Guide to gamification at work: how to take training to the next level through games

Keeping employee motivation and engagement at a high level can be a constant challenge for any HR leader, right? Fortunately, in recent years a powerful tool has emerged to help us address this issue: gamification.

By integrating game elements into various facets of work life, companies can heighten employee engagement, improve performance, and even foster a more collaborative and creative working environment. In fact, gamification at work is expected to achieve an annual growth rate of 7.67% until 2027. Do you want to know why more and more companies are applying gamification to their processes, and in particular to their training schemes? Read on for the answers!

1. What is gamification at work and what is it used for?

Imagine if your employees could earn points and rewards for completing their workplace safety training. In this scenario, wouldn’t they be more motivated to do so? Well, that’s exactly how gamification works: by applying classic game elements to activities that would normally have nothing to do with them, in order to achieve specific objectives.

The concept of gamification is not entirely new – companies have been using gamified elements such as rewards, rankings or levels to motivate their employees in various ways for many years. However, due to recent changes – such as the rapid digitalization of company processes and the adoption of e-learning training methods to replace traditional ones – it has become an intensely growing market.

2. Why do companies use gamification in training?

The main objective of gamification at work is to make training activities more fun and enjoyable, motivate employees, and increase engagement and completion rates.

According to a study by Mordor Intelligence, the gamification market reached a value of 10.19 million dollars in 2020, and that figure is expected to exceed 38 million dollars by 2026. The reason is simple – applying gamification to training processes increases motivation, stimulates interaction between participants, and improves knowledge retention.

Gamification is also ideal for strengthening employee loyalty and bringing about a lasting change in their behavior. Furthermore, by integrating it into training, you can present learning as an attractive, challenging and rewarding endeavor, while providing employees with a safe space to put their skills and competencies into practice.

Looking for more reasons to try it? Here are some statistics:

3. How to increase the impact of your training with gamification

To get the most out of gamification, it’s essential to adopt a number of key strategies to help you maximize its impact. Be sure to put into practice the following tips and tricks:

  1. Define clear objectives: What exactly do you want to achieve with your training? Define specific and measurable objectives, so you can effectively evaluate the success of the process.
  2. Choose the right game mechanics: You can choose from a whole host of game mechanics, such as points or badges. Select the ones that best suit your objectives and the training content you choose to include. We’ll tell you more about these mechanics later.
  3. Create an engaging experience: Gamification should always be fun and engaging for participants. Make use of a gamification platform that allows you to design interactive and personalized experiences.
  4. Encourage social participation: Integrate social learning elements into training, such as forums, discussion groups and rankings. This will allow participants to interact with each other and share their knowledge more effectively.
  5. Measure and evaluate results: It’s important to measure the impact of your training, in order to determine if the established objectives are being met. You can use different tools to do this, assessing learning quality, employee satisfaction, and return on investment.

4. Fundamental elements of gamification

In order to make gamification truly effective, it’s important to integrate certain basic elements. Using these will help you keep professionals motivated during their training experience. Here are some of the fundamental gamification elements:

Rankings

Rankings give players a means of visualizing their progress and determining how well they are doing compared to others. They can be organized by individuals or by teams. This element allows the competitive spirit of employees to emerge, and also encourages greater collaboration and participation.

Badges

Celebrate and reward your employees’ achievements with badges, which are visible to all those participating in the training. This element appeals to the pride of professionals, and motivates them to continue learning in order to obtain more badges. These can be offered for completing specific challenges, or reaching certain levels of experience.

Points and rewards

Motivate your employees with points and rewards that they can earn throughout the game, adding additional challenges to keep them involved and engaged. For example, when an employee notices that they can earn points to level up a badge by completing a specific game or activity, they are likely to feel a sense of accomplishment, motivating them to continue with their training.

Quizzes and multimedia questions

Help your employees to achieve their pedagogical objectives while having fun, with quizzes and multimedia questions. This gamification element gives users the opportunity to choose the correct answer from various options by either sliding, filling in, or selecting an image from different options. Crucially, knowledge retention has been shown to increase by up to 30% when multimedia elements such as images and videos are included in training.

