Hi, we are peqii
Tags: Workplace Culture, Startup, Employee Experience, Employee Engagement, Hrtech

“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life” — Confucius. This is one of many motivational quotes you will read about work, but we disagree with this statement. Although you can love what you do, it still a job; you have responsibilities, milestones, and goals to achieve. On the other hand, it doesn’t mean work must be tedious or painful.

Due to the pandemic, when many people started working from home without any previous planning or training, discussions about the future of work increased considerably. It became clear that no line divides personal life from professional life. What happens in one sphere affects the other. Not only this, but it also became clear how important it is to employers to show they are aware of the difficulties employees face out of the work environment. In this context, we started to discuss and develop ideas to achieve one goal: help employers make their people happy at work.

Our company’s seed started growing during a brainstorming about how the world would be after the pandemic. The future of work was a big subject for us since we both have always enjoyed working, despite the vast disappointments we have faced in our careers with employers and teams. After much discussion, we decided to work on one specific idea we first called Swag as a Service.

The idea was to pivot the swag industry’s business model, from the current transaction model, into a flat monthly fee per employee. First, it made a lot of sense since working from home has become a trend. Sending swags overseas for global teams, for example, has turned into a growing pain. After dozens of in-depth interviews, we understood that swag’s logistics, and storage, are complicated and expensive. Not only this but many times, HR is also put in charge of this work, having to take time off people’s development planning to negotiate with buyers and carriers for the swags.

In these conversations we had with market experts, we realized that there was something bigger behind swags: employee engagement. Swags are used as one of many other things to motivate employees and increase employee engagement. The more we studied the subject, the more we understood how significant a lack of motivation could be to a company.

We then decided that tackling the lack of employee motivation issue was the right thing to do. We both left our jobs and started working on the business. In sum, we first picked the idea, and then we realized how connected it was with our values.

After a few months of studies and interviews, we were focused on what we want to pursue. Our mission is to make people around the globe happy and productive at work. Through innovative technologies and an appreciation of people’s individuality, we want to help companies offer a delightful work experience, motivating employees to bring their best selves to the work environment. Many industries have done this for their consumers, making their experience more enjoyable. Why not focus on the most important people in the company, the employees?

Engaged employees are more productive employees; studies have shown that companies with a high level of employee engagement are 22% more profitable than their competitors [1]. Our path to our goal passes through technology, which we believe is the best way to get insights into people’s individualities.

First, we understand that we need data, and time, to build a better understanding of employee motivation. So, we decided to start offering one straightforward value for our clients: efficiency. Our first product will be an easier way to manage swags without the burden of storing and shipping them. Companies with teams in multiple sites or overseas can rely on our end-to-end solution. Let us know what you want to give, and we will do it. We offer a simple solution to save companies’ money and time so that HR can focus on its core business: developing people.

Peqii’s next step is to work on personalization. Our goal is to understand what kind of gift will have more impact on that employee’s life. We already know that non-monetary gifts create a better effect on productivity due to the currency of reciprocity. According to a German study, no-monetary gifts increase productivity by 20% compared to monetary gifts[2]. More than just knowing what companies should gift, we want to determine when is the best time to do it.

We officially launch our business, looking for companies willing to create a delightful experience for their employees. We want to match with people who believe in employee engagement, who believe in people. Let’s start with a simple gift, for now, to make working fun! It is just the beginning.

[1] Gallup https://emplify.com/blog/employee-engagement-stats-2020/

[2] The Currency of Reciprocity: Gift Exchange in the Workplace http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/aer.102.4.1644