gamification in employee engagement - 10 compelling case studies - manu melwin joy

10 Compelling Case StudiesGamification in Employee Engagement

Prepared By Manu Melwin Joy

Assistant ProfessorSCMS School of Technology and Management

Kerala, India.Phone – 9744551114

Mail – [email protected]

Kindly restrict the use of slides for personal purpose. Please seek permission to reproduce the same in public forms and presentations.

10 Compelling Case Studies1. Apple Bee Case Study2. Aspire 3. DWP Case Study4. Idea Street5. KEAS Success Story6. Kudos Badges7. LIVE OPS Case Study8. Loyalty One Case Study9. Microsoft Case Study10. Next Jump Case Study

Apple Bee Case Study• With an employee turnover

rate of 135%, the restaurant

industry must invest

significant sums to cover

the cost of repeat employee

recruiting and onboarding.

Apple Bee Case Study• To increase employee

retention and “combat

churn,” RMH Franchise

Corp., one of the largest

franchisees in the

Applebee’s system, turned

to gamification.

Apple Bee Case Study• The franchise launched Bee

Block, a website operated

by Bunchball, to foster

employee engagement and

loyalty.

Apple Bee Case Study• Designed to improve

punctuality, sales and

service, the game provides

each employee an online

profile and trophy case.

Apple Bee Case Study• Leaderboards track the activities

Applebee’s wants to reinforce,

including clocking in on time or

selling brownie bites, and issues

“Bee Block Missions” such as

upselling appetizers or growing

check averages.

Apple Bee Case Study• Participation is encouraged

by “Bee TV” – televisions in

each restaurant where

employees can view real-

time data on themselves

and their peers.

Apple Bee Case Study• “Seventy three percent of

our employees are under 31

years old, making them a

prime target for

gamification,” noted Robin

Jenkins, regional marketing

manager for RMH.

Apple Bee Case Study• Since the program was

launched in December

2013, more than 3,000

users have generated

30,000 sessions, Jenkins

said.

Apple Bee Case Study• Check averages have gone

up and employee turnover

has dropped by more than

20% – all without the use of

any tangible rewards.

Apple Bee Case Study• The company does plan to add

rewards in the next iteration but,

according to Jenkins, they will be

“status and reputation building”

such as offering kitchen staff

different-colored chef jackets to

denote their higher status within

the game.

Apple Bee Case Study• RMH also plans to integrate

social media into the

program so that users can

share the badges they’ve

earned or get rewarded for

using company hashtags.

ASPIREGamification in Employee Engagement

CISCO

• Cisco use gamification across a number of key programs. One program where they have extensively incorporated gamification techniques is their Social Media Training Program.

CISCO

• This program offers a unique opportunity for employees and contractors at Cisco to build their social media skillset. And the opportunity to leverage the skills they learn is manifold.

CISCO

• For example, sales account managers learn to use Twitter to reach their customers and human resources representatives learn to use LinkedIn to reach potential candidates.

CISCO

• And, there are many other

job roles that benefit

through social media, such

as marketing (of course!)

and product development.

Progression Levels

• The Social Media Training Program includes three levels of certification: – Specialist– Strategist and – Master.

Progression Levels

• Each level of certification

requires players to show

increasing levels of social

media expertise.

Progression Levels

• At the Specialist level, players are required to take 15 courses. At the Strategist level, players are required to take an additional 13 courses and author a blog post.

Progression Levels

• And, at the Master level, players are required to 10 courses and create case study illustrating an integrated social media initiative or create a social media strategy.

Progression Levels

• In addition, there are also four sub-specializations available:– Social Media for HR– Social Media for Sales– Social Media for Executive

Communication Managers– Social Media for Internal

Partner Teams

Bring Fun into the Mix with Team Challenges

• In addition, the program

incorporates team

challenges where players

can join together in small

teams or participate as an

entire organization to

complete the certification.

Bring Fun into the Mix with Team Challenges

• This is an effective way for

individuals in an

organization to grow new

skills together. And players

earn badges for completing

team challenges.

Firing up Motivation

• Learning is often an intrinsically

motivated activity. Individuals

enjoy the challenge of learning

new skills. And, learning new

professional skills can help

them advance in their careers.


• And, when you combine the intrinsic motivation with gamification techniques, this further encourages participation and engagement. The Social Media Training program and the use of gamification drive engagement through various techniques.


• Exploration

– Players have fun exploring

social media topics. There are

many courses available, and

participants can learn about

the different aspects of social

media through the courses.


• Progression Loops– With three levels of certification,

four sub-specializations, and mid-way level accomplishments, players can progress through multiple levels of learning. Each class completed is a small challenge achieved. And, each level of certification is the larger challenge. The goal of the game is to get from Specialist to Master for the core learning track.


• Teamwork– Humans are social animals.

And, the team challenges allow players to collaborate and compete with each other. Working together as a team to achieve a goal can be fun.