Levels

Construct a learning path for your professionals by integrating a system of levels into your training. This is one of the most commonly used elements in gamified training because it helps to improve employee commitment to learning. As a student overcomes levels, they will feel more motivated to continue, especially when a reward awaits them at the end of the sequence.

5. Gamification activities you can use in your training

In addition to the elements discussed above, there are various gamification activities you can use to energize your training project and heighten its impact.

Text-type questions

This type of game or activity offers you the opportunity to pose your professionals many theoretical questions. One of the most common text question formats is the ‘ABCD’ type, which allows you to ask a question and provide between two to four possible answer options. Other text-type questions you can include in your gamified training are true or false exercises, where a professional must decide if a specific concept or statement is true or false.

Audiovisual questions

Audiovisual questions, like text questions, serve to pose various theoretical questions. However, the difference here is that the exercise can be accompanied by audiovisual resources such as images, audios or videos. A good example of this type of question could include an initial statement of a concept, followed by a set of related audios or videos, and finally a series of questions covering the audiovisual content.

Image-based questions

Image-based questions are gamified resources that present professionals with two or more images that they must use to answer a question. These exercises not only increase student engagement, but also improve content retention, since human beings tend to process visual information more efficiently than text. In fact, according to Forbes, 90% of the information processed by our brain is visual in nature.

Hotspots

This gamified activity consists of a question that the student must answer by selecting a specific part of an image as the correct option. There are two broad examples of this type of question: “user-assisted images”, which consist of interactive boxes representing possible answers, so that students can indicate with a click which is correct and which is not; and “images without user assistance”, which present a clean image without boxes, allowing users to mark the correct answer directly.

Free text

Free texts are activities that prompt the employee with a question about a specific concept or process, and then invite them to write a response in their own words. When evaluating this exercise, punctuation and spelling should be taken into account, as well as an accurate answer.

6. 4 gamification tools for companies

To ensure the success of gamification in the business world, especially in the field of training, it’s crucial to choose the right tools. Below, we share some of the most commonly used gamification tools:

  • AhaSlides: a tool that allows you to easily create games, surveys, questionnaires and contests, both in the classroom and at home. It offers an array of options for content creation, such as quizzes designed with multiple choice answers, or accompanying text and images.
  • Plickers: a gamification app utilizing augmented reality that allows you to create questionnaires to test multiple players in real time. Although it works with either a computer or mobile device, not all users need to have one when participating, which makes it ideal for use in face-to-face settings like classrooms.
  • Symbaloo: an app that combines gamification with visual organization skills. It allows students and trainers to create personalized dashboards by collecting, organizing and categorizing links to various websites.
  • isEazy Game: An easy-to-use gamification tool that enhances the learning experience in business environments. Its intuitive and friendly design makes it easy to adapt to users of all levels. It offers a variety of game elements, such as interactive quizzes, simulations, and question and answer exercises. Additionally, it offers the option to track student progress, as well as advanced analytics features.

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7. Productivity, motivation and more: The advantages of gamification at work

One of the features that makes gamification so special and effective when used within an organization is that it actively involves employees, nurturing a sense of belonging and identity. In addition to this, there are multiple further benefits of gamification at work, some of which we share below:

Boosts motivation, engagement and knowledge retention

Through elements such as challenges and rewards, gamification actively engages employees. It also allows you to create a fun and exciting environment that motivates employees to participate and push their limits, which increases commitment to the whole training process.

Additionally, an impressive 95% of employees enjoy using gamified systems, making gamification a highly powerful tool for increasing employee retention. The interactive and participatory approach of gamification captures the employee’s attention and, in turn, the recognition of achievements earned by moving through the training process fosters a more satisfying and stimulating work environment.

