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• HR Trends: What Will HR Look Like Next Year?
• How to improve Employee Engagement? Your Ultimate Guide
• Engaged Employees
• When do teams engage?
• 7 Tips to promote work-life balance
• Promote and manage diversity and inclusion in your company
• Onboarding and Adoption of new Software

Enterprise gamification, also known as business gamification, refers to the application of gamification principles and techniques within an organizational setting to drive employee engagement, improve productivity, and achieve business objectives.

It involves leveraging game elements, mechanics, and design principles to transform work-related activities and processes into more engaging and enjoyable experiences.

In enterprise gamification, game-like elements such as points, levels, badges, leaderboards, challenges, and rewards are incorporated into various aspects of the business environment, including employee training, performance management, collaboration, innovation, and customer engagement. The goal is to tap into the intrinsic motivators of employees, such as competition, achievement, and a sense of progress, to enhance their participation and performance.

Benefits of gamification in organizations

Gamification techniques have gained reputation among talent management professionals in organisations. Gamification is defined as the use of game elements and mechanics such as scores, badges, and levels in processes that are not necessarily games. The possibilities for applying gamification techniques in organisations are unlimited. These techniques can be applied to various areas, starting from employee training, to their goals management, and going all the way to the socialisation between different members of teams or tribes. There are many examples of companies that have successfully applied gamification techniques in their internal processes, generating promising results in terms of the connection between the employee and the organization, but also with very positive results in the teams’ general performance. You may consult one of the examples here. Gamification has a considerable impact in 3 extremely important areas in People Management:

1. It has an impact on Employee Engagement

The application of gamification techniques in company processes allows employees to feel more connected to the organisation, since their experience includes a set of formal work activities, along with leisure and more informal activities. Therefore, the dynamisation of contents and activities enables a more interactive and fun environment to be created. Additionally, this connection also allows them to achieve higher performance levels. This dynamisation of contents carried out within the scope of their normal work functions enables the experience of employees to be more interactive and fun, making them more connected to the organisation as a whole. This connection allows employees to obtain higher performance levels (around 17%), also contributing to reducing turnover.

2. It has an impact on Knowledge Acquisition and Retention

The possibility of gamifying the learning content of employees allows, right from the start, for a greater interest in acquiring knowledge due to its differentiating element compared to other types of training. One example of gamification in training content can be through quizzes, where the employee may have to play various levels and/or game modes until they become an expert on the topic. Through game dynamics, the employee will feel constantly challenged, always seeking more information to reach the final goal. In addition, together with the use of the microlearning methodology, it is possible to convert complex and long contents into knowledge capsules, allowing the employee to retain knowledge more effectively.

3. It has an impact on the organisation’s social well-being

One of the most important components of gamification is the element linked to scores, which can be used in rankings between employees, or even between teams and tribes. Rankings contribute to the stimulation of healthy competitiveness for an organisation, generating stronger interactions between employees, and contributing to their greater productivity. In addition, gamification brings a more fun and interactive element to the employees’ experience, contributing to their well-being in the normal course of their work, while conquering all previously defined objectives.

How can GFoundry be the answer you are looking for?

GFoundry is a digital solution that, through gamification techniques, boosts the engagement and performance of your employees. Through our Gamification Engine, you can apply different game components that reward your employees through their actions within the platform. For example, in the Learn Module, employees can access content such as PDFs, videos or quizzes that award points and virtual coins according to the viewing of that content. The points represent the basis for the rankings of employees, teams and tribes. Virtual Coins represent the available balance that users can use to exchange for items in the Market Module. Some examples of successful use of the Market Module are the possibility for employees to exchange the Virtual coins for company merchandising, vouchers in shops, or even contributions to social causes. Through the gamification of already recurring processes, employees can have a much more interactive experience, impactful and aligned with the general objectives of the organisation. In the end, you can access real-time information about their engagement!

Get to know our Modules and book a demo with us! Read more in this article from BND.

Promoting Work-Life Balance Tips

Work-life balance is a challenge for everyone. Even though each job is different in terms of its hourly demands, the truth is that a large part of the day is filled with professional life. However, the topic has been increasingly discussed within organisations due to increased concern about workers’ mental health. The lack of this balance can lead to problems such as lack of productivity, demotivation, and even the departure of an employee from the organisation, leading to an unwanted increase in turnover. In a pandemic context, with remote work being an option much more used by most people, the line that separates the professional and personal life is no longer the distance between home and office, having converged to the same physical space. With this, it has become even more important to ensure a psychological balance between work and leisure. Therefore, we have gathered 7 tips to work on this topic in your organisation, in order to promote a more sustainable balance for your employees:

1. Make a Diagnosis

Before working on a subject like mental health, it is necessary to make a diagnosis of your company’s current situation. In this diagnosis, it is important to understand how people deal with the separation between their professional and personal life. Some key questions could be about their daily habits, other activities in their life and wellbeing habits. This diagnosis makes it possible to identify the main problems and implement solutions adapted to the real needs of your employees. Furthermore, different teams are made up of different people, with different working methods, who may have different problems for which adapted solutions are needed. With GFoundry, through Contributions, you can share well-being forms that can be filled in by all employees in your organisation. This way you have access to key information about how your people feel, what problems they experience, and what needs they have in their context.