• Over 650 individuals have

been certified with more

than 13,000 courses taken.

And, this number continues

to grow every day.

DWP Case StudyGamification in Employee Engagement

DWP Case Study

• The United Kingdom’s

Department of Work

and Pensions created

an application called

Idea Street.

DWP Case Study

• The purpose was to

increase employee

collaboration and

facilitate the sharing

of new project ideas.

DWP Case Study• The satisfaction of contributing

ideas, getting quick feedback,

receiving badges, and moving

up on the leaderboard has

motivated the department’s

employees to use the

application.

DWP Case Study• Within the first 18

months, about 4,000

employees generated

1,400 new candidate

projects on Idea Street.

DWP Case Study

• From this, 63

projects have been

implemented by the

Department.

Idea StreetGamification in Employee Engagement

Prepared By Manu Melwin Joy

Assistant ProfessorSCMS School of Technology and Management

Kerala, India.Phone – 9744551114

Mail – [email protected]

Kindly restrict the use of slides for personal purpose. Please seek permission to reproduce the same in public forms and presentations.

Idea Street

• The United Kingdom’s

Department of Work

and Pensions created

an application called

Idea Street.

Idea Street

• The purpose was to

increase employee

collaboration and

facilitate the sharing

of new project ideas.

Idea Street• The satisfaction of contributing

ideas, getting quick feedback,

receiving badges, and moving

up on the leaderboard has

motivated the department’s

employees to use the

application.

Idea Street• Within the first 18

months, about 4,000

employees generated

1,400 new candidate

projects on Idea Street.

Idea Street

• From this, 63

projects have been

implemented by the

Department.

KEAS Success StoryGamification in Employee Engagement

KEAS

• Keas is an employee wellness

platform used by enterprises to

maintain lower group health

insurance costs and reduce

expenses such as unnecessary

sick days.

KEAS

• Keas employs gamification within its

platform, enabling employees from

client companies to log in to a personal

dashboard to view stats, earn awards

for achievements for completing tasks,

and even support co-workers for

progress towards their goals.

KEAS

• CEO Josh Stevens believes what sets

Keas apart from other employee

wellness platforms is guaranteed

engagement -- the company claims its

users check in to the platform 10

times per month -- and the social

aspect.

KEAS

• Employees on the network

can compete in team health

challenges for rewards such

as a reduction of their

deductible.

KEAS

• "The user sets goals individually that they

can report in on every day or their wearable

computer can update. You can participate

individually or on a team to win prizes.

When you're on a team you're eligible for

greater prizes. This is by design, because

people on teams are more likely to

participate."

KEAS

• Keas has also published some great data to supplement

their platform. Their results include:

– Keas users access the platform an average of 10 times per month.

– 85% of users say they will use Keas again.

– Incapital, a Keas client, saw an average weight loss of 4.4lbs per

user after 79% of their employees signed up for Keas.

Kudos BadgesGamification in Employee Engagement

Kudos Badges• Kudos Badges are used by

the IBM Connections service.

As users gain likes of files

and information they share,

or as they approve and share

links to other files, they can

earn these badges.

Kudos Badges• They are displayed with files,

and other stats users have,

and is a good competitive

but non-dramatic way to

promote heavy, diverse use

of the system for exterior

means and exterior ends.

Kudos Badges• Kudos don’t incentivize

heavily, but they do seem to

work, which high Kudos

being a coveted stat on the

site.

Kudos Badges• Connections continues as

another example, where it

implements a gamification

package. This is a new concept,

gamification examples packages,

and Buncbhall’s Nitro is the one

of choice for Connections.

Kudos Badges• It’s a mission-oriented

system where a user is

assigned missions, which

are simple and common

tasks that can be performed

in Connections itself.

Kudos Badges• As missions are completed,

levels are earned, and the

standing of a user as an

expert in the community

will be higher.

Kudos Badges• This earns them higher

regard and higher respect

from others, and gives them

a strong and empowered

identity within the service.

LIVE OPS CASE STUDYGamification in Employee Engagement

LIVE OPS CASE STUDY• Live Ops, a call center

outsourcing firm with more

than 20,000 independent

agents from across the

nation who work from

home.

LIVE OPS CASE STUDY• It wanted to gamify its

employees’ activities in

order to engage them in

their work and decrease

their turnover rate.

LIVE OPS CASE STUDY

• Andre Bourque of Social

Media Today describes how

the employees interact with

their new gamified system.

LIVE OPS CASE STUDY• Employees earned points

based on their speed in

completing customer

service calls, the number of

calls they take, and the level

of customer satisfaction

they receive.

LIVE OPS CASE STUDY

• The new program

experienced an 80%

adoption rate in the

first week!

LIVE OPS CASE STUDY• Adopters outperformed

non-users by 23% in their

call metrics and their

length of employment

doubled the company’s

previous average.

