Building the next generation of HR workforce solutions: using gamification to enhance employee recognition
Enterprise productivity apps will play an increasingly important role in remote workforce management in the years to come. During the recent pandemic, working from home (WFH) has become a global phenomenon that has motivated both employers and employees to consider remote work as a new norm. Some companies like Twitter and Fujitsu have even announced that they will allow their employees to WFH indefinitely. And, according to a recent survey by Gallup, 50% of employees want to continue to WFH after shelter-in-place restrictions are lifted. Various studies also show that remote work has many advantages to it, such as less commute time, better work-life balance, and increased productivity.
However, managing a remote workforce can be quite challenging. Particularly, managers face many challenges when it comes to managing a remote workforce effectively. Finding the right approach to deal with individual needs and concerns, providing support, engaging, and achieving common goals in a timely fashion can be hard to do from a distance. Not being able to manage a remote workforce effectively could lead to employee disengagement and lower productivity. A 2019 study by Gallup shows that 65% of employees in the US are ‘partially’ if not ‘actively disengaged’ in the workplace which equates to billions of dollars in lost productivity a year. Ineffective remote workforce management approaches could potentially lead to further disengagement when WFH. This is where technology such as productivity and workforce management mobile applications can provide support.
Productivity apps
Mobile productivity applications can prove to be useful in helping both managers manage their workforce effectively as well as helping employees to stay connected, collaborate, and complete tasks in a timely manner while working remotely. Productivity apps come in all shapes and sizes from time- or task-management apps to full-fledge workforce management solutions. An advantage of using enterprise-wide mobile workforce applications is that these can be used to replace existing legacy HR systems (which fall short of supporting today’s changing nature of work) and at the same time provide employees with personalized work experiences which otherwise would not be possible in the offline world. If designed and used correctly, full-fledged productivity mobile apps can provide substantial benefits to both managers and employees when WFH at scale.
Creating blended work experiences
Working remotely means working virtually. Designing virtual work experiences need to be as meaningful and impactful as working with colleagues face-to-face. However, real world work engagements can’t always be replicated in the same way in an online environment. First of all, the digital space can’t replicate (yet) the richness of real-life encounters. This makes it hard to pick up on social and environmental cues normally present in the workplace. These invisible cues play an important role in relaying information which affect how people feel about themselves and indirectly affect performance. Second, people behave differently on screens. Generally, people read faster on screens, pay less attention to details, and are more prone to distraction. Finally, encounters online don’t normally happen randomly. Meetings are planned and text messages are exchanged with people pre-set in your device. The serendipity moments at the water cooler or coffee counter disappear when working online. It’s clear that traditional business practices have to be transformed into more meaningful and engaging game-like experiences if they are to be successful in the online space.
Gamification
Gamification reflects “the usage of game design elements within non-game contexts”[1]. Gamification has been used in various real-world applications such as marketing, health, education, crowdsourcing, and work. The aim of using gamification in employee productivity apps is to use game design elements to influence (initiate, direct, intensify) behavior in real-world environments for non-gaming purposes, such as WFH. Gamified experiences can be applied to achieve business processes or outcomes. Companies like Microsoft and Salesforce use gamification to increase sales and improve product development. Gamification only became popular in non-gaming contexts in the last 10 years. The lack of application, but also in understanding how gamification works, the psychological mechanisms underlying the effects design elements have on behavior, and which elements lead to desired behaviors, makes it hard to propose effective gamification strategies in non-gaming context like work. The application of gamification in productivity apps is to drive motivation and performance toward goal achievement, which could be related to training, communication, collaboration, or task completion. Interestingly, management has paid little attention how best to design, implement, manage, and optimize gamification approaches in the workplace. Understanding how gamification approaches motivate or change behavior can provide managers with new and innovative ways to increase various employee outcomes.
Positive & Negative Reinforcement (side bar on motivation)
Positive and negative reinforcements encourage/discourage certain behaviors. Behavioral change can be modified by extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Behaviors which are rewarded are more likely to be repeated while behaviors which are not rewarded or punished will not be sustained. Achieving desired outcomes leads to positive affect which, if rewarded, will eventually lead to habit formation. Important to mention is that timing plays a crucial role in how effective behavioral reinforcement is.
