Use Gamification to increase employee engagement

Stephan Botha

May 12, 2020

∙

5 min read

Sales

Employee engagement is one of the biggest factors that drives any business - after all, the company only does as well as its employees do.

Gamification has been a long-discussed topic in the business world and has people torn over how effective it is. With sub-par employee engagement, companies are willing to try almost every solution under the sun, including introducing gamification in their companies. There are many elements to the process of gamification that show a significant positive approach and helps employees bring back the spark in their work!
So, what is gamification?

Gamification is basically the process of using game-based elements in your workplace to create a healthy competition among the employees. It is done by using reward systems, scoring, and prizes when someone completes a task first or reaches a desired goal set by the company. This can help employees get actively engaged in their work and have a motivating factor that pushes them to do better.

Gamification also adds an element of fun to the workplace and promotes a way for employees to learn more about the company as well. For instance, imagine hosting a fun trivia night for the employees where they can win prizes by guessing facts about the company, products, and services! Such a light-hearted environment removes the stress of work and helps promote a healthier place to work in.

Why Use Gamification for Your Company?
How to Use Gamification for Your Company?

Why use gamification for your company?

Research in this article by Medium shows that the use of gamification increases employee productivity by 90%, and 72% of employees feel the competition pushed them to work harder! With such big numbers on its side, gamification can help in boosting employee engagement when implemented the right way.

Gamification helps in creating a stimulating environment that motivates employees to do better than others and win. Remember how you felt as a child when you won a prize or medal? It's basic human psychology to get excited by this thrill and try to win more.

Companies can bank on this but only if they understand what exactly motivates their employees - is it a salary bonus, gift cards, or other prizes with quiet praise or do they want to get recognition and also want to be called the employee of the month! Do they prefer short term or long term rewards? It is important to listen to what really motivates your employees and device a plan that offers rewards that will excite them to be more productive and better their job performance.

It is also important to connect the gamification plan with the objectives and goals of your company. Ultimately, they must work towards helping your business grow. Create a game-based system that not just works for your employees, but also helps you. Failure to listen to your employees and understand what works can lead to disastrous results with a failed gamification project.

You can avoid this by following the below tips -

First, identify the goals you are trying to meet by using gamification in your office.

Understand your employees and find out their motivating factors.

Create a gamification system based on your goals and your employees' skills and motivations.

Properly communicate the purpose, rewards, and how to take part in this so all employees are on board.

Analyse your gamification strategy and change it according to what works and what doesn't.

How to use gamification for your business?

Once you've understood what gamification is and how it can help you with your business, the next step is to find the best way of deploying it in your office. There are many ways in which gamification can be used in offices and can help in reaching different goals and objectives.

Increase job performance -

Enhance job performance by motivating employees towards something positive. It could be as simple as competing for employee of the month to playing a status based game where you level up every time you meet a certain objective.

No matter the kind of game-based system you use to help your employees do their best, the stimulating environment and the drive to win is sure to push them harder!

Better your communication -

Managers and other people in higher positions often forget about communicating with the "small guys." Employees at every stage need important feedback to understand how they are doing and if they are going on the right track.

Using gamification helps remove this distance and creates an easier way for employees to get the feedback they need and for managers to better understand them.

Employee training -

Whether it is new or old employees you want to train, using gamification to do so can open many doors for you. Make the on-boarding process easier to help current employees learn about new techniques, products, software updates, and more.

Training is usually seen as a boring activity that most employees don't want to be a part of. Introducing gamification into the mix not just helps them learn more, but also pushes them to take part in the training session in the first place!

The key to understanding the right gamification process for you lies in understanding want your company and your employees need. By using gamification and implementing it correctly, you can surely achieve the desired goals for your business. Gamification positively affects job performance and employee engagement while helping the company grow and do better.

Michael King says...

"I can’t think of a time where a client has requested something that we weren’t able to do with FiveCRM. Unlike most systems, it has a lot of flexibility."

Managing Director, Senior Response

JANE HUSBANDS SAYS...

“Each client, and each of their campaigns, has its own unique specifications. We essentially needed to set up mini CRMs on one platform to meet those requirements.”