Loyalty One Case StudyGamification in Employee Engagement

Loyalty One Case Study• COLLOQUY Research

Director Jeff Berry shared

results of two gamificiation

initiatives that Toronto-

based LoyaltyOne uses to

engage its 1,600 employees.

Loyalty One Case Study• The first, LoyaltyOne’s Pass It On

program, is an interactive

initiative through which every

associate is given a bank of points

that they can use to reward their

peers. Associates can also

recognize and thank their peers

without awarding points.

Loyalty One Case Study• Leaderboards show how often a

player is a recognizer or being

recognized. To date, 97% of 1,500

associates are active in the program,

and 40% of the recognitions come

with no points, “which shows that

we’re creating a culture of

recognizing as well as rewarding,”

Berry said.

Loyalty One Case Study• The second initiative took

place in December 2013,

when LoyaltyOne launched

the Move and Earn

program.

Loyalty One Case Study• The company gave all

employees a FitBit device

through which they could

set their own goals for

number of steps per day.

Loyalty One Case Study• To date, 59% of employees

are participating in the

program (up from an industry

average of 30%) and they’ve

increased the number of

steps they take on a daily

basis by 27%, Berry said.

Loyalty One Case Study• Both of these programs

have contributed to high

associate engagement

scores with 88% of

associates stating that they

are proud to work for the

company.

Microsoft Case StudyGamification in Employee Engagement

Microsoft

• The Challenge: Microsoft has

myriad language localization

needs for its many products,

and ensuring that

translations were accurate

and made sense was a huge

challenge for just one team.

Microsoft

• Gamified Solution: Microsoft built a

“Language Quality" game, which

involved a very simple Silverlight

application that let users view

screens to check for language

accuracy. Microsoft included

intentionally poor translations to

make sure its employees were

actually paying attention.

Microsoft

• Results: 4,500 users reviewed

500,000 screens to correct or

improve translations based on

their native languages. Microsoft

Japan actually took a company-

wide day off to play the game

and ended up winning the

leaderboard.

Microsoft

• The Windows Language

Quality Game is a

serious game to ensure

the translation quality of

software.

Microsoft

• Players help verify and correct the

translations of software into their

own language. The game not only

encouraged people to contribute

to it by making it fun, but also

channeled civic engagement by

allowing everyone to help make

Windows a better product.

Microsoft

• Ross Smith is the Director of

Test at Microsoft, and he has

been in the software industry

for over 20 years. He has 5

software patents, and he is one

of the authors of, “The Practical

Guide to Defect Prevention.”

Microsoft

• He is currently researching the

impact of games and social

networking tools on management

education and requisite skills for new

managers. His work led to the

creation of 42projects, which is an

experiment that uses trust as the

basis for promoting individual

confidence, risk-taking, and creativity.

Microsoft

• His work on productivity gaming for next-

generation employees and management

initiatives is a great example of how

gamification has changed the

professional landscape. Such an example

is the Windows Language Quality Game,

which was a successful initiative to find a

cost-effective and fun way to increase the

quality of the native language versions of

Windows.

How Microsoft Leads with Gamification

• Ross understands the shifting

demographics of the workforce and

believes that companies need to

redefine how work “works”. The future

generation of employees, Gen Y, has

grown up with technology integrated

into their daily lives, effectively changing

the way today’s world communicates,

prioritizes, and produces.


• Gen X managers need to

understand how to bring out the

creativity of Gen Y’s unique

talents rather than inhibiting

possible risk-taking. To improve

upon management and

innovation, Ross Smith

created productivity games.


• Productivity games are a subset

of serious games, and they

incorporate using game elements

to boost engagement and

creativity of otherwise dull or

difficult tasks. Ross believes that

games and collaborative play help

motivate and make work fun.


• His theory is that collaborative

play builds trust among the

players, and that trust leads to

greater experimentation. A higher

degree of experimentation leads

to creativity, innovation, and

increased personal satisfaction.


• In a highly competitive business

environment, composure is

needed at all levels to ensure a

high quality product and quality

of life for employees.

Composure starts with trust, and

trust can be built with

productivity games.

Next Jump Case StudyGamification in Employee Engagement

Next Jump Case Study• NextJump, a provider of

loyalty and rewards

programs, wanted its

employees to be more

active in order to improve

their health and to lower

healthcare premium costs.

Next Jump Case Study

• So NextJump opened

a free office gym, but

only 5% of its

workforce was using it

on a regular basis.

Next Jump Case Study• It then set up a contest

where the top 4-5 gym-

using employees had a

chance to split a

$20,000 prize.

Next Jump Case Study• Then it established cross-

office, talent-balanced

teams and a live

leaderboard

application, FitRank, to

stimulate and track

competition.


• Also, it introduced

“WOWPoints” ─

virtual currency to

incent the behavior.


• This only led to

12% employee

participation.


• Now 80% of the

workforce exercises

there 2+ times per

week.

gamification in employee engagement - 10 compelling case studies - manu melwin joy

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