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Let's Play: To Keep Gen Y Staffers, Gamify Their Work

This article is more than 10 years old.

Guest post written by Katherine Heisler

Katherine Heisler is an account executive at Bunchball.

A recent MTV workplace survey showed that Millennials overwhelmingly agree that their jobs should reflect their lifestyle, their workplace should be social and fun, and they should have flexible hours and autonomy over the projects they’ve been assigned. They want regular feedback on their performance and recognition for their work. Who wouldn’t want all that?

Full disclosure: I fit the description and identify deeply with the survey’s findings. Some people think of my generation as lazy, good-for-nothing slackers, feeling entitled to everything and entirely lacking a work ethic. But that's wrong: Millennials have an incredible work ethic. We want to work, we want to succeed and the want to reshape the world in our image. We are simply motivated in non-traditional ways. So, instead of giving up on the entire generation, let’s reconsider the way we work and see if we can’t identify improvements in the status quo that might bring out the best in employees, while satisfying work/life expectations of this generation.

Before we consider solutions, let’s fully understand the challenge. Nicole Lipkin, business psychologist and author of Y in the Workplace: Managing the ‘Me First’ Generation, is a recognized expert on the Gen Y workforce. “Millennials, like no generation before them, are demanding work/life balance, flexibility for themselves and social responsibility from their employers,” she says.

According to Lipkin, factors like education and technology combined with other global influences have deeply affected the psychology of my generation. Inundated from an early age with images of 9/11, Columbine-style shootings and wars against terrorism, Millennials refuse to wait until we’ve retired to live our lives. Forward-thinking corporate culture, flexibility and personal enjoyment have become essential factors in our career choices. “If your corporate values don’t reflect Gen Y values,” says Lipkin, “you’ll have a hard time attracting and retaining these employees.”

And we will not be ignored. Millennials already make up 25% of the American workforce and that number grows each day as Boomers retire and my fellow 20-somethings graduate. Forward-thinking companies are adapting themselves to fit this new paradigm, and many are doing so by embracing the process of gamification.

Gamification is the integration of game mechanics and theory into non-game applications and processes in the workplace. The system capitalizes on technology and an innate sense of sportsmanship to encourage employees to engage in desired behaviors. In return, they receive recognition for their efforts, regular feedback on their standing, a clear vision of what’s required to succeed, increased socialization, enjoyment and personal satisfaction. Exactly what we’re looking for.

At New York City-based Bluewolf Consulting, gamification has been woven into the corporate culture to encourage communication and collaboration among employees. According to Bluewolf CMO Corinne Sklar, “One of the biggest challenges we faced was how to cultivate a powerful thought leadership program that would incentivize collaboration, drive meaningful conversations between employees and, in doing so, produce quality content. We were looking for a program that would offer wide appeal to our employee base, and would extend organically into the corporate culture.”

Employees earn points by posting creative new topics for discussion or responding to the posts of others, generating dialogues that keep the company’s programs and perspectives fresh and innovative. Employees are also encouraged to share blog posts, white papers and other externally-focused materials through their own social networks like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. When someone in the employee’s network clicks on that link, more points are awarded. Points can be cashed in for a number of different prizes including everything from iPads, to lunch with the CEO. Employees are fanatical about the program.

In three months, traffic from social media outlets to the Bluewolf site has increased by 45 percent, while external traffic to the company’s blog increased by 80 percent. The company’s blogger count climbed from five to 25, all regularly sharing fresh ideas, expertise and building out new concepts. The program has resulted in real, measurable results that add to the company’s bottom line, while successfully leveraging their existing social media programs.

Gartner estimates that over 50 percent of organizations that manage innovation processes will “gamify” them in the next three years. The coming business cycle is sure to include many demographically-driven changes, and gamification presents a rare opportunity for companies to address the needs of next-gen employees, while also improving productivity, increasing collaboration, minimizing turnover, improving employee morale, more effectively leveraging social media and driving business opportunities. When a relatively simple concept can have that kind of impact, it’s safe to say we’ll be seeing a lot of it in the near future. And we’ll have Gen Y to thank for it.