Challenges

With a geographically distributed and role-diverse workforce, the company faced increasing challenges in maintaining consistent engagement and recognition.

Key challenges included:

• Rising attrition among frontline and retail staff, driven by limited recognition and career visibility

• Inconsistent recognition practices across departments and locations

• Low cross-functional collaboration, especially between corporate and frontline teams

• Wellbeing initiatives with limited participation, reducing impact on absenteeism and morale

• Delayed visibility into employee sentiment, leading to reactive retention efforts

• One-size-fits-all benefits, failing to meet diverse employee needs across life stages

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Personas involved

• Employees (Corporate, Retail & Field): Receive recognition, rewards, wellness incentives, and flexible benefits aligned with individual preferences.

• People & HR Teams: Design engagement programs, track participation, and respond proactively to workforce sentiment.

• People Managers & Team Leads: Recognize performance, celebrate milestones, and strengthen team culture.

• Leadership & Business Heads: Monitor engagement trends, attrition risk, and culture health across the organization.

• Program Admin / Super Admin: Configure recognition rules, rewards catalogs, integrations, and governance controls.

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The solution

The organization needed a scalable, inclusive employee engagement platform that could deliver recognition, wellbeing, and feedback consistently across all roles and locations.

Xoxoday Empuls provided a unified engagement ecosystem, bringing structure, automation, and personalization to every employee touchpoint.

1. Milestone recognition & service awards: Xoxoday Empuls automated recognition for service anniversaries, tenure milestones, and career achievements—ensuring no milestone went unnoticed. Personalized rewards and social celebrations reinforced long-term loyalty across teams.

2. Peer-to-peer recognition culture: Employees were empowered to recognize colleagues for teamwork, innovation, and going above expectations through a social recognition feed with redeemable points—strengthening cross-functional collaboration and morale.

3. Wellness & wellbeing engagement: The brand launched wellness challenges, health initiatives, and mental wellbeing programs with points-based incentives—driving higher participation and demonstrating genuine care for employee health.

4. Pulse surveys & feedback loops: Xoxoday Empuls enabled regular pulse surveys to capture real-time employee sentiment. HR teams used actionable insights to address concerns early, while closing the feedback loop improved trust and transparency.

5. Flexible perks & benefits marketplace: Employees gained access to a flexible perks ecosystem—choosing rewards aligned with their life stage, including wellness benefits, learning allowances, family-focused perks, and experience vouchers.

6. Innovation & improvement rewards: Frontline and corporate employees were incentivized to submit ideas for process improvements, cost savings, and operational excellence—unlocking valuable insights from across the organization.

7. Seamless integration with HR ecosystem: Xoxoday Empuls integrated with Bamboo HR, payroll, collaboration tools, and Microsoft 360—ensuring accurate employee data, automated triggers, and frictionless access across the workforce.

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Impact

• 31% reduction in voluntary attrition, driven by consistent recognition and engagement

• 2.6× increase in peer recognition activity, improving collaboration and morale

• 44% higher participation in wellness programs, contributing to lower absenteeism

• 3× increase in employee feedback participation, enabling proactive retention action

• Significant improvement in engagement scores across retail and frontline roles

• AED 18 million worth of rewards issued annually, strengthening loyalty and motivation

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Conclusion

By implementing Xoxoday Empuls, the sporting goods brand transformed employee engagement from fragmented initiatives into a cohesive, culture-driven experience.

From milestone recognition and peer appreciation to wellbeing, flexible benefits, and continuous feedback, Xoxoday Empuls helped the organization build a workplace where employees felt valued, heard, and motivated—regardless of role or location.

With seamless integrations, automated workflows, and personalized rewards, the brand strengthened retention, improved productivity, and built a resilient, engagement-led workforce across the GCC.

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