2. Promote education on the topic

Once the issues have been identified, it is crucial to disseminate information on the topic of work-life balance. Some options are organising webinars on work-life balance or sharing newsletters on wellbeing. The aim is to ensure the sharing of tools that employees can use to identify their needs and subsequently take action so that they can improve their wellbeing. At GFoundry, through the Learn Module, besides being able to integrate all your employees’ training content, you can also insert new categories with wellbeing content to which users can have access whenever they need it.

3. Implement well-being activities

Besides promoting knowledge on the subject, it is also crucial to demonstrate its practical side. Promoting physical and/or psychological wellbeing activities allows your employees to pay more attention to their own wellbeing, having healthier lifestyles. Some examples could be joint physical exercise classes (in person and/or online), healthy cooking classes, yoga sessions, among other possibilities – possibilities that may come from suggestions left by your own employees in the diagnosis phase. On the GFoundry homepage there is a News Feed where you can communicate all the scheduled activities, allowing your employees to always be aware of the wellbeing agenda within your organisation.

4. Use flexible working to your advantage

Giving your employees the possibility to have more flexible working hours is an important tool for the well-being of your employees. There are several possibilities regarding flexible working policies in organisations. Whether it is through flexible starting and ending times, the possibility to choose working hours freely or even not having defined working hours but rather objectives to be accomplished, allows your employees to reconcile their professional life with their personal issues in a simpler way. Employees can fulfil their tasks and still be present at important family moments, do physical activity at a time that is more beneficial to them, or enjoy leisure moments that are necessary for their well-being. With GFoundry’s Goals Module, it is extremely simple to manage your team’s objectives through the OKR – Objective Key Results – methodology. Having all your objectives on your mobile phone, and even having access to their completion status, it is much easier for your employees to manage and achieve their goals.

5. Use remote work to your advantage

Together with the flexibilization of work, the possibility of being in telework allows the employee to better manage his personal life conciliated with his professional life. Whether it is because their children are sick, or because a doctor’s appointment has been scheduled for mid-morning, the possibility of being on remote work allows the employee to meet their personal schedule while still being productive for their organisation, and not disrupting the normal flow of work. In addition, some studies show that employees can increase productivity rates by 13% when working from home. GFoundry, being a multi-platform solution, allows employees to access its contents anywhere – either through their computer or through their mobile phones.

6. Promote discussions on the subject

Even more important than promoting a culture of wellbeing and balance, is to implement a culture of open discussion about the issue. Ensuring that people can discuss the issue openly with their colleagues and superiors allows employees to feel comfortable discussing any need they feel, preventing the issue from escalating. Through GFoundry’s Engagement Thermometer, it is possible to constantly and periodically analyse metrics such as work-life balance, alignment, feedback, satisfaction and well-being, among other essential metrics to understand how your teams feel.

7. Lead by example!

Finally, it is important to demonstrate to employees that this balance can and should be promoted by anyone within the organisation. It is not only important that teams use all the tools at their disposal, but that their leaders can also encourage their peers to promote a culture of wellbeing and balance. At the end of the day, employees feel more motivated and productive, ensuring better results for the organisation as a whole. Would you like to promote a better balance between the professional and personal life of your employees with the help of GFoundry? Learn more about our solution and book a demo with us! Read more: How to promote a good work-life balance for employees post-COVID-19

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Data Integration with GFoundry: Platforms and Benefits

Nowadays, all organisations need to have an holistic view of the systems that support their activity. Naturally, for the effective management of all the processes that ensure the daily tasks, companies have a wide range of information systems for different purposes.

When it comes to talent management, the trend is no different. The management of people has led to other needs arising, such as the management of their training, the management of their schedules, their tasks, and even more administrative issues, such as salary management.

In organisations with larger structures, the challenges are also greater. Given their complex structure, and even due to the very different needs, it becomes almost impossible not to have several platforms, each one addressing a certain challenge.

This means that, at some point, it becomes a challenge for any employee to have to work with different platforms in order to fulfill everything required in their role. These challenges have led organisations to seek solutions that not only allow them to meet various challenges in a single platform, but also to integrate with other existing platforms.

These details improve the employee experience, as well as making more agile several of the manual data and information transfer processes.

