Gigantti measured customer service personnel load and recovery with the Moodmetric smart ring. The pilot project was realized together with the pension insurance company Varma. The objectives were to recognize stressful situations, learn better tools for stress management and methods for challenging customer service situations. Based on the experiences from the pilot, Gigantti HR Manager Päivi Mäenpää recommends Moodmetric Measurement for all organizations where mental load is, or might become, a major challenge.
Gigantti was keen to accept Varma’s pilot proposal
Gigantti meets their pension insurance company Varma and their occupational health service provider once a year. In the past discussion the major worry raised was the increased absence rate of employees, especially due to non-physical reasons.
Varma studies and pilots workplace well-being tools extensively. In the discussion Varma proposed Gigantti to try out the two-week Moodmetric Measurement. Gigantti HR Manager Päivi Mäenpää got interested and presented the proposal to the organization. – We decided to go for it. Important arguments for us were that the Moodmetric technology is Finnish, and that the tool is specifically intended for measuring mental load. We selected the employees of our Customer Service Center for the pilot. Their work is to manage situations where the purchase or delivery process of our customer has not gone as it should. Gigantti is the first workplace for many of them. In this project we wanted to give the employees in the beginning of their career the possibility to learn more about themselves. Life and work life control and self management are topics that are discussed a lot nowadays. I believe that learning these skills is important for us all.
Things processed fast after the decision. Gigantti-Varma-Moodmetric -kick-off meeting was held at the end of December, and after a month the measurements started.
Moodmetric Measurement was well received
The employees of the Customer Service Center are quite young. They might face demanding customer service situations for the first time and they regard the work mentally challenging.
Moodmetric Measurement was offered to everyone and it was clearly presented beforehand in Gigantti’ s personnel communication channels. More than half of the employees seized the opportunity. – When we received the Moodmetric rings at the office and the measurements begun, I believe that many of those who did not sign up were a bit sorry for not participating. Following the measurement data was interesting and the discussion of stress and recovery started immediately among the employees, says Päivi Mäenpää.
Prior to the measurements the employees were asked about expectations for the pilot.
– I hope to learn from situations that are stressful for me. I wish that after the project I learn to do more things that help me to recover from work load already during the working day.
The occupational health service provider participated the planning and follow-up or the pilot. Coaching sessions by an external service provider were initiated in addition to Moodmetric Measurement. These aimed to teach the employees practical skills to face demanding customer situations.
There were several benefits of Moodmetric Measurement
According to Päivi Mäenpää the biggest benefit of Moodmetric Measurement was that it facilitated discussion about well-being and load and recovery at the work place. A great thing was also that everyone participated in viewing their own measurement data. – For the employer the measurement gives the big picture. Now when we see things broadly, we have better understanding on what are the factors behind the employees´load and recovery. We can begin to dig deeper into mechanisms of ending on sick leave. And why do some people feel fine even when the environment is sometimes rough? We could also take these things into consideration in the recruitment phase and see who might need more recovery skills already from the start.
We also got positive feedback from the employees: – When we at the end asked “Was this a good thing”, we got a clear thumbs up, says Päivi Mäenpää. According to the feedback questionnaire from Moodmetric, 85% of the participants learned to recognize own mental load and recovery better. This is an excellent result.
– We will continue the work. Our aim is an efficient predictive mental health work, with visible results.
Moodmetric Measurement was really insightful for the employees and helped everyone to notice factors behind stress and recovery at their own work and free time.
– We as employers need to create an atmosphere where it is easy to bring up things that increase mental load. We want to identify the most stressful factors and do the most to prevent burnouts and sick leaves due to these issues. Visiting the doctor is the last means, adds Päivi Mäenpää.
Impact monitoring
Results of preventive well-being work are not seen immediately. – We know that we can do a lot. Moodmetric Measurement helped to look for mental load factors that we can affect directly or indirectly.
We can not say yet that the sick leaves due to mental issues will decrease so and so much next year. But I believe that we can more rapidly see the trends where we are going, when we take to right measures. The first objective is that we can cut the raising trend of the sick leaves. Our aim is to be able to report elsewhere at Gigantti of those measures that have measurable impact.
– We can recommend Moodmetric Measurement for all organizations where mental load is, or might become, a major challenge. We will also share the information about the measurement inside Gigantti, says Päivi Mäenpää.
Gigantti´s article of the Moodmetric pilot (in Finnish).
Contact:
Päivi Mäenpää
HR Manager
Gigantti Oy
+358 43 825 2610
paivi.maenpaa@gigantti.fi
Niina Venho
CEO
Moodmetric
+358 40 710 4087
niina.venho@moodmetric.com
Access here the Moodmetric Handbook: How Can Companies Reduce Stress at Work
