INNOVATION PROJECT

Leadership & Innovation

Professors Mariano Corso and Luca Gastaldi
u

SMART WORKING PROJECT – AXA ITALY

CARMELA SOFIA MALARA 897105

DAFNE MARTELLI 905234
ANDREA MAZZOBEL 899466
VINCENZO MORELLI 900117
ENRICO MORGANTINI 905709
ANDREA NAPOLITANO 893532
ANDREA NAVARRETE 894361
ANDREA PAMPANIN 905648

GROUP 11 – ACADEMIC YEAR 2017/2018

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1
INTRODUCTION 3
ABOUT AXA 3
SMART WORKING 3
SMART WORKING IN AXA 4
SMART WORKING 2.0: VISION, MISSION, GOALS 4
TREND ANALYSIS 5
OUR SOLUTION 7
CLUSTERS 7
Y-Generation/Millennials (1981 – 1995) 7
X-Generation (1961 –1980) 7
Baby Boomers (1945 – 1960) 8
COMMON PROBLEMS AND NEEDS 8
OUR PROPOSAL – AXAPP 8
SHARED CALENDAR & TRANSPORTATION BENEFITS 10
SPACE BOOKING 11
KNOWLEDGE SHARING 11
AXABNB 13
AXACAR 14
SOCIAL LIFE & EVENTS 15
POINT SYSTEM 16
IMPLEMENTATION: MANAGING CULTURAL CHANGE 18
ROLES AND ACTORS 18
COMMUNICATION 18
INCENTIVE SYSTEM 19
OPERATIONAL APPROACH 19
GANTT DIAGRAM 21
FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS: EXISTING SOLUTIONS 22
EVALUATION 23
TEAM ORGANIZATION 24
WHOLE BRAIN MODEL 24
GROUP DEVELOPMENT 24
BIGLIOGRAPHY & SITOGRAPHY 27

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In Italy, and around the World, the way of working is changing. Nowadays, companies are
looking for stronger innovations to find new ways to increase productivity. This is why AXA Italy
commissioned us this project about Smart Working.

To match our project within the context, we defined a vision and a mission for our solution, in order
to reach our objectives. Our vision is that “Every company will be more digital and less physical”,
while our mission is the creation of the Smart Worker 2.0, an “empowered version” of our worker:
smarter, friendlier, more flexible and environmentally sustainable. Accordingly, we looked for a
solution aligned with our project’s vision and mission to form the new standard employee that will
provide the company increased competitiveness in this future scenario.
To find the best solutions from both an innovative and an employee point of view, we started our
analysis considering the as-is situation, obtaining that a unique solution was not enough to satisfy
employees’ different needs and problems. Based on this, we decided to divide the employees by age
groups obtaining three clusters: Baby Boomers, X Generation, Y Generation. With the aim of
empowering them we developed six main proposals, each one tailored for the employee that could
benefit the most from it. To facilitate its access, we grouped all the solutions into a more intuitive and
easy to use application called AXApp.

The six solutions included, divided into professional and non-professional, are:

Shared Calendar & Transportation benefits: system to manage remote working

Space Booking: instrument to book desks and rooms

AXAbnb: tool used to share the leaving room and available spare rooms

AXAcar: internal car-pooling system

Knowledge Sharing: program implemented to help employees with technologies

difficulties or just new in the company; includes platform to foster innovative ideas

Social Life & Events: events organized by AXA. Including apertivi/dinners, sport events,
bring your pet day or children to work

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Additionally, we thought that an incentive system was necessary to involve employees and spread
this new culture within the company. Thus, to motivate Smart Workers to achieve pre-defined
objectives more engagingly we propose a Point System. By using the services provided, each
employee will gain four different kind of points: Flexibility, Environmental Sustainability, Social and
Altruism. Periodically some prizes will be assigned to top users, both in short and long terms. The
main goal of this system is involving employees in the new project from the beginning and create a
lock-in effect through which users will become proactive, feeling part of the new culture of the
company.
To implement our solution, we divided the work into five steps:

Roles and Actors: new roles will be defined to tailor the project to the company.

Communication: we gave more emphasis to this phase as it is important to start changing the
culture and informing employees before the beginning of the project.

Incentive System: we described how the Point System work as it will last throughout the project.

Operational approach: starts by organizing a pilot-project focused on a select number of smart

workers and finishes with the implementation of the whole solution.

Project Evaluation: analysis of both internal and external KPIs.

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INTRODUCTION

ABOUT AXA
AXA is a French multinational insurance firm born in 1817. The company, headquartered in Paris,
is engaged in global insurance, investment management and other financial services.
Even if the sector is going through a transformation, it is still considered an ideal place for
employment, not only because of monetary reasons but also due to the appreciation of the workplace
as a whole. In the last years, AXA has decided to move from a “traditional” culture to the “trust and
achievement” of Smart Working.

SMART WORKING
Smart Working is a new way of working developed in the last years in the socio-economic context
of the Industry 4.0. It is a consequence of both technology development and the result of continuous
evolution of the figure of the employee, in terms of flexibility, collaboration and empowerment.

