Time and time again, HR professionals struggle with employee onboarding. Programs designed to maximize employee performance and retention, no matter how carefully constructed, very often fall short of the mark. The real reason is not lack of motivation from the employee or lack of willingness from the employer. Instead, it is this flaw of our consciousness: the human brain’s tendency to forget. This blog will shed light upon how to improve employee onboarding using gamification.
Employee Onboarding Hacks
Whether or not we realize it, human beings are forgetting all the time. Suppose that you hold a new hire orientation to onboard new employees. Statistics show that after the seminar ends, “Within 24 hours, they have forgotten an average of 70 percent of new information.” (Kohn, 2014) With new hire orientation spend racking up quite the bill, it’s clear that just as the memories do, the dollars are vanishing into thin air.
The good news is that for the solution, employers have to look no further than their mobile phone. The digital workforce transformation brings new technologies such as big data and gamification that will make onboarding fun. These techniques are especially relevant when onboarding millennial employees who are the first generation raised entirely in the digital age.
There are several simple, low cost ways you can integrate gamification to improve forgetfulness during employee onboarding. The first six months of employment are full of administrative tasks. Why not create a contest in which you reward employees for each small accomplishment, for example, completing the W9 paperwork on time. You’re encouraging accomplishment by gift giving and adding an element of excitement, especially if you incorporate healthy competition by establishing a leaderboard and publishing it on social media. Instead of watching training videos or reading a manual about how to perform a job task, put the new hire on a “mystery quest” to figure it out by asking other employees. This improves interaction with the team and activates problem solving. In transitioning from spectator to player, gamification makes new hires active participants in their new company.
With over 17 years of experience supporting HR teams across the world, Retensa is the resource that companies trust to make techniques such as gamification effective. For assistance in designing a gamification program for your company, contact requests@retensa.com.
Kohn, Art. (2014, March 13) Brain Science: The Forgetting Curve–the Dirty Secret of Corporate Training. Learning Solutions Magazine. Retrieved on January 26, 2017 from https://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/1379/brain-science-the-forgetting-curvethe-dirty-secret-of-corporate-training
Posted: 2/13/2017
Did you like this post? We have many more that may interest you. Let’s keep in touch.