Even if you’re a bit sceptical or unsure about the potential advantages that gamification can afford, there are several instances and examples where this increasingly popular learning technique is proving to be incredibly successful, especially when it comes to corporate training.

Training and coaching

For several employees, further teaching or tuition at work does not sound like an exciting prospect. Numerous individuals find traditional training fairly mundane, uninspiring and monotonous. With little interest in learning new skills, acquiring more knowledge about a particular subject or developing greater on-the-job proficiency, trainees demonstrate poor levels of retention and aren’t able to reap the rewards that further coaching can provide. To address and overcome this problem, more and more companies are exploring alternative training techniques and tactics, such as gamification.

By using game mechanics and design to construct playable scenarios and storylines, individuals can become interested in certain subjects and highly engaged with learning materials. Gamification provides incentives such as achievements and awards to obtain, which increases motivation, helps leaners achieve their goals and brings about a change in behaviour. All the while, an employer can monitor user progress and adjust themes or subjects according to ongoing requirements.

Here at Wranx, we are proud of our sophisticated and science driven gamification model. We have developed over 300 different achievements to win, leaderboards that compare employee performance and limits on particular awards to encourage delivery. We know that the human instinct of competition and the want of accomplishment can bring about greater training performance and better knowledge retention. On top of that, engagement and motivation levels markedly increase through gamification too.

Even so, several employers believe that gamification is too casual and informal in a corporate environment. However, implementing game-based programmes can have a remarkable and long-lasting impact on everyday operations, employee proficiency and customer relationships, not just from a training perspective, but across the entire business too.

Recruitment and onboarding

Before you even think about establishing a gamification training programme, it might be worth introducing this technique to your recruitment process. For example, HackerRank has developed programming challenges and competitions for prospective members of staff to complete. This enables a company to learn about a potential employee’s proficiency, while applicants can get a real feel for the job they’re applying for.

“What we do is give people the opportunity to connect with any company on the planet by building a set of challenges that employ the skills required for a job there,” HackerRank’s co-founder Vivek Ravisankar told CNN. “There are so many diamonds in the rough, so it’s important for companies to introduce gaming into the hiring process in order to test their skills.”

If gamification can help recruit knowledgeable and suitable employees in the first place, who do not necessarily require on boarding, up skilling or another form of coaching, then training could be eradicated altogether. A practical test of an applicant’s skills is far more beneficial than cover letters and CVs, which aren’t always accurate, reliable or truthful at the best of times. “It’s only a matter of time before this becomes a widely accepted way of thinking,” Ravisankar adds.

Engagement and loyalty

Another reason to implement gamification in a corporate environment is that several organisations have found engagement and loyalty levels can dramatically increase with this technique. At Dreamforce 2013, which is Salesforce’s annual user and developer conference, there were numerous speakers and sessions that described how gamification could be used to motivate workforces and drive meaningful results.

VMware discussed how to use gamification to drive engagement from partners while NetApp and Caesers Entertainment revealed how it can transform company cultures, improve sales performance and increase productivity. Thought leaders also disclosed how to select a technology partner and implement gamification as well as insight into what the industry will look like in the future.

The value of employee engagement and loyalty was one of the biggest and most prominent principles that came from these presentations. While increased employee engagement might sound like a favourable asset for your company, it can actually be fundamental to bottom line success too.

A 2008 article published by Harvard Business Review titled, Putting the Service-Profit Chain to Work, found that: Employee engagement drives satisfaction, employee satisfaction drives loyalty, employee loyalty drives productivity, employee productivity drives value, value drives customer satisfaction, customer satisfaction drives loyalty and customer loyalty drives both profitability and growth. Therefore, gamification could end up being consequential to the success of your business.

Relationships and interactions

Although a lot will depend on the products or services your company provides, there are a great deal of corporate organisations out there that struggle to attract the attention and interests of their customers. Thankfully, gamification is here to help again, as Clickipedia has provided some examples of how incorporating puzzles, challenges and contests into ordinary activities can increase the attentiveness of consumers.

Just like Mint, who made the task of managing personal finances into a much simpler and more entertaining activity. Goal trackers, visual breakdowns and easy-to-understand charts are all examples of gamification in action. As opposed to a boring spreadsheet, this colourful and enjoyable experience is much more likely to keep interest levels high.

Then there is Samsung, who have increased their social footprint by rewarding users that engage with the community, participate in discussions, watch videos and review products. Badges are given out and progress is achieved by participating in these activities, which grab the audience’s attention and keep it there. While Samsung are bound to attract countless website visitors anyway, it concentrated on highlighting the benefits of getting involved and at the same time, ended up with valuable user-generated branded content.

So, from recruitment and training to engagement and loyalty, gamification can help your workforce become better employees. What’s more, they will prove to be valuable company assets that deliver better bottom line performance too. However, gamification can also be used to attract and retain the attention of customers. For these reasons, corporate gamification definitely works!