Gamification: A New Era in Workplace Experiences

Over the last ten years, enterprise workplaces have gone through lots of changes. One of the most impactful developments was a shift to a hybrid work model that sped up the use of digital tools. Considering that 80% of US employees feel stressed at work and 64% don't feel excited about their daily tasks, such a transformation was necessary for improving work experiences.

Low employee motivation results in lower productivity, revenue loss, and a not-so-great reputation as an employer - and employers aren’t out of the woods yet Keeping employees satisfied and engaged is a long-term effort that requires consistent improvement.

Enterprise gamification is a solution that helps boost employee interest, gets rid of digital friction, and encourages creativity by adding an element of fun.

What is enterprise gamification, and why is it popular?

Gamification brings game elements into work processes, using motivation, engagement, and competition to increase employee performance, encourage collaboration, and increase productivity.

In gamified experiences, employees take on challenges, earn rewards, and reach targets, all while aligning with the organization's bigger goals. This way, they can make brave decisions, learn from mistakes, and innovate with ease while avoiding monotony and the risk of burning out.

Surprisingly, gamification is not a novel concept. Back in 2012, Gartner reported that 70% of global companies with the largest market share were already using gamification in their operations. More than a decade later, gamification continues to prove its effectiveness.

So, why did enterprise gamification become so popular, and why does it remain relevant today?

• Games feel natural to today’s employees. With computer games gaining popularity in the 1980s and 1990s, they found a dedicated audience in millennials, who make up 38.6% of the current US workforce.

• Gamification creates an emotional connection. Successful gamification triggers emotions, such as excitement, anticipation, and pride, forming a strong emotional bond with the workplace and tasks.

• Gamification motivates employees. This practice provides a sense of achievement and taps into the psychological need for competence, autonomy, and connection, making employees more engaged and motivated to perform better.

Business applications of gamification

In the digital workplace, gamification is commonly applied in people operations, sales, and marketing activities. Although its main focus is on employees, companies also get the benefits of its adoption. Gamification ensures continuous engagement with a digital workplace at every stage—from onboarding to productizing.

Corporate onboarding

Gamification is applied to improve the onboarding experience and ensure it's not only informative but also enjoyable.

Here are some gamification examples often used during onboarding:

• **Onboarding quests. **Introducing newcomers to the company culture, policies, and essential information through interactive tasks and challenges.

• Interactive training modules. Enhancing training with gamified e-learning modules featuring quizzes and interactive scenarios for a more engaging experience.

• Social onboarding. Integrating gamification to encourage social interaction among new hires and existing employees, fostering networking and team bonding.

• Virtual tours. Providing virtual tours for new hires to explore their workplace and company premises. Using metaverse experiences enhances the sense of presence, especially for remote workers.

• Progress tracking and achievements system. Keeping employees engaged by visually tracking their onboarding progress, showcasing completed tasks and upcoming milestones for a sense of accomplishment.

Boosting productivity

Implementing an enterprise gamification system brings multiple benefits to employee productivity. Business leaders become able to foster healthy competition, offer an entertaining way to set and achieve goals, encourage self-development, and promote an open feedback culture.

Here's how it works:

• Performance-based rewards. Employees earn points, badges, or virtual currency for meeting and exceeding targets, driving motivation.

• Goal-setting and progress tracking. Employees set objectives and monitor real-time progress, providing a clear sense of direction and accomplishment.

• Leaderboards and competitions. Managers can recognize top performers, celebrate achievements, and inspire others to enhance their productivity.

• Team challenges and collaboration. Encouraging teamwork to solve problems and achieve shared goals enhances team spirit and motivation.

• Continuous feedback loops. Promoting ongoing feedback and communication between employees and managers establishes a culture of continuous improvement and higher employee engagement.

Fostering collaboration and teamwork

Enterprise gamification unites employees around common goals and challenges and promotes social connections within the workplace. Infusing game elements into the employee experience creates an interactive environment that fosters collaboration and communication among team members through:

• Gamified team challenges. These challenges require collaboration among team members, encouraging them to work together, leverage their strengths, and share expertise.

• Virtual team-building activities. Games and activities help employees bond, build trust, and strengthen working relationships in a fun and interactive way.

• Gamified brainstorming sessions. Platforms for ideation allow employees to contribute ideas, vote on solutions, and collaborate playfully and engagingly.

• Gamified project management. Tracking progress on team projects in a creative and rewarding manner encourages effective collaboration and timely completion of tasks.

• Leaderboards with teams. Fostering healthy competition and collaboration among teams enhances team spirit.

• Team recognition programs. Recognizing teams with virtual trophies, badges, or special privileges for successful collaboration reinforces a competitive spirit and nurtures a supportive and connected work culture.

Embracing innovation

Enterprise gamification speeds up the adoption of company-wide changes by involving employees and making the transition more enjoyable and rewarding.

Here are some practical examples:

• Quiz-based games for mandatory training. Transforming necessary training into enjoyable quiz-based games that guide employees through different stages of change adoption, making learning more engaging and memorable.

• Game-like simulations. Utilizing simulations that resemble games to educate employees about changes, providing interactive scenarios for applying new knowledge in a risk-free environment.

• Gamified progress tracking. Introducing a playful way to track the progress of company-wide changes, showcasing collective achievements and keeping employees engaged and motivated.

• Scoring system for training completion. Developing a scoring system that allows employees to earn points for completing training modules, which they can later redeem for various rewards.

• Gamified feedback mechanisms. Introducing playful feedback methods to collect employee opinions on changes and provide instant feedback on their concerns.

Unleashing creativity

The workplace can sometimes feel restrictive, making employees hesitant to take risks and face criticism with zero positive reinforcement. Introducing gamified experiences creates a space for innovation and creativity, where work becomes less imposing.

Here's why incorporating gamified experiences, especially in ideation and productizing, is crucial:

• Gamified challenges for creativity. Encouraging employees to contribute creative solutions or new ideas through challenges or contests.

• Brainstorming games. Using game-like elements during brainstorming sessions to boost participation and foster out-of-the-box thinking.

• Idea incubators and innovation labs. Providing resources and support for employees to develop and refine their creative projects.

• Fail-fast challenges and hackathons. Prompting employees to quickly prototype and test ideas, nurturing a culture of experimentation and learning from failures.

• Gamified feedback and evaluation. Allowing employees to provide constructive feedback on creative ideas and promoting an iterative approach to innovation.

• Recognition for learning from failure. Rewarding employees for learning from failure emphasizes the value of trying new approaches, even if they don't succeed.

How to implement gamification?

Implementing gamified mechanisms involves collaboration among teams, including software engineers and designers. The key is aligning employee needs with effective channels of influence and providing fair rewards.

When approaching gamification, executives need to focus on employees' motivation, such as a sense of accomplishment or autonomy. Here's how it applies to developing a rewards module:

• Self-affirmation: Receive rewards for completion.
• Authority: Display the user’s rewards to others.
• Self-development: Display next-level rewards.
• Achievement: Earn rewards for completing milestones.
• Affiliation: Receive team rewards.
• Pro-sociality: Share rewards with colleagues.

It’s important to select fair rewards aligned with employees' motivation for a deeper emotional connection and appreciation. Additionally, gathering feedback and iteratively refining the gamification system is crucial for ongoing improvement. In general, the key to successfully introducing gamified workflows into the employee routine is prioritizing their needs and their expectations of the challenge they want to face in order to grow and show their potential.

Therefore, staying in tune with teams at all times ensures that leaders have a detailed and comprehensive gamification vision that can be successfully shared across the enterprise.

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