Context

BNP Paribas was looking for external sources of innovation to strengthen the value of sustainability and used a corporate-startup pilot to increase employee awareness of BNP Paribas’ efforts and guide employees towards a more sustainable life.

98% of employees’ increased sense of pride in their efforts towards a more sustainable life

In another project with maze, the bank co-designed and launched with an 8-week development programme to empower experienced employees to take control of their learning journey and get prepared for the future of banking.

88% of experienced employees felt that the programme exceeded their expectations

Timeline

2021-2022

Team & Tools

Antonio Miguel - Impact Advisory

Ângela Silva - Growth Programmes

Geographies covered

Portugal

The challenge

BNP Paribas was looking for external sources of innovation that could help them take the sustainability message and knowledge across the company. The Corporate and Social Responsibility (CSR) team asked maze to find startups that would challenge the way we learn about sustainability and carbon emissions.

BNP Paribas is a corporate partner of maze x, our impact startup accelerator. In the context of this partnership, we scouted and interviewed dozens of startups to find the right one to tackle BNP Paribas’ challenge. After presenting a short-list, BNP Paribas finally chose Deedster - a Swedish impact startup developing gamified solutions to encourage a more sustainable lifestyle at a corporate and individual level. Deedster has implemented its solutions in +100 corporate clients and has a two-fold solution. First, a solution for retail banks to enable their customers to understand the footprint of their purchases. Second, the Deedster Challenge - a game that can be used by any organization that wants to engage with their employees through sustainability.

The solution

Together we designed a pilot that would suit BNP Paribas’ needs while allowing the startup to showcase the potential of its solution to a high-profile client. Maze facilitated the implementation of the pilot and intermediated the engagement between the startup and the corporate bank.

BNP Paribas had +300 people testing Deedster Challenge. The participants were divided into teams that competed for sustainability awards attributed to those that completed the higher number of Deeds - sustainable actions that are proven to reduce our carbon footprint. The challenge also included a quiz to test and increase the participants’ knowledge about the impact of our daily actions.

The outcomes

• 100% of the Deedster challenge vacancies were filled
• 98% of employees increased their sense of pride in their personal efforts towards a more sustainable life
• 100% of the participants felt very proud of the efforts done by BNP Paribas on spreading the sustainability message across the teams and outside the organization
• BNP Paribas has been using the content created by Deedster to foster additional sustainability initiatives
• BNP Paribas hired maze and Deedster again to build a Carbon Footprint Calculator and use it as an engagement tool with their audience as part of their sponsorship of the Rock in Rio Lisboa music festival.

Sustainability is one of the most critical priorities at BNP Paribas. The pilot with Deedster allowed us to go further by ensuring that sustainability is a top-of-mind issue for employees inside and outside their work environment. Luciana Peres, Head of Diversity & Inclusion at BNP Paribas Portugal

How this could apply to you

With maze’s advisory support, we can co-design a corporate-startup pilot, corporates can test the most innovative solutions without having to invest the resources to develop them internally. Through our scouting services, corporates gain optionality by seeing the best solutions available in the market that are ready to implement. However, a good pilot set-up is critical for this relationship to work as corporates and startups are different in nature in how they operate and make decisions. By designing and implementing a corporate-startup pilot, corporates can tackle relevant organizational challenges and ensure positive social and environmental outcomes in a matter of months.

The problem

BNP Paribas was facing a challenge. Some of their most experienced employees were being less exposed to learning opportunities which was negatively impacting their career choices. BNP Paribas challenged maze to work with this cohort to help them take control of their learning journey and get excited about the future of banking.

Our first priority was understanding the problem. One of the assumptions was that this group encompassed mostly female workers who had children and had de-prioritised the investment in their own learning journey. To understand if the previous assumption was correct, maze conducted a series of interviews with several experienced employees to understand the needs and pains of the cohort. It became clear that the challenge was real, but it affected all genders. There was a considerable group of employees who felt lost regarding the best way to elevate their skills and knowledge to what their job and the future of banking is demanding. What was common among this group of people:

• experienced (+14y of experience)
• working for the bank for +4y
• highly skilled and go-to-persons for their teams
• extremely busy and involved in the business as usual, with little time to dedicate to exploring learning opportunities outside their immediate operational needs

The solution

Together with the BNP Paribas’ team, we designed an 8-week development programme called Built to Shift. The programme targets experienced employees that want to learn more about:

1. Tech trends influencing the disruption of the banking sector (like blockchain, metaverse, and virtual reality) and impact trends that are shifting the sector’s role in creating a positive change in the world
2. Collaborative and technical tools, like the ones provided by Microsoft, or conceptual, such as design thinking and storytelling
3. Soft skills, like critical thinking, communication, empathy, or the ability to solve complex problems

The learning is enabled through inspirational sessions, weekly challenges, practical workshops, and a team project. The program ends with a pitch to top management about how to prototype a solution that will solve the pains identified by each group during a research project.

We tested the prototype of this programme from May to June 2022 with a group of 27 participants.

The outcomes

• 85% of an average attendance rate in weekly sessions
• 88% of participants felt that the programme exceeded their expectations
• 70% would very likely recommend the programme to other colleagues
• 80% of participants classified the support given during the programme and the quality of trainers and speakers as “Excellent”

How this could apply to you

Most corporates wish to support their employees throughout their learning and development journey. By partnering with maze, corporates can provide tailored learning programmes to specific cohorts at a low risk without canibalizing existing solutions. By doing so, corporates will be better equipped to build a more inclusive and collaborative work environment supported by employees that feel excited about the world ahead.