Everybody likes to be rewarded. Parents treat cleanup time as a game of scavenger hunt for their kids. Teachers often give gold stars or classroom currency to students for good behavior. Mary Poppins famously sang, “just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.”
This is gamification–making the ordinary or unpleasant tasks both enjoyable and rewarding.
What does gamification do?
Gamification is everywhere in the business world. Marketing and sales divisions incentivize positive consumer activity by using game-like challenges with milestones and rewards. Starbucks customers can earn Gold Card stars for purchases. Even grocery and drugstore chains incentivize customer loyalty with points and membership perks.
Just as gamification is popular with consumers, it has exceptional utility as a method to direct and incentivize positive employee activity and productivity.
According to a Badgeville report, gamification increases productivity levels for 90% of workers and increases awareness of co-workers’ goals and tasks by 86%. Yet a 2015 Gallup poll showed that only 31.5% of U.S. workers were engaged in their jobs in 2014.
So why aren’t you using gamification to motivate your employees?
How does gamification work?
A good gamification system turns regular work tasks into fun and clear goals to aim for and exceed. Companies such as Bunchball and Badgeville build game systems for businesses that include achievements to earn, badges and rewards, and leaderboards. With a gamification system, a sales worker could earn individual rewards or badges for hitting targets like making cold calls, closing sales, or answering questions.
Gamification requires four key components:
- Easily recognizable cues for next actions
- Instant feedback for desired actions
- Markers for performance and ranking
- Scalable, accessible paths to further achievement
When these four components are implemented (and adopted by employees), engagement soars! According to Erika Blaney, VP of marketing at Bunchball, “when workers are engaged, business performance is better, customer satisfaction scores rise and ultimately, revenues increase.”
It’s no surprise that a good feedback system can create a Las Vegas-like feeling in a worker’s brain, encouraging them to achieve more, as noted by PCWorld. When great employee involvement and dedicated customer service are rewarded through ongoing positive feedback, productivity and ROI soar.
