Employee burnout isn’t a new problem, but it has become a lot worse over the past few years, as Covid-19 has increased people’s stress levels and impacted their ability to recharge, and remote working has made it harder for managers to identify when team members need a break. A 2021 survey by Indeed revealed that more than half of workers feel burned out, and for more than two-thirds of them, the feeling has gotten worse throughout the pandemic, driving some to change jobs or leave the
the workforce altogether, a global phenomenon that has been dubbed The Great Resignation.
It’s clear that businesses need to be doing more to prevent employee burnout before workers get to the point where they simply want to walk away, but what does that actually look like? That was the focus of this year’s Hack Games, organised by MI Academy, which were all about promoting mental wellness in the modern workplace.
Over the course of a week, six teams participated in a series of exercises to rapidly unlock creative and innovative ideas to prevent burnout and restore wellness. The competition culminated with a pitch to a panel of judges at Retail Week in Melbourne, with four teams presenting their prototypes in-person, and two teams appearing online.
Coming in first place was the team behind Shufl, a tool that uses artificial intelligence to reassign tasks to people in an organisation with the skills and capacity to take them on, enabling others to take a break when needed. The judges called this idea a “clear winner”.
“I really liked that Shufl focused on solving the underlying problem (work demands) and not just the symptoms (stress),” Jason Pallant, a lecturer in marketing at Swinburne University, and one of the Hack Games judges, told Inside Retail.
“The solution would help workers automatically find others who could help them with challenging work tasks, reducing their burnout while also improving productivity.”
National Retail Association CEO and Hack Games judge Dominique Lamb called the solution “sophisticated and insightful”.
“Shufl pitched an idea that was easily implemented into any retail business and had thought through some of the complexities faced by retailers when it comes to managing mental health,” she told Inside Retail.
Industry advisor and Hack Games judge Peta Granger liked the fact that Shufl could be applied to frontline staff, who have faced a sharp increase in customer abuse during Covid-19.
“Shufl was designed for employees at all levels of an organisation, but I could particularly see it working well for hard working frontline staff,” she told Inside Retail.
“Their solution for burnout seemed like a win-win for all involved, and at its highest evolution, created connections and support outside of people’s organisations.”
Led by Omneo co-founder Danny Phillips, the Shufl team included Nestor Valverde, group CRM manager at Spotlight Retail Group; Adam Luangkhot, head of people and culture at Bood; Paul Arrighi, manager of learning and organisational development at Clark Rubber; and Katrina Triandos, human resources coordinator at Retail Prodigy Group.
The Shufl team pitching their idea at Retail Week.
How Hack Games drive innovation
MI Academy founder Alita Harvey-Rodriguez is a big proponent of hackathons to drive innovation within an organisation. Here, she explains why more retailers should adopt this approach to problem-solving.
Inside Retail: What have been the cool things that have come out of the hackathon in the past?
Alita Harvey-Rodriguez: We’ve seen new jobs created, start-ups begun, strategies implemented from insights shared whilst teams were collaborating in the Games.
IR: Have there been any business ideas that have been worked upon as a result?
AHR: One of the biggest bits of feedback we get is, ‘I got so many ideas to take back into our business.’ This was one of the reasons we created such an interactive collaborative event – we wanted unfiltered conversation and sharing of ideas and insight. Salvos and Dulux have run internal versions of the Hack Games that took ideas directly into their roadmap. The high intensity, creative nature of the event literally helps business leaders unlock ideas from their teams that they can use for commercial gain.
IR: Why are events like hackathons beneficial for retail businesses?
AHR: Your team has a voice, and plenty of ideas, but there is rarely an environment to share these in a practical way. They also help solve a key problem most retail brands share…knowledge sharing and cross-collaboration. The Hack Games help to do this, especially in a hybrid working environment where the ‘water cooler’ conversations have disappeared. Hackathons can help bring this back and socially connect your team to deliver a positive cultural environment.