E-commerce travel organisation Voyages-sncf.com has introduced a state-of-the-art gaming room at its head office to encourage employees to take part in e-sport competitions.
Voyages-sncf.com, which employs approximately 1,000 staff members across Europe, will also support a team of 17 employees by covering registration fees and travel expenses for e-sport competitions.
The team, known as Team Loco, comprises both amateur and semi-pro gamers from among Voyages-sncf.com’s workforce and that of its parent organisation French national railway operator SNCF. The employees will play sporting titles such as Fifa, Overwatch, and League of Legends.
The new initiative forms part of the organisation’s retention and attraction strategy, which aims to bring generation Y talent into the business. It is also designed to help staff develop new skills, such as coding and understanding the social elements of e-sport.
The e-sport initiative will run alongside the travel organisation’s wellbeing programme, I Feel Good. The programme, which launched in 2013, includes teleworking arrangements, kids-at-work days, meditation sessions, job role exchanges, and hobby courses, such as cooking and photography.
Francois Bitouzet, director of communication and brands at Voyages-sncf.com, said: “We are a 100% digital [organisation] and there is a real historic commitment to sport, so as a forward-thinking business, we are putting the public who are passionate about e-sport at the heart of our future planning and our recruitment.
“We are delighted to be able to do this in an original way by supporting our employees, giving them the chance to pursue their passion, while providing new and valuable skills in the process. This initiative illustrates the importance we attach to the personal and professional development of our teams, as well as their cohesion and team spirit.”