Could challenges and prizes help your employees participate and learn?
Gaming elements aren’t a routine part of the workday for all employees; however, 80 percent of the ones who use gamification-based software regularly enjoy having access to it, according to a 2018 TalentLMS survey.
Eighty-seven percent of those employees believe gamification makes them more productive. Almost just as many (84 percent) say using gamification as part of their job makes them more feel more engaged.
Employers have found utilizing gamification in the workplace can help improve numerous processes — ranging from assessing job candidates’ skills to making operational elements more efficient, including:
Training
A social media instruction program Cisco launched in 2012 that allowed its employees and contractors to take courses and achieve different certification levels also allowed participants to form small groups and participate in team challenges, which earned them badges. Within two years of the program’s introduction, according to an article written by Cisco’s global social media senior manager, more than 650 professionals had been certified.
Onboarding
A gamification structure involving skill-based competitions that incentivized new hires getting up to speed on the company’s internal marketing and sales system helped developer Metacube reduce its onboarding time for newly hired engineers by 30 percent, according to a write-up about the initiative.
Employee motivation and engagement
A number of organizations have employed gamification techniques to encourage workers to participate in preventative health programs. Sixty-two percent of employers were using game-like features to engage employees in health-related programs designed to encourage behavioral changes as of 2013, according to a WorldatWork report. Contests were a popular program element; 60 percent of companies used them to engage employees in various program activities —such as walking competitions, for example.
Employers have also applied gamification in the workplace to encourage business performance. After lead generation provider emedia, for instance, implemented a gamification-based platform that assigned point values to sales tasks — such entering progress updates into its system — and provided public recognition when sales team members reached goals, the company experienced a 35 percent increase in opportunity reporting and a 25 percent month-over-month sales revenue increase, according to a case study.
Gamification techniques can potentially help companies control cost and increase efficiency in a number of areas; one survey, for example, found 73 percent of employees would be interested in participating in a gamified version of making business travel reservations, where points and prizes would be awarded for using their employer’s preferred providers.
For more thoughts on creative ways to engage employees — and potentially reduce operational delays and expense in the process — view our blog posts on how company pride can invigorate engagement, disarming your most disengaged employees, 6 statistics that will change how you view employee engagement, HR employee engagement initiatives to consider — and some additional information about using gamification at work in our blog post on whether gamification could be a growing trend in recruiting.