Blaze Performance believes most businesses can achieve better employee engagement and retention, and it’s not difficult to agree.
Only one-quarter of employees are engaged at work, according to Management Journal’s Semi-Annual Employee Engagement Index, while the first annual Work Relationship Index from HP recently revealed that 77% of Canadian knowledge workers do not have a healthy relationship with work, above the global average.
“When work has a negative impact on employees emotionally and physically, employees eat poorly, exercise less, toss and turn at night, gain weight, struggle with their mental health, feel like failures, feel isolated, and more,” HP’s report reads.
Businesses also struggle: “Productivity, morale, connection, and engagement diminish when relationships with work are unhealthy, leading to increasing challenges with employee retention.”
Motivated to change the way companies think about employees, Calgary-based Blaze has collaborated with partners from Harvard Business School to develop a tech-forward, human-centric approach to workforce management.
“Our goal is that organizations who recognize the importance of employee experience and feedback can easily make it a priority in their own processes,” the company explains, adding that “We worked hard to ensure that our solution was scientifically sound and backed by latest business research.”
Blaze’s flagship product is the AI-infused Digital Compass, a comprehensive solution enabling businesses to gain valuable real-time insights into emotions and perspectives of employees.
The Compass’ digital-based approach fosters a healthy workplace culture by strengthening communication and collaboration, according to the company—it’s easier for employees to express themselves.
And Blaze aims to make to fun: Individual and team goals, leaderboards, and other features help gamify employee engagement.
“Predict your organization’s future performance, see how engaged your employees are, and detect problems before talent leaves,” the company claims.
The Alberta startup was founded by Rick Timlick, Chandra Mannix, Kent Vaughn, and David Williams. Timlick serves as chief executive officer of the company, while Mannix functions as a strategic advisor.
Blaze Performance is among the latest startups graduating from Alberta Catalyzer Velocity in Southern Alberta.
Taking place on the eve of Calgary Innovation Week, the Alberta Catalyzer Velocity South Showcase on November 14 kicks off the biggest week of the year for the Calgary tech ecosystem.
The Velocity showcase is the culmination of an eight-week program where entrepreneurs work with industry experts and coaches to take their business to the next level in establishing a strong go-to-market strategy, polishing their pitches, and working towards qualifying for scale-up accelerators.
