How to incorporate gamification into HR

From recruiting to training and development, gamification is beginning to take its place in the world of human resources.

Simply put, gamification is the process of incorporating game elements like win-lose psychology, mechanics and fun design into non-gaming contexts, like hiring, training and engaging employees.

It is becoming a big business. A recent report on gamification by Markets and Markets predicted that the gamification industry will grow by 67 percent by 2018 when it will be worth an estimated $5.5 billion. But will it be big business in your business?

More and more gamification is creeping into the world of human resources professionals because of its potential to inspire engaged relationships among employees and its usefulness in behavior modification.

Some examples of gamification in HR include PwC (http://pwc.com) for recruiting new employees to BunchBall (http://bunchball.com) and BadgeVille (http://badgeville.com) to engage and retain employees.

According to a Gallup research project, more than half (51 percent) of employees feel disengaged at work and 17.5 percent are actively disengaged. This is causing a crisis of innovation, creativity and production in the North American workplace. It is little wonder that human resources professionals are eagerly searching for any projects that might help their teams to re-engage with the purpose and objectives of the companies for which they work.

How can you incorporate this trend of gamification into your own human resource practice?

All gamification strategies, regardless of the sector in which you are working, are built on three essential strategies:

1. They must be able to motivate the target audience to play.

2. The challenge of the game must be compatible to the players’ skills. 

3. The game must mean something. It must serve a higher purpose than just having fun. 

For example, earlier we mentioned PwC. They launched a game Multipoly (http://multipoly.hu/) in Hungary that allowed potential job candidates to test their readiness to work at the firm by virtually solving some typical real life business problems.

Stephanie Hermann of Reutlinger University prepared a research paper called Anything Can Be Fun: Gamification As Amplifier For Users’ Motivation And Action, concluded that the use of gamification in the corporate world is to drive user behavior.

For human resources departments, then, the concept of gaining buy-in to new concepts, the fostering of effective teams and personal motivation and engagement of employees can all be triggered by gamification.

Most importantly, the key goal should be engaging people in their work again.

Do you believe that gamification is a good tool to engage the disengaged worker? Share with us your thoughts or personal experiences!