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

How can GFoundry support me in changing Learning & Development behaviours in my organisation?

GFoundry joins these forces of change and believes in creating simple and engaging learning tools. Workplace gamification done well is a fusion of design, psychology, and analytics to create experiences that employees find fun and stimulating, with amazing gains for all!

Through our Learn Module, it is possible to have quizzes, with 4 different game modes, where employees can either test their knowledge on a certain area (for example, the values of the organisation), or they can also challenge their colleagues for battles.

This type of dynamic will increase the interest in consuming this content, but will also promote interaction among the organisation.

Finally, since GFoundry is available on Mobile, you can use Push Notifications to send short messages to your employees in order to reach them in a more effective way.

Keep on reading

• KPIs Gamification – Turn your teams’ performance into a game

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!

The multinational Cork Supply, belonging to the cork industry, is part of a business group (HARV 81), which supplies the wine and spirits industry. It invests in technology and quality in production and processes, as well as in innovation and in the way it communicates with the people who make the company every day.

Maria de Fátima Gonçalves (People & Int. Communication Director at Cork Supply) and Joana Castro (People & Communication) tell us in this interview conducted by Rui Chen, their vision for the area they lead and the results they are reaping for standing up for what they believe in and therefore invest in: people and their happiness at work.

It was in July 2019 that the project began, when they found the answers that made sense: A multi-module, fully digital solution, with access via mobile and web apps, in the cloud, with intranet features (such as the news publishing wall), training in microlearning mode and gamification.

Rui Chen: What are the main objectives that the team has defined for the People & Int. Communication area?

Fátima Gonçalves/Joana Castro: Our strategic proposal for the company had as major objectives the development of people through a focus on internal communication, the identification and mapping of human potential based on the management of skills and training, and performance evaluation.

These processes, nowadays, have a great advantage in being digital and internet-based, for the accessibility and agility that they allow (and to reduce paper to a minimum), but we wanted to go further by selecting a solution with gamification to also transform the experience.

We wanted to support these processes with a multidisciplinary platform in these areas, that is, a solution that is agile, simple to handle, and with a truly impactful experience for managers and users.

Then we wanted to transform the training model, particularly for sales teams, by investing in e-learning. The existing 300-page sales manual was converted and segmented into training content in microlearning mode, with the right “doses” for the right training moments.

RC: How was the involvement of the company’s structure?

FG/JC: First we had the support of the board and the technical approval of the IT area. Then we involved the whole organisation, with a greater focus on the commercial teams.

Our priority is to improve and enhance communication and the involvement/motivation of people, using the platform’s features.

For example, we use the Learning module a lot with our sales teams all over Europe, in the various languages available on GFoundry, in this case Italian, French, Spanish, English and Portuguese.

We use the Goals module to set objectives in the context of Performance Evaluation, which is the module through which we manage employee performance, potential and identify talent.

The Recognition module is very useful and practical for recognising courage, commitment and team spirit (to the point of excellence) giving immediate recognition, in public or private, and is a powerful communication tool in this area.

We also take advantage of the FAQs page to communicate the company’s protocols with other entities in order to give our employees better conditions to access products and services.

RC: How was the implementation of GFoundry at Cork Supply?

FG/JC: Regarding customization, we had the support of a designer who works in another area of the company, and the constant technical monitoring of the GFoundry team.

At the level of users, managers and non-managers, we held sessions to explain how the platform works in general and, more specifically, about the Performance Evaluation module, namely, how to prepare the moment, the functionalities, the objectives and the follow-up of the process, such as the touchpoints and the talent management in the development component, thus justifying a holistic management process and continuous feedback.

RC: How is planning and communication done to operationalise these dynamics?

FG/JC: We have an annual communication plan, deployed monthly and supported by the GFoundry platform.

The plan maps out the launch of activities, such as our “We Care” programme.

The use of the GFoundry platform was very important for communication on the Coronavirus issue, for example. We are dynamic in publishing news that we think is relevant, also launching competitions and events.

RC: What kind of dynamics are you implementing and what results are they having?

One of the suggestions made by a collaborator was the launching of a contest to create ideas, called “Eco Tips – Taking Care of Tomorrow” within the scope of environmental responsibility, done through the use of the Innovation module.

