By Sweta Srivastava
Globally, every organisation is finding new and innovative ways to improve the business environment to gain an edge on competitors in the market.
As a major in business and after working for a company which specialises in providing HR Solutions, I have no doubts that HR has a significant role to play in an organisation in achieving that competitive advantage by creating the internal environment to allow for employees’ engagement.
While I was researching on gamification, I realised how versatile this technology could be because it could be easily implemented in many organisations to engage employees. It can transform and simplify our work environment with interactive user experience and can also prove to be a game changer in providing an edge to the organisation’s strategies.
In this article, I aim to highlight why gamification can enhance HR function and can contribute to achieving company goals and at the same time creating an employer brand.
Why Integrate Gamification in HR
In recent years, employee engagement has emerged as one of the key factors in achieving success and growth in business, and this is where gamification could be a game changer.
Gamification works excellent at motivating people; it does it by challenging employees with practical tasks, encourage them along the way and provide instant feedback to them to achieve their best.
While HRs are still struggling to maximise employee engagement in the company, the term employee experience is already surfacing and gaining popularity. With an increasing number of the millennials and gen Z joining the workforce, both employee experience and engagement are becoming extremely important. As both generations focus more on jobs that can provide them with opportunities to grow and connect them to a more meaningful purpose than just monetary benefits.
Employee engagement helps in promoting enthusiasm and better performance by ensuring that the basic psychological needs of employees are met, for better performance of their roles. Employee experience focuses on creating a more profound connection between the employee and the organisation to achieve all the HR goals mentioned above including employee engagement and motivation.
Hence, when we talk of the biggest goals for HR, achieving higher levels of productivity, engaging and motivating employees with a higher rate of retention and cutting down absenteeism, top the list.
Game Elements for Better Experience and Engagement
Playing games is addictive at least that is what studies claim. Why not tap into that gamified experience and merge it with your workplace environment. It will make the work more interesting, fun and engaging, while at the same time, improving the rate of productivity as well.
More importantly, a well-designed gamified solution ensures both business needs and employees’ objectives are aligned and achieved.
As mentioned above, employee experience and engagement both play an essential role in creating the employer’s brand value and giving a competitive advantage over competitors. Gamification can provide a fresh aspect to it and can facilitate implementation of your strategies simpler.
In our previous articles, We had explained various elements of gamification and how organisations can add them to their engagement strategy. You can read the article here for a better understanding.
Gamify To Engage at “Emotional Level” 
When it comes to engaging employees at an emotional level we need to consider three elements:
– A desire to participate and work towards achieving the goals.
– Urge to grow by learning and mastering skills.
– Adding the purpose to work.
As I explained above earlier on what employee experience is and how it is emerging as an integral part of HR strategy, we can see that employees want to be emotionally engaged in the company and monetary reward is not the primary motivating factor for them. Therefore, emotional factors and rewards matter, especially to engage millennials and gen Z.
Gamification helps in defining more meaningful goals and challenges and a drive to achieve them. It facilitates feedback and easy onboarding. Thus, promoting all three elements of emotional engagement.
Use Gamification to Change Behaviour
Shaping the behaviour of your employees, motivating them and aligning their experience with performance is not easy, especially in an organisation which has a vast workforce. However, adding gamification to the HR function can automate the process with magnified results, achieved in lesser time.
Remember the last time you stuck with your new year resolutions, did you ever accomplish? Changing behaviour is not easy, this is because it involves us moving away from our comfort zones. Therefore, we need motivation and encouragement along the way until we see a change in behaviour. Gamification is remarkable at facilitating these because it helps users to set goals, encourage users as they embark on daily activities and provide the feedbacks that motivate users to achieve it.
When employee experience and engagement is improved, it directly affects the efficiency of the company. It helps in creating a better brand for companies while at the same time facilitating higher rates of profitability and productivity in lesser time.
I feel that gamification is still not fully exploited when it comes to its application in HR. There are so many possibilities to explore while at the same time saving valuable resources; all is possible via gamification.
Still not sure about how gamification can enhance your work experience?
Why not talk to us to learn more? We will be happy to explain over a cup of coffee. Select a schedule that works for you best here.
