Why Gamification is the Key to Engaged Employees

Keeping employees engaged and motivated in today’s fast-paced work environment is paramount. To promote engagement, reduce turnover, and aid in knowledge retention many companies are introducing gamification into their e-learning programs, often through a learning management system (LMS).

What is gamification? According to researcher Karl Kapp, “gamification is an emergent approach to instruction. It facilitates learning and encourages motivation using game elements, mechanics and game-based thinking.”

In an LMS, gamification can take many forms. There are a few common game elements used in employee learning and development.

• Points and Badges: Employees earn points for completing tasks and can receive badges for reaching certain milestones.
• Leaderboards: Participants can see how they rank compared to their peers, fostering a sense of competition.
• Challenges and Quests: Training modules can be structured as challenges or quests employees must complete.
• Levels and Progress Bars: Visual progress indicators can motivate employees to continue learning and advancing.
• Rewards and Incentives: Tangible rewards such as certificates can be offered for achieving certain goals.

These common game elements make an even stronger impact on employee development when paired with interactive learning content that’s custom-designed for your business. Custom learning content can include interactive modules, engaging simulations, scenario-based exercises, and more.

But why should you incorporate gamification into your employee development program? Let’s explore the top three benefits for your employees and your business.

Having motivated and engaged employees is essential to a business’s success. With the rise of remote work over the last few years, keeping engagement levels high has become increasingly difficult as existing strategies no longer work. This is where e-learning and gamification come in. Gamification engages employees by activating three core elements of their motivational system: 1) the desire to direct their own life, 2) the desire to be demonstrably effective, and 3) the desire to connect with others.

A study found that 70% of participating employees agreed that gamification helped them feel competent and successful. “Participants in the game design element condition with badges, leaderboards, and performance graphs had significantly higher levels of competence need satisfaction.”

Combining these gamification elements with custom-designed learning modules or interactive scenario-based exercises further enhances engagement and helps employees feel accomplished.

This sense of accomplishment is crucial for maintaining motivation and engagement in the workplace. Another study came to the same conclusion. They stated that “gamification positively predicts workplace thriving, as employees who engage in gamified activities are expected to exhibit higher levels of motivation, engagement, and overall thriving in the workplace.”

Using gamification doesn’t stop at enhancing employee engagement, it also increases knowledge retention and makes employees more likely to apply what they’ve learned. Simply stated, the more engaged an employee feels, the more likely they are to perform better.

Implementing game elements like points and badges into your training program reinforces desired behaviors and positively impacts learning outcomes. Receiving badges or points enhances employees’ personal feelings of success and publicly displays their skills, expertise, and accomplishments to coworkers. This type of reward system is highly motivating and influences employees to continue performing well in the future.

For example, a fully remote software company introduces gamification into its e-learning program. Each time an employee gets a high score on a training module, they receive a badge with labels like “Product Expert,” “Sales Master,” and “Customer Service Guru.” With each badge, employees feel motivated to continue excelling in the future. Publicly displaying the badges on their profiles fosters a spirit of friendly competition and a collaborative atmosphere, encouraging everyone to strive for excellence.

Employees who feel engaged, motivated, supported, and successful in their roles stick around for the long term. On the contrary, employees who feel disconnected and unsupported are more likely to resign. If this problem becomes widespread, it results in high turnover, which is not great for your business’s bottom line.

Gamification and custom-designed learning content are fantastic tools to improve employee retention and combat turnover. A study on the impacts of gamification on learning and development found that 60% of participants agreed that gamification made them feel like they were part of a team. This sense of belonging contributes to higher job satisfaction and lower turnover rates.

Ultimately, the key to retaining employees is listening and responding to their needs. As this article from Forbes points out, “If workers say they want to be engaged, then engage them. If they want to feel part of a culture, then invest in your culture. If they want training so they can do their job better, then create training that works.”

Building custom, interactive learning content and incorporating gamification into your development program is key to supporting employees in the ways they need most so your business can retain top talent.

At FACTS, we are dedicated to helping businesses create and scale an engaging and impactful e-learning program. Our Learning Management System includes features and native authoring tools to help you build a custom program suited to your business goals. Gamification is built into our platform, and we’ll partner with you to implement game elements that best meet your employees’ needs.

Additionally, we’ll work with you to develop custom Learning Courses that support an engaged, motivated, and tenured workforce. Connect with our team to learn more.