Figure 1: Evolution of Work across time

This new system is characterized by higher flexibility and autonomy when choosing working spaces,
time schedules and tools in return of more accountability for results. It also brings benefits as time
and money savings, increased productivity, decrease of absenteeism and reduction of CO2 emissions.
The “Osservatorio Smart Working" of Politecnico di Milano states that 5% of small and medium-
sized enterprises and 17% in the case of big ones embrace the Smart Working model and an additional
14% is preparing to start new projects in the future.

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This shows that Smart Working is still not incorporated in every company’s culture, and out of all
the ones that have adopted it, the most interested are the largest firms. However, from the reports of
the Osservatorio we can see that the interest in Smart Working is growing every year, as also public
administrations regulated its applications since 2017.

SMART WORKING IN AXA

Smart Working in AXA is based on three concepts: trust, achievement and flexibility. It gives
employees more flexibility and less barriers, through new technological instruments that help them
improving their working lives both inside and outside the company.
For instance, AXA introduced free spaces that allowed employees to work more flexibly, while
removing and reducing the traditional assigned desks and offices, leading to decreased infrastructural
costs. Moreover, the company designed dedicated spaces, like rooms thought for concentration or
meetings. Nowadays, the number of people reached by smart working corresponds to 67% of their
eligible workers.
In an era where the world is changing fast, AXA adopts an innovative attitude and confronts this
phenomenon both externally, providing new and better services to customers, and internally,
improving integration, flexibility and environmental sustainability to increase productivity.
For these reasons, they want to introduce a new innovative project called "Smart Working 2.0".

SMART WORKING 2.0: VISION, MISSION, GOALS

The Digital Transformation is developing fast, with a lot of impact and pervasiveness: the
introduction of always new technological devices is turning the people working way. Due to this fact,
we strongly believe that the future holds a deepen change, making companies increasingly digital and
virtual: in the way people will interact, in the spaces provided for work.
Therefore, our vision within the context of this project is "Every company will be more digital and
less physical". This is a long-term
process, due to the technology
development: people will have to be
prepared to this change, there will be
new competences and skills required,
in order to properly work.
Thus, our mission is leading people in
the process of becoming a new worker,
Figure 2: Vision, Mission and Goal of our project

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the Smart Worker 2.0: we want people who have some specific characteristics. In particular, they
should be flexible, altruist, social and environmental sustainable.
Flexible because, in a digital future, employees have to effectively manage their working spaces and
time to profit from the available technology.
Environmental sustainable because it impacts positively on AXA's brand image. To achieve this,
every AXA employee should be aware of the possible reductions of costs, pollution and general
wastes. As for social and altruism, it is easy to understand that some characteristics of the physical
companies are extremely valuable. As Aristotele said: “Man is a social animal because it tends to
aggregate with other individuals”. Consequently, even though there will be a continuous digitalization
and Smart Working will be the future of the labour market, employees will always feel the need of
social integration. This is also shown on the Pyramid of Maslow, which states that human beings
have different needs and we think that some of them are better satisfied in the physical company. As
an example, we can consider the “Psychological needs”, such as sense of belonging, inclusion, esteem,
recognition, etc. Thus, we decided to maintain these characteristics by embedding them in our
solution, but in an alternative way as we will see in our proposals.
The solutions that we are hereafter proposing are boosting the digitalization of the company while
providing alternative ways to maximize the welfare of employees, in order to not lose their
productivity. In this way, it will be strategic for AXA to develop an effective Smart Working 2.0
project.
Therefore, the final goal of our project is to develop meaningful solutions for employees, to help
them in this changing process.

TREND ANALYSIS
Before discussing our proposal, we thought it would be necessary to analyze the macro-trends
that helped inspiring us:
National Transport. In Italy in 2017, there are 19.790 km of railways, 6500 km of motorway and
30 airports that allow thousands of people daily to move across the country. This has made
travelling cheaper and faster compared to several years ago, and, therefore, more accessible.
Urban Transport. According to Altroconsumo, in four Italian cities – Milan, Turin, Rome and
Naples – in 70% of the case, people commute alone in their car. This is a surprisingly high
number, particularly for big cities. However, we have to point out that if we consider only Milan,
the most modern and efficient Italian city, the numbers differ a lot.

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Sharing Economy. This business model is based on the sharing of resources among individuals
to make them available to everyone at reasonable prices. Hence, the good is not purchased,
what is paid is the actual usage of the service, including the good. It has spread mainly between
private individuals, but recently it extended also to companies, that now provide these services
to employees.
Migration. This macro-trend concerns the increasing phenomenon of internal migration in Italy.
Southern regions are the one that suffered more from this situation, while the central-northern
have mostly recovered from the crisis regarding job loss. This shows that there is a significant
movement of people looking for better job opportunities, whether by moving long distances or
just commuting from small villages to big cities.
Technology. Linked to the increasing level of technology within companies. Includes the so called
“Digital Transformation” (such as Internet of Things, Cloud, Data Analytics or Bring Your Own
Device - BYOD). As a consequence, technicians and people specialized in ICT are gaining more
presence inside the company.
Gamification. New phenomenon that has been gaining more importance in the formation of
employees due to the proliferation of social media, mobile technologies and entrance of
Millennials in the workforce. Consists in the use of game elements such as points, progress bars
and achievements to enhance the learning experience.

Politics. Recently, a new Italian law was stipulated regarding the Job Acts for Smart Working.

