I’ve been talking about the value of gamification for over a year now. Adding game elements can help in all aspects of HR: Motivating employees, onboarding new hires, increasing referrals, improving wellness, and finding the best job candidates. Still not convinced? Here are some of the latest, most ingenious ways organizations are using gaming to engages their audiences.
Bluewolf rewards employees for sharing the brand
Bluewolf’s brand emphasizes knowledge-sharing, so the consulting firm placed new importance on growing the company’s visibility and showcasing their expertise. For that, Bluewolf needed an engaged community of employees, motivated to use social and collaborative platforms. The company turned to Bunchball’s Nitro for Salesforce to gamify social sharing.
The result was an internal campaign called #GoingSocial. Employees created public profiles that revealed their interests, areas of expertise, and social activity. They were given points simply for completing the profiles, and then for sharing content on Twitter or LinkedIn (from within the Salesforce software), posting a blog post on bluewolf.com, or even just achieving a Klout score of 50 or higher. Prizes included badges visible to other employees, as well as real-world rewards like gift cards.
A Bluewolf “Pack Profile.”
The campaign was a success. Bluewolf increased traffic from social media sites by 20% month-over-month and increased internal collaboration by 57%. The company’s Klout score, in the 40s at the time, is now at 60.
Cricket Wireless motivates employees to learn
The world of mobile technology is always changing, so Cricket Wireless wanted a way to keep its sales representatives up to date without having to leave work for days of education and training. The company used OnPoint Digital’s CellCast platform to gamify training and incentivize employees to learn — on their cell phones, without leaving the sales floor.
Employees received points and badges for completing courses, with a leaderboard tracking not only individual achievements but also those of the entire store — in essence, giving workers two ways to compete. Finishing courses and passing tests gave employees points and badges, which could be redeemed for gift certificates and other tangible prizes.
Image courtesy of www.gamificatio
The result? Another success. A post-campaign survey found that 18% of employees said they were motivated to appear on the leaderboard. 39% said they hoped to retain what they learned during their training. 42% said they wanted their store to win the contest. These are fantastic numbers for employee learning, which isn’t always a topic that excites workers.
St. Lawrence College challenges employees to improve their health
St. Lawrence College needed to create a wellness program for its 1,400 workers, some of whom are unionized, who work at three campuses. The school felt that gamification was the best way to reach the different types of employees at different locations. So SLC turned to Keas for a gamified wellness program.
Keas has an interface similar to Facebook. SLC employees created profiles, joined teams, and set wellness goals. Then they shared status updates and photos that were visible to other participants. They were awarded points when they competed in challenges, took quizzes, or met their goals. Workers supported each other’s efforts; some even shared healthy recipes with each other.
A Keas post, with comments.
The results were impressive. 280 participants reported losing weight. 52% of participants increased their weekly exercise. 38% reported reduction in their stress levels. And, to show that employee wellness overlaps with engagement, 88% said the program improved their teamwork and collaboration.
Gamification saves money — and makes it
A recent survey by Zenger Folkman found that up to 41% of employees are not fully engaged with their organization; Technology Advice estimates that lack of engagement costs businesses around $500 billion a year.
In all three of the above cases, gamification helped save or make money for the companies: Bluewolf increased website visits, Cricket streamlined employee training, and St. Lawrence College saw a drop in health care costs. All three helped workers become more creative, collaborative, knowledgeable, and productive. Those kinds of savings and achievements are anything but fun and games.
Ready to add gamification to your organization? Brandemix can help.
Jody Ordioni is President of Brandemix.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jody Ordioni is the author of “The Talent Brand.” In her role as Founder and Chief Brand Officer of Brandemix, she leads the firm in creating brand-aligned talent communications that connect employees to cultures, companies, and business goals. She engages with HR professionals and corporate teams on how to build and promote talent brands, and implement best-practice talent acquisition and engagement strategies across all media and platforms. She has been named a "recruitment thought leader to follow" and her mission is to integrate marketing, human resources, internal communications, and social media to foster a seamless brand experience through the employee lifecycle.