There are many ways to motivate human behavior through gamification and studies show that there is no uniform concept which encompasses its usage. The purpose of applying gamification to productivity apps is twofold. First, gamification techniques are important to ensure mobile app uptake and daily usage. Though parts of these can be designed into the flowcharts of the application, it is important to have a commitment strategy in place as an overarching framework. Second, gamification is important to create engaging and meaningful experiences that people will want to experience on a daily basis as it helps them to achieve their goals and feel good about themselves. Be it more productivity, collaboration, or communication. There are countless ways design elements and virtual environments (the mechanics and the dynamics) can be constructed to increase performance in productivity apps (too many to cover in just one article). To provide a deep dive on this topic and to help better understand how design elements are linked to motivational drivers and thus performance, I want to focus specifically on using gamification approaches to boost employee recognition.
Employee Recognition
Employee recognition is the acknowledgement of exemplary employee performance or positive contributions made toward the organization. The goal of employee recognition is to reinforce specific behaviors in the workplace that lead to improved performance or business results. Employees who are recognized for their accomplishments are generally happier. Happier employees are more productive and feel a better fit with their work and organization. At the group level, employee recognition leads to a culture of self-improvement by incentivizing learning and goal achievement.
Employee recognition is an important psychological need that employees aim to fulfill through their work, be it from their direct supervisor or other employees. Being recognized enhances employee motivation, engagement, and commitment which leads to more productive work outcomes at both the individual and team level.
However, employee recognition and rewarding desired behavior with incentives like leaderboards, badges, levels, points and stars have always been hard to perform at scale. This is where productivity apps make the difference. And if designed well, mobile applications can help fulfill deep psychological needs of employees at various stages and levels of their engagement and work.
Using gamification to enhance employee recognition
The motivational power of gamification can be explained by the fulfilment of specific needs such as the need for recognition. App designers often think that recognition in itself is the core motivational driver to focus on to drive specific behaviors. Nothing is less true. When employees seek recognition, it is not the recognition per se that needs to be fulfilled, but a deeper psychological need such as mastery (need for competence), self-efficacy (need to feel in control), autonomy (need to feel free), and a sense of relatedness (need for belonging).
Understanding that employee recognition helps fulfil these needs is an important first step when designing productivity apps and using design elements to enhance employee performance. Still, little is known how different gamification techniques (or a combination of them) actually affect behavior and which psychological mechanisms underlie the design-to-performance link in specific goal-orientated behavior. This article aims to fill the gap within the existing body of knowledge by examining gamification at a higher level of resolution. The following will therefore discuss how gamification techniques can be used to boost employee recognition in workforce productivity apps by helping employees fulfil the need for mastery, self-efficacy, autonomy, and relatedness.
Mastery: reflects the desire to improve and get better at something.
Mastery reflects one’s competence in a task. Providing feedback and recognizing employees for desired behaviors and accomplishments are important drivers of performance in the virtual space. Various design elements can be used to help employees feel competent or accomplished (e.g. during on-boarding, training, collaboration, or task completion). Here follow a couple of gamification strategies that help fulfill the need for mastery.
Points. Using a point-based system is a great way to recognize employees for their work. Providing points for accomplishing work-related tasks, achieving training goals, or exemplifying desired behaviors can be very motivating. Points function as a granular feedback loop which recognize the employee in a timely fashion. This kind of recognition reinforces behavior immediately (celebrating quick wins) and at the same time guides future behavior (how to improve). The provisioning of points is normally predefined and built into the design of the application, but it is also possible to provide points in a discretionary manner (e.g. by request of the manager). A discretionary component can enhance the perceived value of point collection and thus increase work motivation. The value (or meaning) employees give to points as a reward or the way how points are delivered is very important for its ongoing effectiveness as a gamification approach. The rules and structures governing point provisioning should therefore be skilfully designed and tested.
Performance graphs. Performance graphs visualize progress over time. They provide on-going feedback to the employee. Performance graphs help employees understand how well they are doing and how far they are from completing a task or accomplishing an objective. Performance graphs have a strong motivational component as they drive behavior though achievement and commitment.
Badges. Badges are pivotal in motivating behavior through employee recognition. Badges are distinctive and reflect a certain level of accomplishment which is not easy to attain. Badges also have a social value connected to it indicating position in the app or organization, which reinforces social recognition as well. It is therefore important to consider how badges are attained in the app (mechanics) and how badges affect group behavior through social learning (dynamics).
