Xoxoday: Solving the Conundrum of Gamification and Well-Being

Nreach Online Services Private Limited (doing business as Xoxoday) is a technology company that builds digital infrastructure for rewarding employees, customers, and partners through perks, incentives, and disbursement payouts. Incorporated in 2018, it has grown at a scorching pace; in just a little over three years, it has acquired more than one thousand clients that leverage their technology infrastructure to run rewards programs for about two million end-users. Xoxoday has built a sizable suite of reward, recognition, and motivation products for three target segments: (1) corporate workforces, (2) customers and channel partners, and (3) sales teams. The product lines for these three client groups are called Empuls, Plum, and Compass, respectively.<br><br>Employee well-being, both physical and emotional, has been a challenge for Xoxoday’s Empuls (corporate workforce) clients. These challenges have been exacerbated by the pandemic. Another issue apparently catalyzed by the pandemic—and with which corporate employers were grappling, given that most of their workforce had been working remotely since 2020—was that of attrition. Xoxoday’s Empuls clients are looking for novel solutions to stem the tide of what is now famously called the “Great Resignation.” Should Xoxoday implement gamification as a strategic solution to encourage well-being behaviours among the workforce of its corporate clients and to arrest attrition? Why and how could Xoxoday demonstrate responsible use of artificial intelligence (AI) while deploying gamification as a strategic solution for addressing the two key human resources management (HRM) challenges of employee well-being and attrition? How can trust pose a potential challenge to the implementation of AI-based HRM solutions? Which approach to business model innovation should Xoxoday adopt while offering such solutions?

The case can be leveraged as a pedagogical tool in graduate-level and management and leadership development programs. By working through the case and assignment questions, students will have the opportunity to do the following:<ul><li>Understand the challenges that companies can face while implementing strategic gamification-based digital solutions in HRM systems.</li><li>Appreciate the significance of the responsible use of AI for companies while deploying strategic digital solutions in HRM systems.</li><li>Understand the importance of trust while implementing digital AI-based solutions in HRM systems.</li><li>Identify the appropriate business model innovation strategy for a company to follow when it faces the challenges of implementing such solutions.</li></ul>

• Gamification
• Well Being
• Artificial Intelligence