The project consisted of creating an online platform dedicated to employee performance and involvement. The ultimate goal of the platform was to motivate performance and lead to building a competitive and collaborative culture at the same time. Approximately 60% of the UniCredit Bank employees were involved in the project, as follows: targeted employees from the Head Office (~ 400 employees) and the entire Retail Network division (~ 1500 employees). The WeConnect platform had a unifying role, managing to bring competition and collaboration together, through communication and gamification and to create an organizational climate in favor of performance. Currently, approximately 800 employees enter the internal platform daily. As a result of the project implementation, the level of commitment of the employees from the Retail network was increased to 76%.
Context
The implementation of the project took into account the fundamental distinction between the issue of adapting to the external environment (market changes, competition, new customer requirements) and the problems of internal processes, to ensure the integration and calibration of the new vision on the real-time performance management process.
The strong ascension of the bank in recent years has led to intensifying the level of competitiveness in relation to the established top banks, which began to exercise an additional internal pressure on employees, amid the specific corporate culture and the high level of complexity of the processes in the organization.
After trying an uni-feature solution for the feedback part (which consisted only in the possibility of requesting and sending feedback by means of a web interface and a mobile application), in June 2016 the company understood that there must be a holistic approach of all that means employee interaction, from the exchange of ideas to the pursuit of the performance level.
In this context, UniCredit has chosen to rely on agility and innovation to further motivate employee performance and to be prepared for an increasingly competitive and demanding future.
Project description
Objectives
UniCredit Bank aims to solve a “paradox” generated by the promotion of internal competition, which relies on an individualistic dimension and, at the same time, of collaboration, requisite to success, based on belonging and social interaction.
To demonstrate that the two aspects can coexist, an integrative, interactive, personalized online platform has been created, dedicated to employee performance and involvement.
The ultimate goal of the platform was to motivate performance and, at the same time, to contribute to building a competitive and collaborative culture.
After an initial audit, organized by UniCredit Bank together with the Co-Factor consultants, in which the top management also participated and which focused on strategic organizational issues, there were established the following objectives:
- Strengthening the affiliation of the main structures to the same cultural body, by direct addressing to cultural inertia and creating conditions in favor of participatory culture;
- Improving internal communication and collaboration;
- Accelerating performance and facilitating employee success.
Aligning the project to the company’s business objectives
The objectives of the project were, in particular, to strengthen the belonging to a collaborative corporate identity and to accelerate performance. The WeConnect platform was the tool that mediated and facilitated the delivery of the bank’s business results. Following the processes carried out through the platform, the alignment of the objectives was organic. Fulfilling the specific objectives of the project immediately resulted in an increase in the level of commitment of employees from the Retail network up to 76%.