We are receiving ideas such as: planting cork oak trees on Cork Supply’s land; adding environmental awareness messages to the company’s communication plan, focusing on saving water and electricity resources, as well as on reuse and over-consumption during the current Christmas season.

We also received ideas for carpooling for home/work/home journeys.

We have several metrics so we know the impact our initiatives have on users. An example of this is the publication of new content that causes logins to skyrocket.

On the other hand, we receive positive feedback from our initiatives through the questionnaires we do with the Contributions and Surveys module from GFoundry, with immediate access to the data.

In terms of learning, we know the growth in the completion rate of training actions, and the duration of these actions.

RC: What do you most highlight and value in the GFoundry solution?

FG/JC: Without a doubt the Gamification Engine that gives a power of animation to the activities. It is very dynamic, offers fun, and it is noticeable how it involves users as in games. We also highlight training and learning. The Learn module generates a lot of potential.

Our employees refer in their questionnaires to the training formats and ease of learning, internal communication, and highlight the possibility of consultation on the same platform where they learn.

In short, GFoundry is a solution that allows the integration of processes, with which people can consult the annual objectives, their evaluation, the protocols with various entities, have access to their information and that of the company, participate in activities and interact with the community.

For all that we have pointed out and what we will activate, we recommend GFoundry to any company that wants to introduce dynamics in its activities with people and see a transformation of behaviours and results.

RC: And what do you have planned for the future?

FG/JC: Well, with all that we can already do, we still want to increase initiatives and participation, because there is a lot of potential for that. In the meantime, we are always very curious about what’s new at GFoundry, now with the link to Linkedin, which gives the possibility of adding GFoundry certificates directly to users’ profiles.

Maria de Fátima Gonçalves (People & Int. Communication Director at Cork Supply) and Joana Castro (People & Communication)

Challenge

Since Carglass is a company with a considerable geographical dispersion, having employees from the North to the South of the country, the team responsible for human resources management felt the need to implement a solution that would allow – in a first phase – the dissemination of training content in a fun, agile and simplified way.

In addition, it was Carglass’ intention to implement a solution with the ability to grow as further challenges arose.

Solution

The Go Inside solution was initially developed with a strong focus on the dissemination of Training content. Using GFoundry gamification engine, Carglass employees can not only access training content, but can also test their knowledge through quizzes, and even challenge each other through battles.

As GFoundry is a multi-platform solution, being available in web and app (iOS and Android) versions, employees can access Go Inside anywhere, anytime!

Throughout the project’s development, the scope stopped focusing only on Training, and started integrating a set of extremely important HR processes, also using Go Inside for its Internal Communication, not only through the news for more extensive content, but also through push notifications with shorter messages.

Performance Evaluation is also developed on the platform, contemplating the phases of Objective definition, Feedback and definition of Individual Development Plans.

The greatest advantage described by Carglass is related to the fact that the platform is very intuitive, and it was not necessary to call all employees to a room in order to explain how the process would work from now on.

The importance of Go Inside during the pandemic

Go Inside was born in a pre-pandemic period, but gained greater importance at the time when teleworking became more regular than it was in the past.

In this period, Carglass managed to maintain the connection with its employees through the platform, as it developed dynamics that allowed contact to be maintained between everyone, also ensuring the dissemination of important messages in the course of HR processes, some of them crucial to the smooth running of the company.

Mariana Vieira de Sá – Human Resources Director, Carglass Portugal

Why use curated content in learning and development strategies in organizations?

In an organizational context, it is important to generate your own content related to the company itself, to the functions, and even to the required areas of expertise. This knowledge is internal, intrinsic to each organization and should not be shared with the outside world.

However, the development of Human Capital is not only related to the acquisition of internal knowledge, but should also depend on other types of comprehensive knowledge (such as soft skills, culture knowledge, market knowledge, among others), extremely important for the critical and intellectual enrichment of teams.

It is from this need for knowledge, diversified and common to all organizations, that the concept of curated content is born. The research and selection of content of high interest to organizations makes it possible for any team manager to fill training needs through content already developed and available for immediate access.

