate.

Why Internal Communication Matters

In healthcare transportation, most of your people are not sitting at desks. Many do not have a company email. Shifts are irregular. Crews are scattered across counties.

If a message does not reach them, it is not a missed memo. It could mean someone falls behind on a compliance task or does not see an urgent update. And if recognition does not reach them, it is easy for someone in the field to feel overlooked.

That is why internal communication is not about convenience. It is about safety and connection.

“When Workplace was going away, it was all hands on deck,” said Jacob Sarasohn, our Director of Marketing and Communications. “Internal comms isn’t just kudos for us. It’s critical updates for our field teams.”

Listening Before Acting

We did not start by comparing software. We started by listening to our people.

Fifty of the most active users told us what kept them engaged. Fifty of the least active told us what kept them away. That gave us a blueprint: keep access simple, combine chat and updates, and make sure the platform grows with us instead of standing still.

The lesson here is bigger than software. Leaders who do not listen risk building systems that look fine on paper but never take hold in practice.

Choosing the Right Partner for Migration

Once we knew what mattered most to our teams, we looked for a platform that fit. Blink stood out. It checked the boxes we needed, but more importantly, it felt like a partner.

“Everyone has features,” Jacob said. “What made Blink different was the partnership. We didn’t just want a software vendor. We wanted a coworker for this migration.” 

That partnership meant the migration was not something we had to navigate alone. Their team stayed close, supported our timeline, and helped us think through the details. Having the right partner mattered, but what mattered most was how we used the moment to reset.

Using Change as a Reset

It would have been easy to copy everything from Workplace into a new system. But that would have carried over the clutter. We treated the transition as a clean slate.

Old groups and pages that no one used were left behind. Our most engaged team members joined Blink early and seeded it with posts, so it already felt alive on launch day.

We tied the platform to daily life. EMS Week raffles ran through it. A pair of branded socks unexpectedly became a hit and turned into a running joke across rigs. Small things helped build energy.

We tied operations to it, too. Schedule changes lived there. If you wanted to check your shift, you logged in.

On day one, more than 500 people were active. In the first month, more than 10,000 chats went back and forth.

“Migration is the best opportunity to improve, not just continue,” Jacob said. “It’s a blank slate to get rid of what didn’t work and build what does.” 

The biggest lesson is that internal communication should be accessible to everyone. Leaders can create the conditions, but the system has to feel helpful to the people who depend on it.

“This isn’t my platform. It’s theirs,” Jacob said. “Our job as leaders is to make sure internal comms is accessible and helpful.” 

For Other Leaders

The technology mattered. The partner mattered. But the mindset mattered most.

We treated the loss of Workplace not as a disruption but as an opening. We simplified. We listened. We built momentum.

Every healthcare leader will face a version of this. A familiar system will change or disappear. A process will stop working. The question is whether you rebuild the same thing or use the moment to reset.

For us, the reset led to more connections, a stronger culture, and safer operations. The tools came later. The strategy came first.