When computer programmer Nick Pelling coined the term ‘gamification’ two decades ago, it was just an institutionalised version of something that has existed for centuries in human society. In the workplace, workshops are one form of gamification. Think of badges in the boy scout world as another example of something in the modern world that has existed for over a century. Remember the virtual jackpot counters with Cred, one of the most well-funded fintech and product marketing platforms in the country? Or the cashback gamified during the Indian Premier League (IPL) tournament by online food ordering startups?
More famously, social media platform FourSquare brought gamification over a decade ago with rewards and recognition for social ‘check-ins’. Indeed, there are now endless use cases of gamification in our everyday life.
In short, the process of gamification seeks to make mundane things more interesting and engaging for participants. It could involve rewards or just have an interactive element for users.
Also read: Talent Assessment: 5 Tools Organisations Should Factor In Their Recruitment Practice
Presence of gamification in HR
Gamification in the human resource domain arguably existed for years with some HR managers innovating at their own end. These could be in the form of an interesting way a referral hiring process is institutionalised or the way employees are assessed through the year via role plays. Say for instance badges, virtual or physical rewards for accomplishments, and office leaderboards. They already exist in some form or tuning in many organisations.
Still, gamification is not being used as much in the HR field as it perhaps should. Think of all the ways that an organisation can turn an apparently mundane process into something that can better engage the employees.
In 2014, TalentLMS conducted a gamification survey to examine how gamified elements change the state of training. It followed up with a survey four years later focused on productivity, motivation, and gamification for employee engagement. In 2019, it twined both aspects.
Employees said in the survey that gamification makes them feel more productive and happier at work but nearly half of the employees hadn’t noticed any gamification elements at work.
Employees were keen on seeing gamified features in their employee training software. The survey also showed that four-fifths of those who received gamified training, felt motivated, while two out of three of those who received non-gamified training felt bored and unproductive.
Imagine the appraisal forms that end up being a quarterly or annual chore for most employees or the annual statutory or mandatory learning modules dumped on employees via videos that just play in the background and so on.
All those could be gamified and can become use cases and even essential toolkits for HR managers to hire, engage and retain their employees.
Gamification changing workplaces
Many employers are using gamification for recruitment, induction, learning and development, although adoption of gamification for a general assessment of existing employees is a less explored domain.
For instance, Infosys created a gamified platform InfyPark eight years ago to engage and educate employees on its culture and value system. It combined conventional and non-traditional methods including videos, games and reading material all built around the idea of a theme park, where employees could play scenario-based games and score points, which pushed them onto a leader board.
For instance, Infosys created a gamified platform InfyPark eight years ago to engage and educate employees on its culture and value system. It combined conventional and non-traditional methods including videos, games and reading material all built around the idea of a theme park, where employees could play scenario-based games and score points, which pushed them onto a leader board.
The same year, hospitality giant Marriott introduced My Marriott Hotel as a gamified tool for recruitment. . It is run on the hotel chain’s career page on Facebook and players can virtually run the hotel. It has also led to better engagement with more serious prospects and in finding better-fit candidates for the job, pushing up its hiring rate. The US Air Force has its own Airman Challenge game for future recruits.
Also read: Do Assessment Tests Increase Candidate Dropout? KellyOCG’s Pete Hamilton Provides a Reality Check
Where it lacks
While gamification as a tool for hiring, especially millennials, has been fairly ingrained in the HR field, one area where gamification has had only an elemental touch is the assessment of existing employees.
A gamified assessment tool will include professional tests built on game-based elements like personality or aptitude tests. What makes them highly potent is the data an employer receives is scientific and can be drilled down to several features. They can be used for the recruitment of new hires and L&D for existing employees. It could include quizzes, complex scenario testing, job simulations and more.
In 2012, cosmetic giant L’Oreal introduced Reveal, a gamified experience to secure the right talent and also impart learning through modules created by academic, psychometric and business experts. After signing up, candidates can explore simulations of how the backstage works during a product launch and other processes of the organisation. They can also take evaluation tests to measure their skills and can get scouted by L’Oreal recruiters. This way the company is not only increasing the engagement levels of the candidates but is also screening the skills of the people showing interest. While well-performing candidates were spotted by recruiters, there were also provisions for cash prizes.
It’s quite simple. Gamified assessment can be the answer to all those applicants who are apprehensive of taking tests or don’t feel they need to. In fact, in the instance above, the candidates can check their performances on the leaderboard as well. So they aren’t operating in silos where they aren’t sure what the data they are generating through these games is being used for.
If we talk about using assessment for existing employees, we are all familiar with the way R&R has been gamified in several firms. Apart from that, using gamification in assessing employee performances could be highly rewarding as well. It’s important to be aware of the skills of people who are already working. In this highly-changing world, a skills upgrade is a must. Timely assessments of the same will help organisations find the skill gap and rectify it. Career development or growth is something every employee wishes to pursue. If employers ensure assessment with game elements to determine where a skills upgrade is required, they can enable adequate learning programs for the employees to better their skills.
It can be done in three ways:
- employees can self-assess their skills to pinpoint a gap if they feel so
- a diagnostic assessment where employers can build a module on game elements to hone the skills
- conduct tests and provide employees with feedback, all done through gamified features.
Hence, while gamification has managed to prove its worth in several people processes, its importance in assessment can no longer be ignored.