Leaderboards. Leaderboards are a great way to recognize employees for their achievements. Leaderboards provide a cumulative review of individual or team performance and, similar to the usage of badges, provide for social standing, belonging, prestige, and status. Leaderboards are a great way to enhance performance amongst highly dispersed teams or people as they function as a common denominator of success. The usage of leaderboards can be highly motivating, especially when applying them in competitive or achievement-orientated working environments (e.g. sales, call centers). When using leaderboards in productivity apps, it is very important to consider its function (fit), distribution of rewards based on position (zero-sum versus positive sum), and significance of the reward related to the achievement (value). In some cases, leaderboards can have opposite effects and actually be demotivating.
Self-efficacy: reflects one’s belief to be able to complete tasks independently and successfully.
Self-efficacy is the belief in your ability to be able to accomplish a task. Self-efficacy in many aspects relates to mastery experiences as mastery provides the evidence that one is able to succeed at a task independently. Self-efficacy improves confidence and therefore also job satisfaction and engagement. Using gamification strategies to recognize employees for self-efficacy is an important motivational driver of performance. Factors that enhance self-efficacy are 1. difficulty of the task / challenge, 2. effort, 3. circumstances under which tasks are performed, and 4. need for external support. Here are some examples of how to enhance self-efficacy using gamification techniques.
Stretch goal notifications. Automating or voluntarily providing stretch goals in employee productivity apps are a great way to improve self-efficacy. Stretch goal notifications can take the form of daily/weekly challenges which can help build confidence in using the app or accomplishing work-related tasks. Stretch goals signify progression and therefore recognize employees for their effort and accomplishment while providing growth.
Progression bars. Progression bars are also a great example of feedback based on self-efficacy. Progression bars signify effort, growth, and commitment, which drive performance toward difficult to achieve goals.
Task Difficulty indicators. When setting weekly goals in the app, employees can be prompted to indicate the difficulty of goal completion and self-confidence to achieve the goal indicated. If these goals are not completed within the indicated time, peer-led or automated responses can support the completion of the task.
Autonomy: reflects the volition to fulfill a task based on one’s own interest and values.
Building autonomy into the design of productivity apps is important to boost employee performance. Autonomy, together with mastery and self-efficacy, is a strong motivational force that drives positive behaviors in the workplace. This also accounts for in-app engagement and performance. Being able to voluntarily fulfill preferred tasks or prioritize work based on personal needs provides for a meaningful work experience. Customization and freedom of movement are therefore important features to design into your app. Here follow some examples of how autonomy can be enhanced in employee productivity apps.
Task/Project participation. Being able to choose work projects to participate in increases one’s sense of freedom and volition in choice. Recognizing employees for voluntarily choosing projects to participate in (individual or social recognition), increases task engagement and is a powerful driver of individual performance.
Designing your own avatar. Having the choice to design your own avatar helps to boost decision freedom. Choosing and designing your avatar normally happens during app adoption and early stage app usage. Being able to customize your identity and your experience in the app helps to create a meaningful on-boarding experience and boost in-app engagement and attachment through autonomy. Besides avatars, being able to choose your own rewards (e.g. non-monetary rewards) can also be extremely motivating.
Sense of relatedness: reflects a sense of belonging and togetherness.
Creating a sense of belonging or relatedness is a core psychological driver of performance. Besides needs for achievement and competence, relatedness helps to create social cohesion and psychological attachment to the group. Especially when teams are dispersed or working remotely, team member interaction and a sense of relatedness help to drive performance in the digital space. Here follow some examples of gamification strategies that boost employee recognition through togetherness. Some of these examples are similar to the previous ones but have a group aspect to it.
Group performance rewards. Recognizing team performance through the provisioning of points, progression bars, badges, or leaderboard status. Recognizing group achievements helps to align individual behaviors with group goals which also promote pro-social behaviors. Studies show that group rewards promote collaboration and positive attitudes towards the team. Rewards used as feedback provisioning increase team commitment by promoting upward social comparison. Similar to the usage of points and badges, group rewards should hold a significant value or meaning in the minds of the employee for it to have on-going effects on performance.