Practical example using the different types of integration

With the GFoundry platform you can design paths using Missions. Use your own characters and images that illustrate the stages, needs, goals, thoughts, feelings, opinions and expectations of your employees! Each stage of a Mission can be configured using any module of the GFoundry platform.

Using the example of an Onboarding Mission in GFoundry, we can illustrate the various stages that the user may go through.

1. In a first stage, and still without being logged in to the platform, the user may access using their Microsoft365 account (which they already use in the company), as well as their password. No additional registration is required!
2. As soon as they enter the platform, the user accesses their Onboarding mission, which will guide them during their first day in the organisation. In the first stage, they are asked to visit the platform on which the employee can schedule their holidays. Through the link, the employee accesses the platform, schedules their holidays, and when they returns to GFoundry, they receive a medal for having accomplished that task!
3. In the next step, the employee is asked to watch a video in which the CEO of the organisation presents the Vision, Mission and Values. Since it is a YouTube video, the employee watches the video embedded in GFoundry! Only when they finish the video, they receive a medal thanking them for having fulfilled one more stage of their Mission.
4. In the third stage of this first day, besides having a set of training courses available on the GFoundry platform, through the Learn Module, the employee will have to comply with a certain list of training courses available on Coursera. The employee accesses their profile, and when they complete their training and return to GFoundry, they receives their training certificate, automatically issued with the data from their course!
5. In the final step, the employee is asked to visit the Competitions Module. The employee notices that there is a ranking of the people who sell the company’s products the most! After having finished this onboarding process, the employee has a very clear objective: to reach the top of this month’s ranking!

How to create a culture of Innovation with GFoundry?

Innovation is the process of adding value through new products, new services or even new working or production methods. In organisations, it has become essential to ensure a culture of innovation, so that it is possible to keep up with the rapid changes in the markets, in order to build differentiation in relation to the competition. Several leaders state that the ability to innovate is one of the greatest sources of value creation for companies. However, the capacity to innovate is not built overnight. In fact, promoting a culture of innovation is a complex process that requires a large investment from the organisation. Innovation is directly related to generating new ideas, through creativity, and debating different scenarios. These capabilities are purely human capabilities. To date, it has not yet been possible to create technologies that allow to innovate by itself. Therefore, the key to innovation processes remains in people. Innovating requires cultural and mental preparation. In a way, these 2 variables are directly linked. First, it is necessary that the company has a culture of innovation – open to new ideas, able to discuss and constantly seek to do better. Next, it is important that the people themselves feel free to think differently, and even to debate new ideas that add value to what is being done.

Can GFoundry help me build a Culture of Innovation?

Of course! The Innovation Module allows users to suggest ideas in various areas determined by the organisation, which may be available throughout the year or only at specific times. In a simple and intuitive way, users can suggest their ideas by filling in a form with several text fields, multiple choice, besides the possibility of uploading documents and photos. Ideas can be submitted individually or in co-creation with other platform users! After ideas are submitted, they become available for the whole community to vote, or even add comments with suggestions for improvement or feedback. This way, not only does it allow your entire structure to share ideas for new products, new methods and new ways of working, it also gives everyone the opportunity to vote for the best ideas, or even give their contribution through comments. The power of crowdsourcing allows for greater involvement from your entire structure. From the other side, on the ideas’ generation management, which is done in the backoffice, different phases of idea evaluation can be created, in a funnel logic, in order to find the winning ideas. All these dynamics are built in order to bring the community to strategic issues for the organisation, and add value to what is already done. When the culture of innovation is successfully implemented, the impact is mirrored in the results and in the organisation as a whole! Would you like to know more about our modules? Book a demo with us! Read more: Organizational culture and innovation: A literature review

The challenge of a new era: Remote Onboarding

Teleworking was already a possibility in companies, with a growing trend in recent years, having gained an extraordinary relevance with the SARS-Cov-2 pandemic (better known as COVID-19).

If many companies were already opting for flexible working hours programs, and even for choosing the workplace other than the office, the pandemic accelerated this flexibility, and some companies worldwide have already assumed that remote work will be a constant option for their workers.

This new era of the labour market carries with it many challenges, mainly in what concerns Human Resources management. If before employees shared the same physical space, having a more direct communication without intermediaries, today’s reality presents something different. Between video calls, e-mails and chats, the relationship between employees has become more virtual, directly impacting the relationship with their peers and with the company itself. However, this challenge becomes even greater for new employees joining the organisation.

During the pandemic, most of these new employees saw their onboarding process turn into a completely virtual experience, not going through the typical walk around the office or meeting the colleagues they share a desk with, but rather through online training and video calls for introductions and diving into their new working methods.

At GFoundry, whether the onboarding is 100% physical, 100% virtual, or even hybrid, we believe that it should always provide an impactful learning and integrating experience for all employees.

What are the benefits of successful onboarding?