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OUR SOLUTION
While analyzing Smart Working 1.0, we believe that the reason why not all employees are involved
is mainly related to a cultural problem: they cannot comprehend the benefits that Smart Working
provides, like flexibility and autonomy. Moreover, the digital tools needed to use those services are
not always instantly accessible nor intuitive.

Another important issue is that only one type of program was implemented, without taking into
account that employees have different needs and problems. Therefore, to create something more
valuable for both employees and company, we researched and analyzed these different characteristics.
To facilitate this process, we decided to make a categorization of AXA's employees. The clusters
obtained, with their needs and problems are tackled in the following paragraphs.

CLUSTERS
The main criteria used to categorize the employees was the age group, as it is a straightforward
method that easily let us divide them. Based on this, and with the help of the model suggested by
Kreitner and Kinicki, we established three clusters: Baby Boomers, X generation and Y generation.

Y-Generation/Millennials (1981 – 1995)

This cluster has the lowest Smart Working participants. Even though this model
could offer them a high-level flexibility, this generation is strongly focused on
career opportunities and learning more about their job. Thus, they prefer to spend
as much time as possible with their colleagues. Another problem is integration.
They want to become part of the firm and increase their sense of belonging. As
Maslow stated in his "Pyramid of Needs" Theory, spending time with colleagues will help them to
satisfy this need. In conclusion, Smart Working could be seen negatively, as it affects their time at
the office, giving them more time working alone.

X-Generation (1961 –1980)

For this generation, the main problems are related to managing time between
family and work. They do not have enough time to spend with their families,
incrementing the difficulty of caring for their children and pets.
Smart Working could give them the flexibility needed to solve these issues and
consequently, spend more time with their loved ones.

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Baby Boomers (1945 – 1960)
One of the main concerns of our last cluster is the lack of technology knowledge
to use properly the required tools. However, even if they acquire this knowledge,
their reluctance to change their way of working stops them from participating to
new initiatives. Another problem is that the expensive commute that comes from
traveling mainly by car is worsened by the fact that they do it alone. Lastly, we
have to consider also that they often have to look after their ageing parents, for which Smart Working
can offer the needed flexibility.

COMMON PROBLEMS AND NEEDS

Due to the fact that not all problems could be related to a single cluster we decided to define some
common problems.
Smart Working also means rethinking the utilization of working spaces by allowing employees to
work remotely. This could lead to a lack of separation between private and working life: for instance,
by mixing the two environments, an employee can feel monitored 24/7 and creating privacy issues.
The increasing phenomenon of BYOD is only worsening the situation even if that achieves an
improvement in productivity, both from an employee’s and a firm's perspective.

Moreover, as we studied, there are two false myths linked to this new way of working:
I. The separation from the office, from an employee's point of view, might lead also to isolation,
due mainly to the lack of contact with peers and the community. This can lead to stress and
poor performances and, in extreme cases, depression.
II. It generates a direct impact on their health status, in terms of gaining weight, anxiety and
stress.

In terms of transportation, it could happen that sometimes workers perceive their daily commute as
something negative, considering the travelling expensive and stressful, demoralizing employees and
consequently making them less productive.

OUR PROPOSAL – AXAPP

After defining our clusters and identifying their relative problems, we started to think about some
solutions. Through a funnelling process, we finally decided to propose six ideas, categorized in
professional and non-professional ones.

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 - The former refers to those strictly related to working activities. This category comprehends
solutions like Knowledge Sharing, programmes dedicated to the spreading of the know-how,
Shared Calendar and Transportation Benefits and Space Booking that involve the digital
organization of work and the booking of working spaces.
- The latter embraces three non-professional solutions that aim at making the life of AXA’s
employees better, in terms of integration and environmental sustainability. AXACar, an
internal service of car-pooling, AXAbnb, an innovative solution to share employees’ own
spaces like their house and living room and Social Life & Events, that allow people to be up-
to-date with the events in AXA.

These ideas will be meticulously explained in the following paragraphs.

In order to integrate all these new services, whose common goal is

shaping the Smart Worker 2.0, available to AXA’s smart workers we
thought about developing a new application for Smartphones and
Tablets named “AXApp”. Moreover, this application looks to
simplify the availability of the "smart" services and the working life
of each user. It should be noticed that the App will be made available
for two operating systems, iOS and Android.
Furthermore, it should be used by all employees, that can login in with
their credentials and view their personal profile, that will include
personal information such as e-mail and biographical data, collected
points and rankings. As shown in the figure 3, it is also possible to
see all the different options related to the six services mentioned. So,
thanks to AXApp, each employee will have total control over them.
It is sufficient tapping on the desired icon to have access to the
Figure 3: Home page of AXApp
requested service.

