Israeli employee engagement platform Eloops wants to ‘Gamify’ the office

Israel-based Eloops is attempting to reinvent offices by gamifying the employee experience. Using a mobile app, employees can earn virtual coins for rewards by taking part in surveys, quizzes, or speaking engagements - something the company argues is imperative during lockdowns and pivots to remote working.

“It’s all about the culture: people are looking at the company culture and HR managers are looking to spread the culture even more,” explained Eloops co-founder and CMO Tal Groder, when discussing its appeal during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. “All we thought about was the experience, the employee experience, and how we can make it better. This is why we always talked about features that will connect and align employees with the gamification experience.”

Eloops is a platform used by organizations, usually run by the HR manager, to make sure employees remain engaged within their company. The coin-based system is part of an app where workers can obtain fortunes by taking part in activities such as liking comments, taking part in quizzes, or sharing news about the organization. Companies can then determine their own rewards - which can include anything from modest office swag to one-on-one meetings with the CEO.

Employees can also send each other ‘peer-to-peer recognition’ coins as a sign of gratitude and camaraderie within team projects.

Alongside the employee app, Eloops provides companies with an entire marketplace where HR Managers can download pre-designed content which can then be customized. Groder told CTech that while all programs are currently designed by internal Eloops content managers, the aim is to open it up to third-party developers eventually.

Groder claims the average engagement on the app hovers at around 51%. The hope is that employees, when faced with downtime and a short break, will turn to the Eloops app to continue engaging in company culture.

“In places where you allow employees to have small breaks and open phones, they open Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, but you wish they would open the app connected to the company,” Groder said.

Coins usually cannot be exchanged for actual monetary prizes, but the decision rests on each company to determine how rewards can be collected. Makeup brand Estee Lauder is one of Eloops’ clients and their employees have the option to transfer 200 ‘coins’ into 200 shekels ($58) which is added to the paycheck at the end of the month.

During Covid-19, Eloops has expanded the sense of community and culture by offering experiences outside of the conventional office space. ‘Lunch with the CEO’ might be replaced with more family-friendly rewards such as back-to-school quizzes or challenges.

“The most important thing is that this is what employees want. It’s not just about the manager. It’s about the employees. This is how we see it.”

Eloops will integrate within Microsoft Teams in September, so employees using the platform will not need to download any additional apps or services. Eloops hopes to expand its integrations by targeting platforms like Slack in the future.

Founded in January 2017, Eloops has been largely bootstrapped until now. The company, which currently has 10 employees, serves 30 customers including Coca-Cola, Hertz Israel, Carlsberg, Mind Springs Health Colorado, and Israel's Electricity Authority. It is seeking its first round of funding in October, 2020.