Gamification – what do companies use it for?

December 16, 2015
| 1 Comment
Copyright: K2 Space / www.flickr.com

There are many ways in which companies can benefit from using gamification in their internal strategies. Many companies nowadays use gaming elements in recruitment, training and for motivating the employees to achieve goals more efficiently.

In my previous blog post I discussed the term “gamification” and what it means. In shortly and sweet, “gamification is the use of game play mechanics for non-game applications” (Hunter, 2011, 1), which I take to mean that almost every service can be gamified and made more engaging for the user. In this blog post I will talk about how companies can use gamification and game elements internally to enhance employee engagement.

 

Recquitment

Gamification can be used in the very beginning of a person’s career in a company. More and more companies are using game elements to find the perfect employee and compare different applicants for a job. Experts might not be compeletely sold on this approach, since there is little research yet done on the subject, but there have been good examples on hiring applications which work.

“Gamification has been used in hiring, although results appear to be mixed. L’Oreal’s game Reveal and Marriott’s 2012 Farmville-style game My Marriott Hotel are attempts at this. While My Marriott Hotel was reported by Forbes to have not produced results and is no longer available on Marriott’s Facebook page, there are other gamified apps that are alive and well. Case in point: HackerTrail, a business that pits developers against one another in a variety of online challenges. The winners of the challenges receive prizes — points, gift cards and the opportunity to interview with other companies for a job.” (O’Connell, 2015)

 

Training

After starting a job at a company, an employee must be trained. Gamification is a good tool which helps people to engage, learn and get motivated in order to achieve new goals. “Businesses have used game mechanics for years–often in training and human resources settings–to provide users with incentives to perform particular (and, quite often, tedious) tasks. “(Donston-Miller, 2012)

There are good reasons why games help us learn. “Gamification can be used to promote learning because many of the elements of gamification are based on educational psychology and are techniques that designers of instruction, teachers, and professors have been using for years. Items such as assigning points to activities, presenting corrective feedback, and encouraging collaboration on projects have been the staples of many educational practitioners. The difference is that gamification provides another layer of interest and a new way weaving together those elements into an engaging game space that both motivates and educates learners.” (Kapp, 2012, 12)

“When it comes to learning, games can function as a safe space where players are free to fail spectacularly with no consequences” (O’Connell, 2015).  According to the O’Connell, “Deloitte includes incorporating certain elements into training, such as transparency in scoring so players can see how others are performing, as well as points, badges and leaderboards. In 2008, the firm broke ground with a program for newly-promoted senior management program that simulated a client experience and used points and transparency so that learners could see how other players had done. The company also uses a Cash Cab-style game to help bring employees up to date on pieces of knowledge they need”. (O’Connell, 2015)

 

Motivating

Game based techniques can also be used to engage and motivate the employees to better results. According to Gallup’s Employee Engagement Survey of 2013, 63 percent of employees are not engaged or motivated at work and unwilling to make a contribution. This is where gamification can help.

According to Kapp, “motivation is a process that energizes and gives direction, purpose or meaning to behavior and actions. For individuals to be motivated, the challenge must not be too hard or too simple. Driving participation in an action or activity is a core element in gamification. Gamification has a high potential to help solve problems. The cooperative nature of games can focus more than one individual on solving a problem. The competitive nature of games encourages many to do their best to accomplish the goal of winning.” (Kapp, 2012, 12)

 

My own experiences

After reading all these articles and books about what gamification can be used for at the workplace, I also started thinking of my career and experiences I have had with gamification. Although none of the companies I have worked for have openly discussed gamification or presented applications and programmes as having game elements, I can now recornize the how these have been incorporated into our everyday work.

In my current company we use a training programme with strong game elements, where we must complete different tasks (read instructions, watch training videos) and our progress is presenting with charts and points. I have noticed a change in my own behavior, since I complete these training tasks with more enthusiasm since I want to see the percentage of accomplished tasks rise. Although this programme doesn’t benchmark the employees against each other, there is still a competitive effect, since the employee is competing against his or herself.

 

What else will gamification be used for in the future, I wonder.

 

Sources:
 
Donston-Miller, D., (2012), ‘7 Examples: Put Gamification To Work’ Informationweek.com (4 May 2012), available: http://www.informationweek.com/7-examples-put-gamification-to-work/d/d-id/1104211? (accessed 16 Dec 2015)
 
O’Connell, A.J. (2015)  ‘All Work and Some Play: A Guide to Gamification In Workplace Training, (SkilledUp, com, (19 March 2015) available:  http://www.skilledup.com/insights/work-play-guide-gamification-workplace-training (accessed 16 Dec 2015)
 
 Photo copyright: Du Truong / www.flickr.com
The blog
| Tags: , , ,