Coming up with new and exciting ways to keep employees motivated and engaged can be difficult, especially in a remote work environment. Many business leaders ask themselves, “What can I do to bring my team together, even though everyone is physically apart?”
Although it may seem like a far-fetched idea to some, incorporating gamification in the workplace is a great place to start. Gamification allows people to bring different aspects and elements of gaming into other activities and areas, including work. Not only can it boost productivity in the workplace, but it can also be a fun addition to the work environment. In fact, workplace gamification can help turn otherwise tedious tasks into a fun and possibly competitive activity.
Interested in workplace gamification but don’t know where to start? Here are a few ways to begin using it to improve employee engagement and positively impact your company.
Improve motivation and productivity with friendly competition.
Incorporating some aspects of friendly competition into the office culture can help employees become motivated to take essential actions in their roles, like making sales, studying key metrics, or reaching key performance indicators (KPIs).
They may even start competing with one another to see who can reach the goal first, which, as a result, benefits the company as employees gain performance momentum through increased motivation and productivity.
If you wonder what kind of competition is appropriate for the workplace, there are many options to consider. For instance, this kind of competition can be achieved through activities like trivia games, contests, and more.
However, you must see to it that your efforts do not have the opposite effect. If the contest is to determine which employee makes the most sales in one month, for example, you have to ensure that, beyond sales, customer satisfaction remains a priority. It is not ideal if employees are rushing through customers without giving them adequate support and interactions just to get a higher number.
Do not underestimate the power of gamification.
Although this may be the first time you have heard about it, gamification is nothing new. In fact, it was introduced into the workplace years ago as a way to boost productivity in the workplace. Despite the fact that workplace gamification has been used for a few years now, some have lost interest in the concept due to overly complex gamification ideas and processes.
When it comes to contests, some managers complained about having to collect extra details and analytics that were too complex, in order to monitor employee statistics for the competition. In some cases, new technology was also needed. This became too much of a process for some.
To avoid this, business leaders simplify as much of this data collection process as possible. They can do so by using metrics that are already in place to evaluate employee performance.
In other words: Don’t reinvent the wheel. Some existing metrics that you can leverage may include everything from sales figures to customer acquisition costs. Doing so can prevent you from creating extra work for yourself while keeping the friendly competition going among your team.
Launch your workplace gamification plan.
When kicking off gamification in the workplace, don’t be afraid to get creative. Use this creativity to think about how you will begin gamifying your organization’s KPIs.
Once you have decided on an action plan based on your gamification ideas – such as a competition for which employee makes the most sales in one month, for example – you can come up with an incentive to get employees even more excited about working toward a goal.
Prizes are a great way to achieve this. Offering a gift card or other types of prizes will help employees become motivated to work hard to win.
Get your team excited.
After getting your plan started, you should work on promoting it across your team. While doing so, be sure to show them that you are enthusiastic and excited about the competition. As the team’s leader, showing excitement for the activity will help employees become excited about it too.
Once your gamification plan has been executed, track the engagement and success rate among your team. This will help you determine how much interest and engagement this activity generated among your team. You will also be able to see if the competition had a positive impact on your organization, such as if any metrics improved or if more sales were made that month.
Keep employees motivated and engaged.
Keeping employees motivated and engaged can be challenging in a remote work environment when everyone is working from different areas. In a matter of months, your employees have gone from working in the same office to working in different areas of the state or maybe even the country. As a result, the friendly, upbeat workplace culture you have worked hard to develop may have dwindled since the start of the pandemic.
At Infinity Consulting Solutions (ICS), we know how important it is to take advantage of trends and insights to keep your workplace culture positive and inclusive. For more ideas on how to continue improving your culture, feel free to check out our ICS Blog, which is frequently updated with leadership tips and trends.
If you have any questions or inquiries about our services, don’t hesitate to contact us. Our team of experts will be glad to assist you at any stage of your journey.