Gamification in the company - make employees have fun with their work!

Have you thought how you can increase the involvement of your employees in the tasks performed? When attempts at motivational meetings, trainings, and courses did not bring any major results, gamification may be an effective solution. A prerequisite, however, is that it is properly implemented and that the rules are clear. Although the idea itself is not new, it is still a recent phenomenon in Poland. How can you apply this method in your company?

What is gamification?

Gamification, also called gamification, is the transfer of mechanisms known from computer games to situations unrelated to games. Initially, gamification was primarily related to marketing activities, but very quickly found its application also in activities aimed at increasing employee involvement and eliminating inappropriate behavior. Gamification will be an interesting diversion to the monotony of work, which can be extremely demotivating for employees.

The element of fun and competition related to gamification allows employees to engage much more effectively than meetings and motivational talks, and at the same time - it enables easier absorption of knowledge and makes it possible to use it in practice.

In what situations can you use gamification?

We mentioned that thanks to gamification, you can effectively maintain the commitment and motivation of employees, e.g. by introducing points for completed tasks, various types of bonuses for additional projects, which will ultimately allow you to reward the best players-employees from time to time. The mechanism itself seems to be quite well-known, but gamification introduces a story element to this kind of element. The game must present a plot, a story in which employees will find themselves and in this world they will, in a way, turn. Of course, on the other hand, it is not possible to become completely unreal - gamification is supposed to serve specific purposes, not just for fun.

Many companies use gamification in recruitment processes, thus checking the skills and knowledge of the candidate. It can be a simulator of work in a given company or, for example, a game consisting in creating a character and determining its attributes, which should reflect the candidate's person - such a mechanism was used by, for example, Grupa Żywiec during the "Gra o Bro" recruitment campaign. In addition, the Żywiec game contained several different types of tasks and closed questions. Gamification is also perfect for assessing the degree of assimilation by employees of the knowledge acquired during training or courses. A quiz on the presented knowledge may be helpful in this type of situations, the winners of which will be presented with small gifts - then you will not have to worry if the employees were careful enough during the course and remember the information provided on it.

Principles of implementing gamification

Gamification is a very effective method in achieving specific goals of the company, but for it to work well, certain rules of its implementation must be followed. In this chapter we will describe what the rules are, and in the next chapter - what are the most common mistakes in introducing gamification in the company.

1. Gamification serves the company's goals. We emphasize it once again - the introduction of gamification in the company is primarily to be useful in achieving specific goals through some kind of fun. The method is not effective when the sole purpose is to create a new form of entertainment for employees.

2. Meet the players. Determine which form of gameplay will suit your employees best. Try not to over-formalize the game and make it a soulless motivational tool - after all, the idea behind this method is to aim through play.

3. Think if the game will change the attitude of employees. Gamification should first of all change players' attitudes to something - if the goal is to increase commitment, gamification will only be effective if employees are more involved in tasks even after the game is over.

4. Don't be afraid to test. Collect opinions about the implemented game and try to draw conclusions from them. Improving the form of gamification will surely bring the desired results.

5. Remember about the rewards. Define a clear system of rewarding employee players and be consistent with it. The prizes for participating in the game should be valuable to the winners and constitute a form of real appreciation for the effort put into winning.

The most common mistakes

1. Badly defined goals. When the gamification goals are not clearly defined, and their achievement is difficult to verify, players will not be very willing to start the game. Complex goals can make it much more difficult for employees to complete their tasks.

2. Complicated rules. Nothing discourages players from starting the game more than complex rules that are difficult for the participants to understand. If you don't want gamification in your company to be a flop - try to simplify it as much as possible. Also, avoid situations where the rules of the game - even unintentionally - will push employees from specific departments to victory.

3. No prizes. If employees are not rewarded for their next achievement in the game, over time they will stop applying to it and it will be difficult for it to help in achieving certain goals.

Gamification is a great way to achieve your company's goals and it works well in smaller and larger businesses. It is also a good method to be used in various types of initiatives and social campaigns - the game mechanism will easily encourage participants to take part in some project. Remember that gamification must be done primarily with employees in mind and the goal you set for it - too corporate approach, somehow "out of need", will certainly not have a positive impact on the process of its implementation.