ALL ABOARD: The Power of Gamification in Natixis’ Onboarding

Faced with exponential growth, with hundreds of people being hired every month, Natixis felt the need to improve its onboarding process – a critical stage in talent retention

Faced with exponential growth, with hundreds of people being hired every month, Natixis felt the need to improve its onboarding process – a critical stage in talent retention – in order to effectively integrate newcomers. GFoundry was the company chosen to meet the challenge, with the implementation of the “All Aboard” gamified solution.

Natixis, in Portugal, presents itself as a Center of Excellence, whose mission is based on transforming traditional banking, developing innovative business solutions. Belonging to Groupe BPCE – the second largest French bank -, the company has in our country about 1,800 employees, a number that rises to 16,000 worldwide. At the outbreak of the pandemic, with the obligation of confinement, the company – which at that stage was around 700 employees, working mainly in the IT area – was taking in hundreds of people month after month.

With its growing expansion and its commitment to integrate, involve and motivate new talent, Natixis sought a solution that would allow it to complement and improve its onboarding plan. Until the beginning of 2020 this process was carried out in person, only during one morning, with the pandemic. Afterwards the company felt the need to broaden the process and convert the dynamic to the virtual world.

And this is where GFoundry comes in – a digital solution based on gamification to help companies boost the engagement and performance of their employees.

Waiting for day 1, may be too late!

We have already seen that Natixis sought, through GFoundry’s solution, to improve its onboarding process by combining rapid learning of the organizational culture with the dynamics of games. But why invest concretely in this phase of the employee’s journey? This is what João Carvalho, Co-Founder & CEO of GFoundry, tells us.

With the pandemic crisis, the labor universe (and not only) suffered drastic changes. Many companies, in weeks, or even days, were forced to put 100% of its workforce at home, and the HR management challenges arrived. How to lead at a distance? How to keep employees engaged with the organization, when many – hired during the pandemic – didn’t even get to know the physical workspace? “These challenges become even greater for new employees joining the organization, because during this period, most new employees saw their onboarding process turn into a completely virtual experience, not going through the typical walk around the office or meeting colleagues, but through online training and video calls to present and introduce them to the work methods”, points João Carvalho, emphasizing the increased importance of the pre-onboarding phase (from the time the new employee accepts the job offer until the first day of work), marked by instability and the risk of employee abandonment.

João Carvalho, CEO of GFoundry
For the company’s Co-Founder & CEO, pre-boarding even marks a strategic opportunity for organizations to alleviate the fears that newcomers may have, creating conditions for them to feel welcome and valued, and thus avoiding an early departure.

In fact, the digital gamification solution prioritizes three onboarding phases: pre-boarding, the actual integration of new employees and training – one of the areas where GFoundry, according to João Carvalho, offers “added value”, in addition to culturalization, socialization and task management.

“Gamification techniques and the GFoundry solution can be easily applied to any part of the onboarding process. With our tools, onboarding can be configured in a hybrid or 100% digital format, but should always provide an impactful learning and integration experience for all employees,” concludes the leader.

Read more: How to Build Onboarding Missions with GFoundry Platform

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