Manage HR Magazine | Friday, November 25, 2022
Gamification in employee wellness utilises the psychology of competition, levelling up, and winning to encourage employees to boost overall health. Improvements in overall health are achievable through gamified well-being programs for employees at a worksite or employer's discretion.
FREMONT, CA: Gamification in employee wellness utilises the psychology of competition, levelling up, and winning to encourage employees to boost overall health.
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Competition is part of human character. Athletes are familiar with it; video gamers know the feeling of working toward the next level, and anyone who’s ever owned a coffee shop loyalty card will know the thrill of getting the last stamp and earning a free coffee. Fitness trackers work in an exact way, supplying the user with data on their improvement through activity levels and contesting them to keep going and do better. The popular tracking app Strava even connects players to their friends, communicating their workout stats in a feed and permitting them to virtually support each other. This information flow delivers both the carrot (peer support) and the stick (push notifications and positive peer pressure) to keep individuals in the game.
Any desired behaviour can be strengthened with gamification, and this fun approach to fitness is a mainstay of workplace wellness programs. Improvements in overall health are achievable through gamified well-being programs, with employees relishing improvements in several areas of overall health while partaking in a worksite wellness program.
Gamification, the application of game-playing features such as point scoring and friendly competition, isn’t unexplored. However, its capacity to engage and delight users are becoming well-known across the board across various industries.
In health and wellness, gamification motivates employees to take benefit of well-being platforms and helps organisations measure their success. Wellness programs face challenges in the post-pandemic landscape, where many workers still work remotely, resulting in lower levels of engagement in work-sponsored well-being programs that use obsolete technology. Corporations are investing in more updated technology that reaches employees where they are (in the home office, for example) and encourages them to consider and operate on wellness in their daily activities.
About 40 per cent of Fortune 1000 companies today are utilising gamification to help alter business operations somehow. In the longer term, gamification will have a noteworthy business impact as innovation practices enhance and organisations focus on determining clear business objectives.
Gamification in corporate wellness is supported by a theory that there are two types of motivation: intrinsic (from within) and extrinsic (external).
For years, wellness program leaders have been counting on extrinsic motivation, like a financial reward or penalty. While it is known to work agreeably to get people started, it’s proven to have little success in keeping people curious and engaged long-term. On the other hand, game designers, utilising game mechanics and experience design, are specialists in generating intrinsic reason by permitting people to generate their own satisfaction. The four key contributing factors to intrinsic motivation include: fulfilling work; being successful (or striving to be); social connection; and purpose.
To make gamification work in corporate wellness, games must have some key segments: an objective, rules, a feedback system that indicates progress, and voluntary participation. A fair game also rewards players based on their archetype.
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