Gowling WLG aims to demystify blockchain with free coffee app

Gowling WLG has launched a new incentives scheme designed to introduce staff to the basics of blockchain technology while also offering them tokens for free drinks.The 'Gowling WLG Reward Token Scheme' scheme, which launched this week, enables employees to exchange tokens on a blockchain platform, which can be cashed in for hot drinks at the firm’s onsite restaurants in London and Birmingham. All UK-based Gowling WLG employees have been invited to download an app onto their mobile phones, register with the firm’s blockchain platform, and set up a digital ‘wallet’ in which the tokens are held. Before employees can start trading tokens, they are required to watch a two-minute introductory video on blockchain technology, after which they will earn two tokens, which they can exchange for a drink or anonymously gift to colleagues. The firm believes blockchain technology will play a key role in the UK's professional and commercial future and wants to ensure staff are up to speed with the basics of a subject that has attracted much attention but remains a mystery to many. The scheme has been led by corporate partner David Brennan, the co-chair of Gowling WLG's tech group. Gowling WLG architecture and innovation head Jody Jansen added the scheme was about showing staff that, while the tech might seem difficult and inaccessible, "using it isn't". Take-up of the scheme has been strong, with 200 employees across both the City and Midlands bases already registered - a trend which Jansen expects to continue. "In addition to our existing reward schemes, we wanted an instant reward scheme, where rewards can be made not just up-to-down, but upwards too - a 360-degree reward scheme. "On Monday, we held a lunch-learn session, and it's been a hit topic. People have been asking questions, and now it is all much more visual to them." Over the past couple of years Gowling WLG has worked to step up its tech offering. Last year, the firm's head of innovation and digital, Derek Southall, left his post to head up the Hyperscale Group - a digital and innovation platform which the firm turns to when advising clients with more complex tech needs. The firm has also worked to increase its AI capabilities by building out its contract review tool.