How 12,000 People Came Together to Create UKG
In April, we announced to you and the world that Ultimate Software and Kronos had officially completed their merger. Then we shouted from the virtual rooftops on August 28 that we would soon be moving forward under a new, unified name: UKG (Ultimate Kronos Group). Today marks the day we officially become UKG and you can fully experience our brand.
We shared with you our vision of an organization with a purpose driven by people. But we never quite told you about all the magic that had to happen to get us there, did we? Let’s fill you in how two amazing organizations and more than 12,000 passionate people came together to create UKG.
It All Started With People
When thoughts of corporate rebrands and mergers come to mind for most of us, it’s almost natural to imagine a room (or a virtual conference call) full of executives meeting to make the decision about what the new company will be. That’s probably true on many occasions, but when our CEO, Aron Ain, mentioned that this would be “a merger like no other,” he really meant it.
From day one, we recognized that Ultimate and Kronos had so much in common — especially when it came to our philosophies on people, culture, and customers. So, it was always clear who would decide the direction of our new organization. With 70 collective years of passionate work and incredible partnerships, our employees and customers have made us who we are today.
To make sure we built our new brand together, we surveyed our people and conducted customer focus groups to find out what kind of organization they thought we should be. What do our company, people, and solutions mean to them? Who are we at our core? With assistance from experts, we used this information to collect, analyze, and consider more than 1,000 names to find one that respected our history and captured all that we are becoming. Our chosen name, UKG, does just that, honoring both company legacies while signaling new unity.
Embedding our people-first brand in a new logo and visual system was also critical. The logo, featuring both a smile and two icons of people merging to create the “U,” speaks to the culture and values we aspire to create for our employees and the partners we work with. We are in the people business. Our purpose is people.
We researched, listened extensively, and employed our hearts in the process. Together, we built a brand representing an organization committed to improving businesses and the lives of the millions of people using our solutions — UKG. And this is just the beginning.