OMNICAREGamification in Employee Engagement

Prepared By Manu Melwin Joy

Assistant ProfessorSCMS School of Technology and Management

Kerala, India.Phone – 9744551114

Mail – manu_melwinjoy@yahoo.com

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OMNICARE• Omnicare is a more IT-

centric organization that

produces pharmacy

management software --

a kind of outsourced

helpdesk for pharmacies.

OMNICARE

• Omnicare was

experiencing long wait

times at its helpdesk.

OMNICARE• The employees were

experienced and

knowledgeable about the

service. The company

wanted to gamify a solution

to improve efficiency.

OMNICARE• It started by adding a

leaderboard and showing

the reps the board. They

also issued cash rewards

to employees with the

fastest times on the floor.

OMNICARE• However, the results weren't

what management expected.

Immediately wait times

increased and employee

turnover spiked; people were

quitting their jobs and customer

satisfaction plummeted.

OMNICARE• The difference here

versus the Target

example is that the

client didn't think about

what was motivating the

reps.

OMNICARE• These helpdesk employees

were high tech and,

according to Zichermann,

felt like they already had a

sense of control over their

own life.

OMNICARE• When Omnicare

introduced a scoring

system as it did, these

employees felt like Big

Brother was watching

them.

OMNICARE• "To a Target cashier, it's

positive feedback to a

high-end helpdesk rep,

it's Big Brother," says

Zichermann.

OMNICARE• So Omnicare iterated and

changed the design of the

system. Now instead of

being all about time and

motion, they set up a series

of achievements that reps

could reach.

OMNICARE• The reps are given a

challenge at the beginning

of every shift. For example, a

helpdesk support analyst

might receive a note like this

at the beginning of their

shift.

OMNICARE• "Today find three

customers who have a

specific problem with

billing and help them

with billing."

OMNICARE• As they progress through

these series of challenges,

they are given short-term

rewards that are

achievement and

recognition oriented (non-

cash incentives).

OMNICARE• "Time in their waiting

queue was halved,

customer satisfaction

went back up and

employee turnover was

down.

OMNICARE• It's a very different design,

but with the same core

premise and with wildly

different results," says

Zichermann. The bottom-

line is that there is no one-

size-fits-all answer.