Look at it this way: what could be more motivating than knowing that your actions are going to be recognized or rewarded? Classifications and rankings make this sense possible by awarding merit to the individual or group effort of employees. Through these means, levels of commitment and motivation could increase by up to 48%.

Improves performance and productivity

Statistics show that 90% of employees are more productive when they take part in gamification. In addition, the immediate feedback offered by gamification dynamics allows employees to identify areas for improvement and make adjustments in real time, thereby continuously improving their performance.

On the other hand, gamification also reduces the stress associated with normally monotonous or repetitive tasks, by transforming learning into a rewarding interactive experience. When coupled with the sense of healthy competition stimulated by game elements, this drives employees to improve not only themselves but also their colleagues, creating a culture of constant improvement.

Promotes teamwork

Gamification is a highly effective tool when it comes to encouraging teamwork and collaboration. By integrating game elements into the work environment, a playful atmosphere is encouraged that promotes healthy interaction between the members of a team. Shared challenges and objectives motivate employees to collaborate, communicate, and coordinate efforts to achieve common goals.

In addition, gamification allows you to design collaborative activities that require the joint participation of several team members, further strengthening cohesion and trust between them. Add to this the possibility of rewards for specific achievements, and the sense of belonging and satisfaction is reinforced by the shared effort of working together for a common goal.

Promotes creativity and innovation

The dynamics of gamification work because players constantly strive to improve themselves, and the way to encourage this is by seeking creative solutions that help them move forward, celebrate their achievements and obtain rewards. Additionally, these systems offer a safe space for employees to experiment and test new ideas. By recognizing and rewarding creativity and innovation, gamification incentivizes employees to keep looking for new ways to address challenges and improve processes.

8. Real-life examples of gamification at work

Companies that opt to gamify training for their workers do so not only to strengthen their commitment to the organization, but also to maximize productivity, improve skills or develop their corporate culture. Get inspired by some of our training success stories, featuring real-life examples of gamification at work:

How we helped Clarel to train their frontline workers in +1000 points of sale

With over 1,000 points of sale in Spain, Clarel is a brand that specializes in beauty, personal care and wellbeing. Their goal was to transform their entire sales team into experts, with extensive knowledge of their product catalog and brand updates. How did they do it? With the help of isEazy and through agile, fun and flexible training, especially designed for their team.

So, thanks to gamification mechanics, Clarel has been able to effectively evaluate training results among its employees, achieving an engagement level of 84%, and a percentage of correct answers in tests and games that exceeded 90%. Find out more about this incredible success story.

We increased engagement with Shiseido’s training program with gamification

With the help of isEazy, cosmetics firm Shiseido has achieved outstanding results by applying gamification to its training. Through the implementation of a social, gamified app, it has managed to increase the level of employee engagement with its training, and achieve a content retention rate of over 90%. In addition, it has been able to increase employee commitment by combining training and gamification through formats such as tutorial videos, challenges and games. You can learn more here about this amazing success story.

A gamified and mobile environment to train the Bridgestone LATAM distribution network

Bridgestone, a world-leading tire manufacturing company with a strong presence in over 25 countries, trusted isEazy to train its staff – distributed across more than 600 points of sale in Mexico, over 300 in Central America, and more than 200 in Colombia and Ecuador.

Through gamification dynamics, Bridgestone professionals discovered the opportunity to learn, share and comment on educational content, as well as play independently or with their colleagues to earn points that they could later exchange for prizes. The initiative exceeded expectations, gaining over 2,000 registered and active users in just four months. Learn more about this case!

9. The future of gamification at work

Gamification is constantly evolving, and its use in companies is expected to grow exponentially over the coming years. Various trends are set to combine to create a future where gamification will become a fundamental tool for learning and professional development.

These trends include the integration of new technologies such as augmented and virtual reality, which will help to create immersive and engaging educational experiences. Artificial intelligence, for its part, will allow learning to be personalized for each user, adapting the content to their specific needs and individual pace.

Without a doubt, companies that adopt the innovative strategy of gamification will be better positioned to attract and retain talent, increase productivity and create a culture of continuous learning.

