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The Science and Software to Make Your Team Happy and More Productive at Work : Gamification

Organizations have seen the rapid ascent of computing technology for employee well-being in the last two decades. This includes a broad range of applications, employees monitoring and managing their own health, and with games transforming long periods of unrewarding work to something fun.
Organizations have seen the rapid ascent of computing technology for employee well-being in the last two decades. This includes a broad range of applications, employees monitoring and managing their own health, and with games transforming long periods of unrewarding work to something fun.

The term called ‘Gamification’ became popular in the early 2010s, and since then this engaging and behaviour developing new approach is changing our work lives. With Gamification, organizations can;

• transform long periods of unrewarding work to something much more fun by enhancing the overall employee engagement and retention ,

• invest in organizational success by opening new pathways for employees and managers to understand each other’s values and helping managers to create successful teams,

• and make behavioral changes promoting good-natured competition for employees to achieve physical and financial wellness goals. When an employee is hungry, reaching for an apple instead of a candy means mastery, autonomy, and control which are the same motivations for a gamer.

Question is can managers reward their employees with their achievements while lowering healthcare costs and decrease absenteeism?

However, the question is can managers reward their employees with their achievements while lowering healthcare costs and decrease absenteeism?

According to Ross Smith, the Director of Test, Skype at Microsoft, it can be accomplished; however, the attendance to the games should be voluntary. Determining what make things fun for employees is the challenge that managers need to solve. However, once it is figured out, the games increase participation rates and creates transparency and high trust within the organization.

A few years ago, Sun Life Financial created an online tool that incorporates gaming principles to teach plan members about retirement and savings. Users learn about topics at various stages and must pass knowledge quizzes in order to advance. They can also compare themselves with other players on leaderboards and share their progress through social media.

Seeing the benefits of Gamification urge insurance companies to embrace gamification as well. In light of this, one of Canada`s Employee Assistance providers Morneau Shepell released a program called ‘Getting to Your Gold’. The program is specifically designed to help motivate behavioural changes while connecting co-workers and Olympic athletes through an engagement program.

The primary objective of Getting to Your Gold program is to maximize employee engagement for employees` own health outcomes. In order to make it accessible to users, the program is hosted on an online portal that houses different Olympic spirit-themed challenges, athlete videos, health & wellness polls and expert advice. With this program employee engagement and total wellbeing are optimized through fun and informative Olympic spirited challenges.
• Physical Activity,

• Nutrition,

• Rest / Sleep,

• Mental Wellness.

Increasingly, we are turning to technology to support our health, and this is not likely to change anytime soon. Insurance carriers are incorporating this new approach to help their clients and examples show fun games can influence and sustain changes in healthy behaviour. Managers need to rethink how gamification can change workplace wellness from employee’s perspective because occupational, emotional and physical wellness should be the goal of our business model today.

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