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 SHARED CALENDAR & TRANSPORTATION BENEFITS
Even if this solution has already been implemented in the company,
our main goal is to improve its functioning, which means coordinating
better the employees that work remotely, to encourage the utilization
rate and create more flexible workers.
Firstly, we thought about simplifying the use of the shared calendar by
making it part of the App, where each team member, together with the
manager, can plan and coordinate their work. Weekly, each member
will fill in the calendar with their own schedule, including remote
working days, and managers will decide whether to accept or refuse
the proposal. In this way, the team has the possibility to communicate
better even if not physically present. Working Remotely could reveal
Figure 4: Shared Calendar and
Transportation Benefits page itself as something much more ground-breaking than what we think,
if deployed to its full potential. As we said before, an increasing trend is the migratory phenomenon
within the country. This can turn Smart Working into an attractive option that gives employees from
other regions the possibility to better integrate their interests in both cities: the native and the working
one. Given the possibility to work remotely two days a week, like Thursday and Friday, this means
that they can spend four days a week in their hometown and the remaining days in the office in Milan.
In this way, the shared calendar can overcome a great organizational problem.
Nevertheless, we recognize that this could lead to questioning the economic impact of frequent
traveling. However, considering the trend of national transportation, nowadays Italians have a
considerable number of accessible alternatives that allow them to cross the peninsula faster and more
cheaply. The same reasoning can be applied to all people who like traveling but cannot find the time
to do it.1
Thus, considering everything we have said, Smart Working can make AXA extremely attractive to
workers from all over the country, helping to create a stronger company achieving higher results than
a traditional company.

1
For further details Exhibit 1

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SPACE BOOKING
Another section of AXApp is dedicated to book working spaces. Here,
every available AXA's building in Italy will be mapped and shown in
AXApp: employees will have the possibility to choose where to work.
Each AXA’s employee will be able to easily select:
- When
- Where
- Room type (e.g. Concentration, Meeting, Open Space)
- Time slot
If the Open Space is selected, there is the additional possibility to
choose the preferred desk. We also considered to leave some spaces

Figure 5: Example of an Open Space free for people staying for short-period of time. Considering that AXA
booking
has already invested in a new layout for its headquarters, we wanted
to improve this solution in order to optimize also working time. For example, even if now there is not
a problem of saturation of spaces, sometimes employees have to move from one floor to another
looking for a place: by eliminating the time spent searching for a sit, employees will feel like their
space is more organized allowing them to concentrate on being productive.

One possible barrier could be the lack of desk personalization. Thus, we propose the implementation
of a small screen on each desk where every user can choose to display a gallery of photos. Once a
user books a desk, the App will automatically upload the chosen photos on the screen and display
them while the employee is working.

KNOWLEDGE SHARING

Mentoring Program
Figure 6: Knowledge Sharing page
would be necessary to be present constantly in the office. Otherwise, the limited contact could affect
As we explained before, different age groups have different concerns
to be solved. In the case of Baby Boomers, they encounter cultural and
technological barriers that intimidate and isolate them from the
changes that the company could try to implement. For the Generation
Y, what preoccupies them is their lack of experience and technical
know-how of the industry and limited connections, both professional
and non-professional.
Effective teams are based on cooperation, trust and cohesiveness. A
traditional approach would imply that to accomplish these values it

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the overall teamwork. However, we propose something different, that could reduce this issue in the
future. We want to implement a program where the generations can interact and learn from each
other. There would be guidelines to help them get started, like meeting schedules, topics to talk about
and places to gather. In this way, we want to break the generational barrier between them,
strengthening connections within the company and incrementing trust among employees.
The ideal scenario would be where there is someone from each generation willing to teach the other:
for example, someone from the X-Generation can explain the ins and outs of the industry to a person
from the Y-Generation, while this individual can show better ways to use the computer or AXApp in
a more personal way. In case there is only one person mentoring the other, this would happen one-
way, as in the situation in which a new comer needs guidance while getting used to the new
environment.
In operational terms, to implement this idea in AXApp we will create a part where both mentor and
mentored can participate in this program. Mentors will have to select the skills and knowledge they
want to share from a detailed list and the mentored will choose a topic and join the mentor.
However, a problem could be the lack of topics, so employees may not find what they are looking
for. Thus, we decided to implement an option where the user can ask for a specific topic. Then, if
some requests are compatible with a mentor's skills and knowledge, the system will consider their
preferences on topics and propose a possible connection.

Innovation Blog
Another key part of Knowledge Sharing is related to innovation, as
employees are the best suited to detect problems and offer a solution.
So, to encourage this process, we wanted to create a section in AXApp
where they can actively share their ideas.
Discussing the functionalities of the App, when an employee wants to
submit an idea, he has the possibility to check if that topic has already
been discussed and join it or create a new one from scratch.
Furthermore, to develop a strong sense of community and
collaboration, each employee will have the possibility of giving their
vote, positive or negative, to every suggestion inside a specific topic.
The system will automatically rank the ideas and organize them in a
decreasing order. Lastly, the best ideas will be submitted to top
Figure 7: Suggestions in the Innovation
Blog
management to be revised and, possibly, implemented.

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Once an idea has been submitted, the system will automatically contact an expert in the specific filed
indicated. This person will be responsible of giving feedback and following its evolution.

AXABNB
This idea is part of our non-professional solutions and it is strictly connected to the trend of
sharing economy, as it offers employees the possibility to share their house with their colleagues.
To assess the benefits brought by this solution, we will divide the idea in two perspectives: the “living
room” and the “bedroom”.

Living room: employees can offer their living room for team meetings, allowing them to
better manage their personal and working life, as they do not have to go to the office and
will have more time to spend at home doing their personal chores. Now, considering AXA’s
perspective, the possibility to share employees’ houses for meetings will bring to the company a huge
network of assets almost for free, helping to reduce, in the long-term, costs linked to the company’s
infrastructure. Moreover, this freed space in the headquarter can be now repurposed for new
initiatives, like the ones in the “Social & Event” proposal.

