“It has been over 100 days since we gave people the option of returning to the office on Monday 6th July, and it has been impressive to witness the willingness of all of our team to ‘Make It Happen’, as we say.

“Working as ‘Team Leo’, we have triumphed by staying connected and achieving results from wherever we are,” says Ernest Mercieca, Employer Branding and Engagement Specialist at LeoVegas Group.

Having lived through the ups and downs of the past seven months, rapid changes within the workplace as well as changes to the overall iGaming business landscape caused by COVID-19 have been an almost daily occurrence.

Back in March, Mr Mercieca says it was difficult to assess the impact the pandemic would have on people’s lives. “Nevertheless, from the very start, our main priority was the safety of our employees.

In parallel with this was our focus on building a business continuity plan, and the company strategy was to, as quickly as possible, create a duplicate working environment that would allow our teams to plan, drive and deliver from remote, safe locations.”

To this end, Mr Mercieca explains that a consequence of the pandemic has been an accelerated shift from offline to online, not only for the iGaming sector, but also for retail, healthcare and others.

“Remote working was already a benefit that the team here believes in, but ever since COVID-19 hit, we stopped counting hours spent on Zoom and it has been interesting to see how quickly people adapted.”

Since re-opening their Sliema offices last July, the company has offered staff a hybrid approach in its efforts to maintain a healthy and safe environment for all, which Mr Mercieca says is the company’s number one priority.

“Although it was a great pleasure for us to see our offices open once again, remote working will remain intact and has been working very efficiently for us, both before and during the pandemic,” he asserts.

“Therefore, we don’t see any issue with keeping this system intact, and of course will adjust our strategy according to any changes that develop.”

Even for a company like LeoVegas – a leading mobile gaming company with a digital offering – that offered the option of remote working to its staff prior to the pandemic, maintaining contact and strengthening relationships while staff members worked from home wasn’t without its challenges, and a lot of effort has been put into achieving this for the Malta office and globally as one group.

Ernest Mercieca - Employer Branding and Engagement Specialist at LeoVegas Group / Photo by Tyler Calleja Jackson

“Various fun and engaging activities were adopted during this period and we held team meetings on a regular basis. Additionally, appreciation packages were sent to all employees’ households, and online fitness sessions and health awareness talks were held, along with a group-wide quiz every Friday,” Mr Mercieca explains.

The company also kept up its monthly initiatives, which are celebrated locally and worldwide, including Pride Month, Pink October, Animal Day, International Coffee Day and Mental Health Awareness Week.

While each occasion aims to raise awareness for a specific cause, Mr Mercieca says that these events are also a great opportunity for engaging with all colleagues, whether or not they’re based at the office.

“Engagement is an essential aspect in the day-to-day running of any leading company, and we are continuously working on this, ensuring that contact isn’t lost with any member of Team Leo,” says Mr Mercieca.

“Even as we navigate these challenging times, LeoVegas has continued to offer new opportunities. Our recruitment is ongoing, and we are on-boarding new colleagues to the Pride across all locations via a 100 per cent digital process, with the choice of working remotely or from the office.”

The company also feels strongly about community involvement. LeoVegas has contributed to the local community at large in recent months, including making a €10,000 donation to the United Nations, sending weekly lunches to front-liners in Sweden and Malta, and contributing to the purchasing of ventilators for local hospitals.

“We’ve managed to engage our employees in all of our community projects as one team. This is a daily exercise for us – working out ways to have a positive impact on the community, with the aim of encouraging others to join us on this path, as Leo Cares.”

A trademark quality that most gaming companies are known for is their fun and playful office vibe and culture, often fuelled by engaging and exciting office design, in-house activities and ample opportunities for colleagues to mingle.

With the changes that have taken hold over the past year, many colleagues have had to adapt to living in a radically different office environment, practically overnight. What impact did this have on the company’s team members?

“When it comes to office culture, we have always worked to achieve the best relationships we could, regardless of the pandemic and whether people are based at the office or working remotely.

“LeoCulture is a company-wide project that seeks to ensure that all employees are aligned with what the company wants to achieve and how it goes about doing so,” says Mr Mercieca.

He asserts that LeoCulture is all about creating self-driven employees who have the freedom to make wise decisions supported by the company’s passion – that of being ‘King of Casino’ – as well as its four cornerstones and five attitudes.

“Our cornerstones ensure that we strive to always be mobile first, while providing a great gaming experience and maintaining rapid growth. They emphasise that it is all about the people – that is, keeping our employees happy and providing the right tools for our customers when it comes to responsible gaming.”

Mr Mercieca continues, “the attitudes we follow – We Make It Happen, Simplicity Rules, We Chase Betterness, Trust and Accountability Counts, and We are Team Leo – are built around the courage of the company and its lions, for them to find solutions and challenge themselves to achieve the ‘wow factor’ in whatever they do, all in a fun and friendly environment where everyone respects each other and the company’s customers.”

With this in mind, Mr Mercieca says that he doesn’t believe the company culture has been heavily impacted by the imposed changes to the office environment.

“However, we have to learn to adapt to the situation that we find ourselves in and make sure that we keep practising our culture while maintaining engagement with more than 800 employees. Each and every Team Leo individual embodies this culture, making LeoVegas the King of Casino and the employer of choice.”

And this drive for embodying the company’s office culture certainly pays off. Mr Mercieca believes that the past few months have brought about unique challenges that, in the end, have been rewarding for the LeoVegas team, including a strong performance that has led to satisfactory results.

“I believe that LeoVegas has welcomed the challenges, embraced them and sought to make the most of them.” Reflecting this attitude, the company recently launched a new brand, LiveCasino.com, which focuses on the live casino product.

“It was an important project for us, which we managed to get ready in time despite COVID-19. There will certainly be more product launches in the future,” Mr Mercieca concludes.

“As for employee engagement, we are continuously working on further improvements to our brand and making LeoVegas the place to be. Anyone interested in joining the King of Casino and being part of Team Leo should keep a close eye on our social media platforms – and get ready to roar.”

This interview first appeared in the November edition of iGaming Capital