A successful onboarding can represent an increase of about 25% in the retention rate, having also a significant impact in productivity and in the employee’s alignment with the company and its goals. The missions you can create in the platform have an even greater relevance in the context of online onboarding, assigning a path (visual and structured) that the employee will have to go through until they are fully prepared to take on any challenge in the company.

Since the employee is doing the onboarding remotely, you can use this fact as a variable that enhances their experience, and there are no limits! By having the ability to use GFoundry in both the web version and the mobile app, you can expand the boundaries of what can be done.

A practical example

What if you challenge your employees to take your quizzes, through the Learn Module, while walking in a park in the morning? What if you also asked them for a photographic record of that morning through the Forms Module? Not only would it impact their learning experience, but it would also promote wellbeing and work-life balance.

Another practical example

How about challenging your employees to battle on quizzes, competing for the highest scores according to their knowledge? You will be promoting a more interactive social experience, while fostering a culture of healthy competition among the teams. With GFoundry, you can do that and much more!

From B2C to B2B

The first project was the launch of a quizzes app in Portuguese, B2C. “Sei +”, its name, worked (and works) as a “laboratory of ideas and experiences with users to later apply in companies”. This free app, aimed at the end consumer, worked like a test platform for the B2B solution that we are presenting today for companies, and which works on mobile, through an app, and in a web environment.

Based on gamification techniques – the process of using game mentality and mechanics to solve problems and involve users – the GFoundry software has several modules, one of which is training. This allows, through the aforementioned technique, that companies carry out training actions and transmit ideas and concepts, sometimes with increased difficulty, through quizzes, with rankings, “battles”, etc. In other words, using mechanisms and mentality associated to games, but transmitting the concepts that, possibly, in a more traditional way would be more difficult to internalise. The first company to become a client was CGI – a Canadian multinational. For this a Recognition module was developed, something that, in reality, as João Gomes revealed to us, was already planned to be done by GFoundry, but which took a different path from the initial one and was adapted to the reality of the client.

Here it is important to mention that GFoundry does not create custom software.

What happens is that, many times, the module is created with the client company and, from there, it can be used by all the other clients. Onboarding, Innovation, Evaluation or Objectives are other modules present, always, of course, with gamification as a technique. This common core facilitates user interaction with the platform, which, in a client-company, for example, can activate modules autonomously.

Important phase

According to João Gomes, the company is at an important phase. If the first challenge was, within the first six months, to put a version up and running on the market (which was achieved); the second challenge was to gain clients and effectively generate a return. This step was achieved last year, as a result of a client portfolio that includes CGI, Santander, Liberty, Sumol + Compal, AKI, among others. Now, a new purpose and goal to achieve is globalisation, with a turnover projection that matches that ambition: 450 thousand euros in 2017. One of the paths to this internationalisation is to take advantage of the fact that they work with multinational companies present in Portugal, using this gateway to reach the “mother company”. But, the options are not limited to this field, and other contacts are being developed. For all this, and to grow sustainably, capital is needed. In Portugal, about half of the 600 thousand Euros necessary to take this step has already been gathered.

Swiss army knife

With such a vast core business, there is sometimes a risk of referring to GFroundry as being synonymous with gamification. In fact, that is the technique that is used, but it does not fully define what the company is. It does not limit it to that, “it is a means, it is not an end in itself”. Not least because gamification is often focused, in other companies in the area, only on the area of training and recognition, while the GFoundry solution covers these, but also other fields, and that’s why GFoundry as a multiplicity of modules. How to define, then, what is GFoundry? Nothing better than to give the word to one of its founders, João Gomes: “an agile company, technologically advanced and that manages the cycle of talent of the employees, always with the idea of putting the employee in the centre to align, motivate and commit with the objectives of the company”. It is therefore “a Swiss army knife of the talent cycle”. A Swiss army knife proud of its Portuguese roots and with the necessary navigator’s spirit to succeed in today’s digital world.

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• The Metrics and Emotions: Analyzing Pulse Surveys’ Dual Power
• Building Resilient and Adaptive Workforces: A Global Talent Trends Study
• Real-world OKR examples across different industries
• Talent management platform to boost employee engagement
• How to Choose the Right Talent Management Platform for Your Business
• How to Attract, Retain, and Develop Top Talent 
• The Ultimate Guide to Remote Talent Management 
• The Impact of the Employee Value Proposition on Talent Attraction 
• HR Trends: What Will HR Look Like in 2024? 
• How to improve Employee Engagement and Performance? Your Ultimate Guide 
• Employee well-being – the complete guide 
• How to create Impactful Learning Journeys for Employees? 
• Feedback: what it is, its importance and how to do it (complete guide) 
• OKRs – Objectives and Key Results: what they are, what their purpose is and how they can be useful when applied in an agile way 
• What is the importance of Compensation and Benefits for employees?