Bedroom: this solution gives the possibility to employees to be guests of a colleague in

another city. This could be really interesting if we consider the fact that it allows the smart
worker to combine its passion for travelling with its job. Clearly this solution will be very effective
if AXA will decide to spread it also to other European countries. Furthermore, this service is directly
connected to the “Desk Booking” solution. Indeed, an employee who is staying in places far from its
working town, while remote working, can book a desk in any Italian office thanks to the specific
functionality in AXApp.

In terms of operation, through AXApp the employee can make his

house available to the team, for meetings, or to other co-workers for
hosting, specifying all the details like days, capacity of the rooms and
number of beds available. In addition, they must include photos and a
location, to show the position of the house.
In our opinion, it corresponds to one of the most powerful solutions to
spread the “share culture” within the company, especially considering
our objective as it is tightly linked to the concepts of flexibility,
Figure 8: AXAbnb page
integration and friendly environment. With this, we change the

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concept of remote working, as we focus it on interaction and sharing spaces, and break the myth that
this kind of initiative generates isolation.
Also, compared to other services that employees may prefer like Airbnb, this initiative has no cost
for the guest. In our opinion, they would choose this internal service because they would rather be
hosted by someone with whom they can relate, creating a sense of community and sharing
experiences and know-how among AXA employees.
Considering the problems previously described, it is possible to say that everyone could use this
service, however, it is mainly addressed to the X and Y-Generations. It will give more flexibility to
the former, while creating a more integrated and friendly environment for the latter. Actually, this is
essential to involve millennials in the Smart-Working project.

AXACAR
While thinking about possibilities to improve the employees’ lives, we noticed that one significant
issue was their daily commuting. Often the routes traveled twice a day are long and expensive,
provoking stress and fatigue. This is why, inspired by the new ways of travelling and carpooling, we
implemented the concept of sharing economy, where employees will offer a ride to their colleagues,
depending on the route they have to follow and the closeness to this path, so they can join and share
the trip.

Furthermore, this non-professional idea will have a specific part of

AXApp dedicated to the creation and reservation of the possible
routes, to make this implementation as straightforward as possible for
every employee. This particular tool will be directly accessible from
everyone’s device at any moment, offering the possibility to create a
new trip on a particular day and time or to join an already existing
one. Moreover, they have to specify which kind of car they usually
use: in this way the company will be able to measure how much CO2
Figure 9: AXAcar page
will be saved. The app will automatically create a QR code for the
driver at the moment of departure so that his passengers will have to scan it in order to confirm their
participation to the trip.
Also, the optimization of trips for each car, both to and from the office, will lead to less wasted time
during commuting and, eventually, less traffic jams. Additionally, people can enjoy a friendly
situation, creating and strengthening relations among colleagues, making commuting less stressful
for everyone. Lastly, a shared car produces less pollution compared to a situation where all occupants

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take their own. In order to further encourage its utilization, AXA would reimburse the driver if
someone else joins the journey. In this way, employees make use of AXAcar can avoid additional
costs.

SOCIAL LIFE & EVENTS

Discussing about another non-professional solution, our main idea is to focus on the social life of
AXA's employees and create a series of events that will give them the possibility to meet and bond
outside the company and working hours. These events will be implemented with an always increasing
frequency, in order to allow workers to have every week a moment to socialize and get away from
work. They will be able to see the full list of events and register through the dedicated section in
AXApp.
This consists in the creation of a series of events and initiatives:
Company’s Aperitif/Dinner: social events organized monthly by the firm to help employees
socialize outside the working environment. The main idea is to create an informal atmosphere
where employees can freely talk and meet new people within the company.
Sport Events: firm competitions, such as football challenges and marathons, that will help
employees to bond and stay fit. In these events there will be the possibility to socialize with
people with the same interests, creating a new common culture that will encourage employees
to be healthy while having fun and bonding.
Bring Your Pet to Work: to help employees manage their pets, periodically the employees
will be allowed to bring their domestic animals to the office and keep them in special reserved
rooms while they are working. To avoid conflicts, a code of conduct will be established for
both pets and employees, and only some kind of animals will be accepted, over-excited animals
or vicious beasts will not be allowed.
Bring Your Children: with the savings coming from the reduction of working spaces needed
thanks to AXAbnb, we thought about creating a dedicated space, similar to the ones in IKEA,
especially for AXA employees’ children. In this case, employees could bring to work their
children after they finish school instead of hiring a nanny to look after them. The room will
have spaces to play, study and stay safe; moreover, there will be some specialized employees
looking at them continuously. This could also help people better manage their private and
working lives.

The main benefits developed from this solution are the fact that we will create a more friendly-
environment where people have lots of possibility to meet and bond outside a working contest, in this

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way they will improve their feeling of integration inside the company and develop a real sense of
community, breaking cultural barriers and relieving the stress accumulated during working hours.
While organizing these events it is necessary to consider their frequency, as too many can reduce
their impact and not enough can slow down integration. It could also happen that some events do not
have enough participants, therefore a yearly planning has to be structured and constant monitoring on
the number of attendants to events.