Through the combination of different contents (internal or curated from other sources), it will be possible to build training plans that allow continuous and diverse learning for any employee.

With GFoundry platform, in order to make the training plan more dynamic, gamification techniques are used, which aim to reward employees who comply with their individual training plans, encouraging a spirit of healthy competition among the entire structure.

Rear more: The Impact of Content Curation for Personal / Informal Learning

What is GFoundry’s curated content?

At GFoundry, we provide our customers with curated content, for free use, without any associated cost. The curated contents are available in several knowledge areas and have the format of quizzes and videos.

All this content can be moved to any category that is part of the client’s training structure. This way, it will be very simple to combine internal content with content curated by GFoundry in certain knowledge categories defined.

Finally, this content can also be adapted to your organization, having the freedom to easily modify it, either by adding links, videos, or even editing quiz questions.

Fast, simple, effective, and… free!

One of the big challenges in implementing a new corporate learning program is the creation of internal content. The main factors are the cost and time to produce them.

With GFoundry’s curated content, dynamics can be created, immediately, that can be driven by GFoundry’s gamification engine. This engine makes the learning dynamics more interactive and interesting for the users.

Efficient dissemination and easy access is also decisive for the success of learning projects. Therefore, the content can be made available through a web app, and also through two mobile apps: Android and iOS.

Finally, and in order to transport the digital reality to the physical context, it is possible to access the platform’s educational content through QR Codes. For example, with this feature, you can place QR Codes in specific locations in your facilities, so that employees can access a specific training content.

Each employee can adapt their own learning path!

In any organization, the team managers may define training plans for the people they manage, tackling some difficulties they may feel during their professional career.

However, employees will also have their own motivations and ambitions, which may be related to the acquisition of new knowledge and skills.

By promoting a culture of self-development, employees can choose the content that will help their personal and professional development so that they can achieve their goals.

These learning paths will always be adapted to each employee, since it will depend on their duties, their training needs defined by their manager, and also by their personal motivations.

In the end, you will have an Individual Development Plan with a training path adapted to your profile and objectives.

This co-construction of the training plan allows greater autonomy to employees so that they can decide on the knowledge they want to acquire throughout their journey in the organization.

By accessing the GFoundry app, the employee will have access to the Learn Module, where they can access all the content made available by the organization, having the freedom to choose which content will be more appropriate to their functions and needs.

Content recommendation and segmentation

The content provided may not be used by the entire organization, since each employee will have their own functions, objectives and skills.

Thus, it is important to segment the relevant content, to ensure that the most appropriate content is provided to each team and/or structure.

With the help of GFoundry, you can implement a segmentation of the content provided, allowing employees to have access only to the training content that is appropriate to their professional category.

Highlight the most relevant content!

Besides being important to provide relevant content to your employees, it is also essential to be able to communicate that these contents exist and are available for access.

Therefore, on the GFoundry homepage, you can highlight the content that you want to be highlighted, being free to change whenever necessary. This way, you will be able to communicate more effectively the content available to your employees.

FAQs

8. Can I associate curated content to the IDP’s (Individual Development Plans) of each employee?

Yes, when building IDPs, the GFoundry platform allows the association of all types of content to a development plan, including content from external sources.

9. How often does GFoundry add new curated content?

We have a dedicated team that adds content periodically.

10. What kind of curated content do you have?

GFoundry’s curated content is composed of Youtube videos, from some of the best sources and authors, besides quizzes on several topics, and PDFs.

11. Are all the gamification dynamics that Gfoundry allows you to implement available for these contents?

Of course it is! The completion of a course, the viewing of a video, the successful completion of a quiz can give access to medals, points, virtual currency and digital certificates of completion, which can be shared directly on Linkedin.

12. In my company we need content from different areas than what is currently available in your catalog. Can we suggest the incorporation of more content in areas that are useful to us?

Of course, this is one of the strategies we have been following: by listening to our clients’ needs and challenges, we will add content in more relevant areas.

13. Do you have a warning or notification system that lets people know that there is new content on the platform.

Yes, it is one of our most important features. Through the backoffice, push notifications can be configured and sent to the whole community or just to specific groups of people.