It's been about 5 years since I joined an unnamed multinational IT corporation in Brno. The HR process included a full first month of training: I went through tutorials, got to know the workplace, and learned interactively how my new company works.
Most of the tasks took place on the company intranet, which resembled the public Wikipedia. The whole onboarding was "spiced up" with so-called gamification, which keeps gaining popularity in corporate processes.
Many companies today are moving away from testing a candidate's hard knowledge during hiring and focusing more on soft skills. For a company, it matters far more that a candidate fits into the team, can adapt, and can make their own decisions than that they've simply memorized industry facts.
That's why gamification, which I mentioned above, works so well in interviews focused on soft skills.
Marketing with Game Elements
Marketing with game elements: that's a very simplified way to describe gamification. A formal definition, for example on Wikipedia, describes it as a marketing technique that uses various game mechanics and principles borrowed from the world of games to increase employee engagement and client interest.
Think of game elements as, for example, a progress bar that shows how much of your onboarding training you've already completed. Or choosing an avatar or a personal photo that accompanies you at the company from day one, through email communication, all the way to your tag in presentations.
Larger companies go even further and create personal profiles for individual employees on their own intranet. There, people can complete extra tasks and fill out questionnaires, earning points or even awards. Again, the company works with principles everyone knows well from computer games.
My former multinational employer used this approach to employee engagement too. Thanks to it, we as a team actively took on bonus tasks beyond our regular work and kept learning. Individual people's determination and ambition kicked in, much like in games where the next level pushes you forward.
When the Game Stops Working
Points, leaderboards, and rewards bring a short-term boost in engagement, but they won't solve systemic problems with working conditions. If you want to reduce turnover with gamification, you first need to know why people leave.
Start with exit interviews with people who've left the company and a short anonymous survey for those who stayed. Design the game only once you see what they reveal.
On top of that, a game mainly boosts extrinsic motivation, while intrinsic motivation can drop. Competition among colleagues, which leads to toxic relationships and higher stress when it's poorly set up, then tends to drive people out of the company.
It works the other way when the game is built on cooperation. A team that solves tasks together builds relationships. And those keep a person at the company more firmly than another virtual badge. So when you design a game, reward the team for reaching a shared goal, not individual rankings on a leaderboard.
Internal vs. External Gamification
In some companies, the approach described above is called internal gamification, because it takes place inside the company, between employees and the employer. And hiring is far from the only area that gets gamified.
Game elements show up in strategic management, in HR, and on the company's own website. The goal of internal gamification is to engage people in the company more, innovate corporate culture, and strengthen internal communication between employees who would otherwise rarely meet in day-to-day operations.
The opposite of internal gamification is external gamification. It aims to involve people from outside in company activities, or more precisely, to raise potential clients' awareness of what the company offers.
In that case, selected company departments prepare events for the public: trade show booths, contests on social media, on the website, and so on.
What the Current Reality Looks Like
The most common game elements have become contests, rewards, points, and virtual badges. In sales, they motivate customers to interact with the brand.
The same principles have carried over from retail into corporate processes, from hiring all the way to employee training.
Trends and Predictions in E-Commerce
Gamification experts expect a shift in several directions: a more personal experience, augmented and virtual reality, more social interaction, and an emphasis on social impact and sustainability.
Players will be able to compete or cooperate with friends toward a shared goal, and games will more often support sustainable shopping or charity. In companies, there's a direct parallel: a team challenge instead of collecting points on your own.
1. Greater Personalization of the Customer Experience
In e-commerce, algorithms will analyze customer behavior and offer specific tasks and rewards based on each customer's preferences.
For HR, the lesson is simple: the same game doesn't fit everyone. A quiet analyst and a field sales rep need different challenges, or one of them will quickly lose interest in playing. Before you launch a game, ask people what kind of tasks they'd enjoy, and give them a choice between a solo and a team version.
2. Augmented and Virtual Reality
Virtual elements are meant to bring the brand closer to customers and create an emotional connection with the product.
In companies, virtual reality helps with machine-operation training and with hiring. But it won't replace meeting your team in person. It pays off where real-world training is expensive or risky, not as a substitute for time spent together.
Games Outside the Office
Not every company has an intranet where it could engage people through play. Team building with game elements suits companies in any industry and works even where there's no digital platform at all.
At Brain Party or in Escape Box, colleagues solve tasks together, not against each other. Sherlock Strikes Back adds a detective story featuring instructors in constable costumes. A shared experience brings a team together more than any leaderboard.
FAQ
Can gamification help reduce employee turnover?
Yes, when the game is built on cooperation and builds relationships within the team. Points, leaderboards, and rewards on their own bring only a short-term boost in engagement and won't solve systemic problems with working conditions.
What's the difference between internal and external gamification in a company?
Internal gamification happens inside the company, between employees and the employer, and aims to engage people more and strengthen internal communication. External gamification involves outsiders, for example through social media contests or trade show booths.
What game elements do companies use when onboarding new employees?
Typically a progress bar, a choice of avatar, or a personal intranet profile where people complete extra tasks and collect points or awards.
Can gamification in the workplace hurt team cooperation?
It can. A poorly set up competition among colleagues leads to toxic relationships and higher stress, and intrinsic motivation can drop at the same time.
How can a company without its own intranet use gamification?
Game elements can be carried over into team building, which suits companies in any industry. Programs like Brain Party or Escape Box give the team a shared experience away from everyday work.
Take Gamification to the Field
Internal gamification does not have to be just about a well-designed intranet with a lot of game elements that pull employees into the company from their first days of work.
Not every company's focus has such a website and can engage their people in this way.
However, a corporate teambuilding with game elements is a great choice for companies of any focus that want well-tuned and productive employees.