POINT SYSTEM
We are aware that the proposed solutions could go against the company's inertia. Therefore, it is
necessary to use elements of change to transform the organization. Thus, to bring together our
proposals, we will implement a Point System. Here, every time an employee will use the services
offered in AXApp will gain different types of points, depending on the solution: the App will be able
to automatically distribute Points.
According to our mission, the Point System is made up of four categories: Environmental
Sustainability, Social, Altruism and Flexibility.

Figure 10: Distribution of Points

As the figure 10 shows, we have added a multiplier to those services that require a higher effort. This
idea is based on the Gamification concept. By implementing it, we will be able to eliminate some
barriers to change, as employees will perceive more positively this transformation, doing their best
to earn as many points as possible and trading them for prizes. The main goal for the Point System is
encouraging employees to start using our solutions and keep them engaged in the long term.

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 To facilitate the calculation of the total participation in the
solution, we decided to add one last category, summing up all the
other points, called "Smart Points". Scores are shown in the
personal profile of AXApp, as shown in figure 12. For each
category of points, there will be a ranking that will be used to
establish the winners every four months.

At the end of that period, an event

will be organised to distribute some
prizes to the three workers with the
Figure 11
highest amount of "Smart Points"
and to the best one in each category. The rewards will be non-
monetary, such as a weekend-long trip. However, we also have to
consider the employees that have participated but do not classify for
an award. For them, we thought about implementing an exchange
system, in which employees can trade points for pre-determined
Figure 12: Personal Points page
prizes, such as coupons and discounts. Rankings will be shown on the
television at the entrance and on the App, while winners will be mentioned in the corporate
newspaper, AXAtonic.

We acknowledge that this solution could lead to employees having an opportunistic behaviour, as
they participate in initiatives only to get points and win prizes. However, our whole proposal is backed
up by the management of a cultural change in the company, so the points are just the first motivational
part of our proposal that later on should be the real driver.

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IMPLEMENTATION: MANAGING CULTURAL CHANGE

A change like this implicates considerable risks, coming from both the unpredictability of this model
and the reactions and resistance of the people involved. Therefore, to successfully implement our
ideas, it is mandatory to establish an efficient action plan. Hence, we arranged steps to be followed,
explained in the following paragraphs.

ROLES AND ACTORS

Initially, we identify ourselves as the facilitators, people outside of the organization able to bring
fresh solutions, not influenced by the established status quo. However, sometimes external
contributions are not perceived favorably from inside the company.

For this reason, in a project searching to generate deeply ingrained changes and dealing with a pre-
existing and varied culture, both additional and previous roles should be defined:
Steering committee. Top managers that verify the consistency of the objectives of the
project with the strategy of the company. They will provide resources and drive and support
change. They should be the first to use new services and participate in the competition for
prizes, to lead employees by actively participating.

Project Manager. The "guardian angel" in charge of planning, coordinating and monitoring
the whole project.

Working Team. Managers and members who develop the final goal in a sequence of daily
activities and promote the new way of working, traveling and participating in non-
professional activities. They are in charge of operationally achieving change.
AXApp Manager. Responsible of managing the software application within AXA, including
maintaining the features within the app, along with the problems. Additionally, this position
manages and controls the right allocation of Points.

COMMUNICATION
The main objective of this phase is increasing the commitment of both employees and managers,
encouraging a positive attitude towards change, so they actively participate in these new
initiatives and contribute to their community.

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To achieve this, AXA has to communicate the vision, benefits and motivations that brought the
company to implement this new solution. This process has to be directed to the whole company from
the beginning.

In our case, this could be accomplished through training both employees and managers. It is vital to
make the former understand that the company is moving towards a new culture, to explain how this
is going to affect them and how they can participate. They will also be able to learn how to use the
App, so they do not feel lost while first trying it.
Managers are the main leading factor of change; therefore, we will organize specific training courses
and workshops focused on a practical approach to Smart Working. Workshops will foster active
participation and engagement. This way of working will expose them to unfamiliar problems: how to
coordinate meetings if each person has their own schedule, when to approve a petition for a remote
day or how to deal with conflicts arising while teams are working outside the office. Thus, we can
ensure that they do not feel overwhelmed by this new challenge and do not reject it for its complexity.

At the same time, we decided to draw up an internal advertising campaign, consisting on periodic
theme-specific e-mails and articles in AXAtonic talking about Smart Working 2.0. To start it, we
thought about sending a video made by the CEO, or project manager in charge, explaining the new
model and its objectives. After the app had been used for a considerable amount of time, we would
involve Smart Workers, who would show their coworkers the real benefits derived from the new way
of working.

INCENTIVE SYSTEM
We strongly believe that, in order to better achieve this cultural change, an effective Incentive System
is required. This section aims at engaging people in Smart Working by making them actively
participants in the new proposed solutions by challenging themselves. Moreover, the company will
be able to develop a sense of community stimulating friendly competition.
For this reason, the best way to involve more employees in the new culture is to use the Point System
previously explained.

OPERATIONAL APPROACH
Considering that our proposal is delicate and complex, we opted to proceed carefully and start our
process with a Pilot Project whose objectives are the reduction of the uncertainty of the new model
and the large-scale facilitation of the project.