Collaboration Acknowledgements. Collaboration acknowledgements are a great way to boost relatedness amongst employees in the app. For employees who enjoy collaborating with others, acknowledgement notifications can increase their willingness to collaborate more with others. These notifications can be personal or group based. Social recognition is a major driver of performance for people who like to work with others.
The impact of individual differences on gamification effectiveness
One of the main questions concerning the usage of gamification techniques is the impact of individual differences on gamification effectiveness. Studies have found that personality (e.g. big five), moods and affective states (e.g. joy, sadness, boredom), behavioral orientations (e.g. competitive, cooperative), and cognitive abilities (e.g. information processing abilities, memory) affect how gamification is experienced by the user. One specific area of interest concerning the effects of individual differences is the impact of age on the effectiveness of gamification approaches. Specifically employees aged 55 and older (who currently make up 16% of the workforce in Europe), who are less digitally literate than younger generations, might experience gamification approaches differently. This is an important dimension to investigate if gamification techniques are used within the design of workforce productivity apps. So far, the limited number of studies conducted in this field don't show a direct link between age and gamification effectiveness on performance. Rather, they show an indirect effect related to technology adoption and ease of use. Younger workers seem to be more adept than their older counterparts at using technology at work or for pleasure. Furthermore, ease of use seems to be a determining factor when it comes to technology usage. This means that design effectiveness is dependent on the degree of complexity used in different gamification approaches (e.g. dashboards, leaderboards, level achievement). A study conducted by Koivisto and Hamari found that ease of use in gamification approaches diminishes with age, which could be related to changing cognitive abilities as one gets older. Most of the studies investigating the impact of gamification on the elderly were conducted within the health domain. Learnings from the health domain can be applied to the design of employee productivity apps to be more inclusive of different age profiles. The usage of psychographic analysis and machine learning algorithms could prove to be beneficial in customizing gamification approaches in real-time to accommodate for individual differences in workforce productivity app usage.
Conclusion
Utilizing gamification strategies in mobile app design is paramount to mobile app adoption, engagement, and user retention. Employee productivity apps which focus on driving engagement in a combined virtual/real-life environment need to strategically think how to use the digital environment to enhance employee motivation, satisfaction, and performance in a targeted manner. Though there are many ways this can be accomplished, enhancing employee recognition through gamification techniques deserves a deep dive of its own. Whether it is teaching a new skill, work progression, task completion, employee engagement, dealing with hurdles, collaboration, or communication, recognizing employees for their effort and achievement is a core motivational driver of performance and therefore a key design objective within workforce productivity apps. Specific gamification techniques can be used to enhance employee recognition by fulfilling deep psychological needs such as mastery, self-efficacy, autonomy, and relatedness. Designing gamification elements to target specific goal-orientated behavior in a predefined context, such as in-app employee recognition, increases the chances of identifying which mechanism govern the design-to-performance relationship and hence improve design effectiveness. It is also important that gamification strategies tactfully (and sparsely) utilize rewards to motivate behavior and help create meaningful experiences for its users that also relate to non-gaming activities. This increases the long-term success of gamification usage in mobile app design by influencing behavior in a realistic and balanced way. Overloading users with too many goals or design tactics can lead to unethical behavior or a decrease in intrinsically motivated behavior.
This paper attempted to provide an understanding of how game-like design elements can be applied to enhance employee recognition virtually and which psychological mechanisms underlie the relationship between design and performance. Understanding how design mechanics affect performance at the micro-level is crucial to successful (employee productivity) app development and promoting positive user outcomes.
[1] Deterding, Dixon, Khaled, & Nacke (2011, p2426.)
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About the Author
Ali Fenwick, Ph.D.
Ali Fenwick is a professor, keynote speaker, behavioral expert on tv, strategic board advisor, and author. Ali specializes in human behavior, talent management, the future of work, and technology. Ali is also the Founder and CEO of LEAD TCM&L™, a global behavioral science advisory firm developing nudges and psychological interventions for Business, Retail, Digital Startups, Education, Government, and NGOs. Ali is also a startup veteran, angel investor, and mentor to tech entrepreneurs.
Ali is a strategic advisor and behavioral expert for the startup WeSoar, a state-of-the-art enterprise productivity app using the best in-class behavioral science and machine learning algorithms which help organizations overcome existing HR legacy issues and provide managers/employees with meaningful (remote) work experiences.
