Sodexo Healthcare & Seniors Accelerator

Sodexo Healthcare & Seniors provides services to healthcare facilities and senior living communities, focusing on enhancing patient and resident well-being. They offer solutions like food services, facilities management, and experience improvements to support health, dignity, and operational efficiency.

The Sodexo Healthcare & Seniors Accelerator was launched to encourage startups and scale-ups to bring innovative new solutions to Sodexo’s healthcare offerings. The program was the second iteration of Sodexo Accelerators in North America, and the 4th in partnership with L Marks globally. To date, Sodexo’s Accelerator initiatives have brought together emerging technologies and business leaders in Brazil, UK, and the US across multiple segments.

By working closely with Sodexo stakeholders in interviews and workshops, four opportunity areas were developed for the Accelerator:

• Employee Excellence
• Patient & Resident Experience
• Exceptional Foodservice

The Accelerator received over 100 applications from all 6 inhabited continents. After rigorous evaluation, approximately half were brought to a screening meeting with program stakeholders before extending a Pitch Day invitation to 11 companies. Of these 11, three teams were selected to formally join the accelerator program.

Following selection, each startup team was paired with a Sodexo client for a pilot. With guidance from key program decision makers and operational staff, teams executed these pilot projects across 3 states and 19 sites.

Results

ThriveMap

ThriveMap creates personalized pre-hire assessments for high-volume, frontline hiring. These assessments take candidates through a virtual “day in the life” experience of the job to ensure a fit on both sides. Candidates are presented with tailored, realistic job scenarios and typical shift tasks so a candidate is fully informed about the role to which they are applying. This is meant to increase job satisfaction and decrease role attrition.

ThriveMap team developed an assessment for the Dining Associate role at one of Sodexo’s sites. This role was flagged by management for its high attrition rate, which was attributed in part to new hires having incorrect expectations for the job. ThriveMap provided management with a greater understanding of the key skill areas required for the Dining Associate position, as well as a way to ensure candidates would be objectively assessed by their competencies

Ultimately, the assessment was used by several potential candidates. Sodexo as able to glean significant information from the review of their internal processes. They were also given extremely valuable information from their employees, as those within the role who responded to ThriveMap’s survey were empowered to articulate what they believe are the core competencies required for the position.

Memory Lane Games

The Memory Lane Games application was developed to provide cognitive decline maintenance to seniors through engaging, personalized games. The simple, error-free learning games have clinical backing from the Mayo Clinic. Games are fully customizable and personalizable, opening more potential avenues of communication with seniors in cognitive decline by providing culturally, geographically, and personally tailored “reminiscence therapy.”

The app was chosen for the program to enhance the resident experience at Sodexo Senior’s client sites while also reducing the workload on care staff employed by Sodexo’s clients. During the pilot, the app was tested by 11 active residents, accumulating over 3 hours of playtime. Residents participated in 29 sessions, playing 32 unique games, and achieved a consistent accuracy rate of 88% across all games.

1Huddle

1Huddle is a coaching and development platform that uses quick-burst mobile games to more quickly and effectively educate, elevate, and energize your workforce — from frontline to full-time.”

The software was selected based on the identified need for more consistent training across Sodexo Healthcare & Seniors sites, ensuring employees are equally trained to provide exceptional service regardless of their location.

1Huddle was quickly adopted by management and employees across one of Sodexo’s clients. High levels of engagement across the organization led to a high level of data collection throughout the pilot period, as well as continued excitement from management. 1Huddle developed six games alongside senior leadership to determine training areas to gamify through the platform, ingesting existing training materials and on-site procedures to ensure accurate information. The team initially aimed for 2-3 modules, but early success led to the development of six initial games.

1Huddle ultimately built 22 games, with a total of 1,124 individual questions and had 1,102 games played for 51 hours of engagement total. Sodexo have continued their relationship beyond the programme