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Firstly, the Pilot Project will be addressed to a limited part of the company. Here, we narrowed it
down to one hundred employees, coming from two headquarters, fifty from Milan and the other half
from Rome, to evenly spread the knowledge and right culture. A fraction of the participants will be
volunteers, to swiftly start an active participation, while others would be chosen by the project
manager to facilitate the use of the App, for example, to better organize the routes of the carpooling
service. The employees involved will use a Beta-Version of AXApp that does not include all the
solutions due to the high costs necessary for its full development and the possibility overwhelming
the users. In this way, we will be able to evaluate the evolution of the project and save money if it
does not work as planned.
The selection of the implementation order has been made through a qualitative evaluation instead of
a quantitative one. We chose six drivers related to the benefits gained, technological resources
required, level of innovativeness and effort required from the participants. Each solution was given
points from one to five for the dark-blue dimensions, with the latter being the highest level of the
specific driver, and the opposite for the light-blue ones. How each idea was ranked is shown in the
following figure2.

Figure 13: Evaluation of the different solutions

Once the score was calculated, we could start choosing how to implement the solutions. In this case,
we organized them in a decreasing order. Therefore, the first ideas that have to be included in the
Beta Version are:
1. Personal Profile with the Point System
2. AXAbnb (only the living room sharing part)
3. AXAcar
4. Shared Calendar
5. Support Function
6. Instruments already implemented in the company

2
For detailed information of the criteria see Exhibit 2

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This first part of the Pilot Project will last about seven months. Once finished, a survey will be
distributed among the employees involved to gather information that will help improving the App.
If these results are positive, a complete version of AXApp will be developed including all the
solutions discussed before. Otherwise, it will be necessary to revise the first version and implement
the required changes.

It is at this stage where we will start making promotional videos with real life experiences of the
employees that participated in the pilot to communicate the benefits.

It is important to point out that we will include the remaining solutions by stages:
7. Events
8. Mentoring program and Innovation blog
9. Desk booking (with a mapping-stage done before)
10. AXAbnb (also bedroom)

This way, the developers can get feedback on each addition and we will not overwhelm the
users. Finally, the final version will be delivered to the whole company.

GANTT DIAGRAM
Figure 14 shows the stages of implementation. The duration of each phase was assigned qualitatively
and is subject to change.
It is important to point out that the communication phase will through the whole project. Moreover,
we considered providing training sessions after each implementation, discussing themes such as the
use of new services, and information about the next stages.

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 Figure 14: Gantt Diagram

FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS: EXISTING SOLUTIONS

Due to a lack of data, we decided to not conduct an economic feasibility analysis, as our solutions are
not so easy to quantify in terms of costs and performances. Moreover, we did not have enough
information about the existing resources in AXA in terms of budget, people and competences.
Instead, we decided to check if our solutions were already implemented similarly in other companies
as a proof of their feasibility. We found out that the majority of them were already present in a similar
way with, generally, consistent benefits and improvements in terms of working-environment and
employees’ lives.

Figure 15: Solutions already implemented in other companies

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EVALUATION
The benefits of these changes are tangible, like higher margins due to higher productivity, and
intangible, like better innovative skills achieved by empowering individuals. Unfortunately, there are
some risks related to their implementation, like lack of use.

Therefore, it is fundamental to establish a procedure to evaluate the project's performance. In our case,
this can be achieved through the definition of specific KPIs that will have a key role in the
implementation and monitoring of results, so it can be improved over time. Moreover, these KPIs
should be strictly linked to our new ideas to make easier the assessment of their progress, for example:

o Number of workers involved in Smart Working 2.0

o Number of accesses to AXApp
o Number of users for each type of service
o Time spent in remote working
o Number of assistance requests (related to mentoring program)
o Number of children/pets brought to work
o Number of points distributed over time on each solution

The last KPI is strictly linked to the Point System because it let us evaluate which solutions are less
used and ask employees the reasons behind that. In a way, this is a sort of indirect feedback.
Additionally, we will use other two categories which are:

• Internal: they monitor the performance of Smart Workers. For example, the absenteeism
rate and number of innovative ideas added in the innovation blog, which is linked to the
cultural change of the company.
• External: useful for AXA's brand image to attract the best human resources. For instance,
with AXAcar the company will be able to measure the reduction of gas emissions. Another
KPI is the savings in terms of energy achieved thanks to the reduction of electrical
consumption. Lastly, these KPIs would be useful to measure the general level of satisfaction
among AXA's employees through surveys.

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TEAM ORGANIZATION

WHOLE BRAIN MODEL

This model allowed us to analyze how each member behaves when working in a team. It is clear to
see from the figure 16 that the majority of us are located in the directive and fact-based quadrant.
This could explain our struggle when delegating tasks and lack of a leader. Regardless, we were still
able to organize ourselves and respect the different opinions expressed by each member.

Figure 16: Whole Brain model

GROUP DEVELOPMENT
This group was made up by eight randomly selected students. We were given a goal that needed to
be reached at the end of the semester. Throughout this project we were confronted with situations that
required our cooperation and collaboration. Now, that we have finished this work, as a way of
reflection, we will try to compare Tuckman’s five-stage theory of group development with our actual
process to see if we were able to hit the stages necessary to become an efficient and functional group.