10. Gamify your training and multiply your results with isEazy Game

So, now you know all the benefits of gamification, how to use it in your training strategy, and even have some examples of gamification at work under your belt. Ready to maximize your own training results with gamification? Then try IsEazy Game, the perfect gamification app to get your professionals engaged and committed.

Transform your training into a fun and unique experience, brought to life with exciting social dynamics in a collaborative environment. Plus, turn your training content into interactive question-and-answer games – challenge your professionals and watch them climb through the rankings in a series of shared challenges to promote engagement and learning.

And the best part? You’ll gain a full overview of employee progress, as well as their level of knowledge, plus find out which content resonates best with each of them. A flexible, customizable and intuitive corporate gamification app. So what are you waiting for? Try isEazy Game today!

Frequently Asked Questions about Gamification in Business

How can instructional design models be integrated with current e-learning trends such as gamification?

Instructional design models can serve as a foundation for incorporating gamification elements, structuring activities and content in a way that these innovative components reinforce learning objectives. Rewards, leaderboards, badges, and more can be included to provide positive reinforcement and motivate learners to continue their progress.

How can you design an effective gamification strategy?

To ensure a gamification strategy succeeds, consider these essential factors:

  1. Objectives: Define specific goals, such as increasing participation or improving learning outcomes.
  2. Target audience: Analyze user characteristics, interests, and needs to create appealing dynamics.
  3. Design: Ensure the experience is intuitive and motivating, avoiding unnecessary complexity.
  4. Feedback: Implement constant feedback systems to guide and improve participant performance.

How does gamification improve learning, and which tool stands out in this field?

Gamification enhances learning by increasing knowledge retention and encouraging motivation. isEazy Game is a standout tool in this field, as it transforms training into a unique and stimulating experience through effective gamification dynamics, such as challenges, games, levels, and rankings. This tool significantly improves training results, making learning more engaging and enjoyable.

How is gamification applied to learning and skills development?

Gamification transforms traditional learning processes into interactive experiences, boosting knowledge retention and skill development. Key applications include:

  • Interactive learning: Makes content more engaging and easier to remember.
  • Motivation and engagement: Drives participation with challenges and rewards.
  • Soft skills development: Enhances teamwork, problem-solving, and effective communication.
  • Formative assessment: Provides continuous feedback to help users identify areas for improvement.

What are the main benefits of gamification in companies?

The primary benefits of gamification include:

  • Boosting motivation and engagement by up to 48%.
  • Enhancing performance and productivity with immediate feedback.
  • Promoting teamwork and collaboration through shared objectives.
  • Encouraging creativity and innovation by experimenting with novel solutions.

What benefits does gamification offer in e-learning platforms?

Gamification makes use of elements such as challenges, rewards and recognition to motivate users to complete courses. This increases engagement and helps improve knowledge retention. Platforms that offer gamification, such as isEazy LMS, have the power to transform learning into a more involving and dynamic experience.

What is gamification, and what are its fundamental principles?

Gamification is a strategy that applies elements and mechanics from games, such as competition, achievements, rewards, and storytelling, to non-gaming contexts like education or corporate settings. Its goal is to enhance motivation, participation, and engagement. Three key principles ensure its effectiveness:

  • Mechanics: Basic elements like rules, levels, avatars, and point systems.
  • Dynamics: Features that spark interest and motivation, such as challenges and rewards.
  • Aesthetics: User-friendly, intuitive, and visually appealing designs that enhance the user experience.

Why is isEazy Game the ideal tool for gamification?

isEazy Game turns learning into an interactive and enjoyable experience. Its intuitive design allows you to transform training content into simple dynamics, challenges, and interactive games, maximizing knowledge retention and employee motivation. It also includes advanced tracking and analytics tools to measure progress and learning impact.

 

Josefina Castelán
CONTENT CREATED BY:
Josefina Castelán
Content Marketing Specialist at isEazy

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