At the beginning, we started meeting as much as possible to get to know our personalities, ways of
working, main capabilities and skills. Our first important decision was the selection of the project's
company. This helped us to understand better each other, as we decided to vote for one the companies
and justify this choice. Moreover, we made it clear that everyone was willing to put maximum effort

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to achieve the best outcome possible. We were able to define a common goal, which is one of the
first steps into becoming a team. Until the first informal review, we were a little lost and had so many
ideas that we couldn’t focus them properly. Therefore, we can say that this was the Forming phase.
After establishing a direction, we had to decide how to work. Mainly, we chose to meet as frequently
as possible. This part of the project was the most important, as it determined the direction we would
follow the rest of the semester. Therefore, it required that all of us were present to develop the ideas.
Each member has a strong personality; thus, it was necessary to work all together. If someone didn’t
agree with something that had been done in the previous meeting, the entire brainstorming and
thinking process would start again. Even now, we only divide the group when each task is clearly
defined and agreed on. We have not defined a leader to guide the team. Thus, because of the conflict
of ideas and lack of real coordination, we can say that this corresponds to the Storming phase.
As we got to know each other, we were able to overcome certain barriers that stopped us from being
completely efficient. For instance, we only had one international student so, at the beginning, it was
a struggle to remember to speak in English. Also, we had problems organizing properly the meetings,
as it was done spontaneously, without much notice. But, at the end, we were having fluid discussions
in English and arranging meetings weeks in advance. Furthermore, a clear direction for the project
had been decided, so we can identify that we were in the middle of the Norming phase.
As the project came to an end, we were able to divide the work more easily as everyone had a clear
idea on the direction we were following. Finally, there was enough confidence to delegate and trust
on the other’s work. It was during the last weeks that we accomplished the most, meeting less but
completing each task faster and more efficiently. Even while having disagreements during stressful
moments, communication was open and respectful. Clearly, this part belongs to the Performing
phase, that ended up being the one that lasted the most.
Lastly, being a semi-annual project, the team had to disband. We were able to build good relations
while working, so we were sad to see each other go. Fortunately, we managed to organize a last
reunion to say goodbye and thank the others for a job well done. This Adjourning phase, compared
to the other four, was the shortest.
Our team working method was similar to the one of a flat organization, without a formal leader and
everyone free to do what they were good at. However, there are some differences. The first one is the
lack of a formal structure, as there were no hierarchical roles inside the team. The second distinction
is that throughout the project, even with the absence of a formal structure, sub-groups were never
created.

Finally, we created our personal reflections upon working together.

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26
BIGLIOGRAPHY & SITOGRAPHY
Bibliography
- McEwan, Anne Marie, Smart Working: Creating the Next Wave, Gower, 2013
- E. Bartezzaghi, L’organizzazione dell’impresa, ETAS, 2010
- Osservatorio Smart Working, Tecnologie e Strumenti per lo Smart Working, 2017
- Osservatorio Smart Working, Lo Smart Working in Italia: Realtà a confronto, 2017
- Osservatorio Smart Working, New ways of Working: il punto dello Smart Working in Europa, 2017
- Talking about my generation: Exploring the benefits engagement challenge, Barclays,
(https://wealth.barclays.com/global-stock-and-rewards/en_gb/home/research-centre/talking-about-my-
generation.html)
- Dove si lavora meglio: assicurazione, Panorama,
(https://www.panorama.it/economia/aziende/dove-si-lavora-meglio-assicurazioni/)
- G. D’Urso, Sharing Economy: forte crescita entro il 2025. L’Italia è pronta?, Inside Marketing, March
2017
(https://www.insidemarketing.it/sharing-economy-in-italia-prospettive-
2025/?IM=noblock?IM=noblock)
- E. Netti, Tecnologie digitali: le imprese spingono sugli investimenti, Il Sole 24 Ore, July 2016
(http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/impresa-e-territori/2016-07-01/tecnologie-digitali-imprese-
spingono-investimenti-150324.shtml?uuid=ADTmbdm)
- Smart Working, Wellbeing and Risk, Flexibility.co.uk, November 2013
(http://www.flexibility.co.uk/flexwork/general/smart-working-wellbeing-risk.htm)
- J. Jowit, Work-life balancing: flexible working can make you hill, expert says, The Guardian, January 2016
(https://www.theguardian.com/money/2016/jan/02/work-life-balance-flexible-working-can-make-
you-ill-experts-say)
- Mariano Corso: “Lo Smart Working è legge, ora lo adottino anche pmi e PA”, EconomyUp, May 2017
(https://www.economyup.it/lavoro/mariano-corso-lo-smart-working-e-legge-ora-lo-adottino-anche-
pmi-e-pa/)
- A. Goel, The Emerging trend of Gamification in eLearning, eLearning Industry, August 2017
(https://elearningindustry.com/gamification-in-elearning-emerging-trend)
- Car Sharing e mezzi pubblici? L’italiano preferisce l’auto, Altroconsumo, May 2018
(https://www.altroconsumo.it/festival-2018/news/inchiesta-mobilita)
- J. Morgan, The 5 types of organizational structures: Part 3, Flat Organizations, Forbes, July 2015
(https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2015/07/13/the-5-types-of-organizational-structures-part-
3-flat-organizations/#42fed3316caa)

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Sitography
- https://www.axa.com
- https://natiper.it
- https://www.panorama.it
- http://www.ilsole24ore.com
- https://www.theguardian.com
- https://www.forbes.com
- https://www.altroconsumo.it
- http://milano.repubblica.it
- https://www.wikipedia.org/

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