Gamified Onboarding – Best Practices

Onboarding is a crucial part of the employee experience. It sets the foundations for the start of one's employment at an organization. Therefore, it is not at all insignificant, how you execute the onboarding plan of a new employee. If you are ready to do things differently, consider gamification.

Gamification | onboarding

Gamified Onboarding – Best Practices

As many as 30% of new employees quit their job during the first six months. 69% of employees are more likely to stay in the company for three years if they receive excellent onboarding. New employees who had gone through a structured onboarding process were 58% more likely to stay with the employer even after a period of three years.

People change jobs often these days. There may be several reasons for this. Employees are usually interested in getting to know their employer very well, and jobs are changed more easily than before. According to one study, millennials think that the three most important things for a new job are salary, flexible hours, and co-workers that they can get along with.¹

Skilled professionals are in great demand. They might ask: why work for your company specifically? Employer image can be the deciding factor for an employee to choose to work for you and not someone else.

It is in the company’s best interest to find the right people. This reduces employee turnover and wrong recruitments, which can become surprisingly costly.

“You can make the first impression only once.”

The employer image is generated first and foremost by actions. It is important to keep one’s promises. Once the employer image is created successfully, the company will attract the best employees who are less likely to go work for the competition.

Onboarding is one of the most important things for influencing employee commitment. You can create a positive first impression only once. This is why it is worthwhile to invest in onboarding, which can begin even before the first day of the new job.

You would not want to scare a new employee, however! If you give a new hire several thick binders to read, for instance, they will more likely be frustrated than excited.

What if you could do onboarding differently and make it interesting and exciting? In a way that also improves commitment?

This is where a smart business can deploy a secret weapon and distinguish itself decisively from its competitors. Employees are better committed if they go through an interesting and exciting onboarding process. This is where gamified onboarding can help.

Gamified onboarding has a positive impact on the employee experience

Gamified onboarding introduces game-like elements into onboarding, giving the employee a chance to get to know the company in a new way. Games are usually positively charged and well received. This is a good start for any relationship and has an impact on the employee experience.

Gamified onboarding is easily done on a mobile, giving the employee the chance to play at any time and anywhere. This can begin with small steps after signing the employment contract. This avoids drowning the new employee in information. They can do it at their own pace and in the most fun way: by playing!

If several, maybe even dozens, of employees are brought in at the same time, gamified onboarding facilitates the process and makes it fair and equal for all. This saves the instructor’s time, as all the needed information is on a mobile gamification platform.

Why is gamified onboarding worthwhile?

Gamified onboarding helps the company to build relations with its employees, as it is interactive. Employees do not just listen, and possibly forget what is said, but become participants in the process instead. This makes a stronger and more positive impact.

In gamified onboarding, the employee is an active participant, meaning that the experience is two-way instead of a corporate monolog. Gamified learning leaves a better memory mark than for example lectures, thus making it a very humane experience.

Carefully structured and segmented onboarding is the same for everyone. This makes the onboarding experience fair and equal: everyone receives the same information. What is more, new employees are 58% more likely to stay at the company after three years if they go through a structured onboarding process.

Gamified onboarding helps your business stand out. An exciting game encourages employees to progress through the onboarding and has a positive impact on the employee experience. The experience will not be boring when text, images, video, and sound are used in the game.

Gamification also incorporates various mechanisms for progress, such as levels. The employee can be congratulated for their performance, which encourages them to keep going. And it works.

The benefits of gamified onboarding in a nutshell:

Real interaction
Personal experience
Human
Structured
Feeling welcome
Engaging game mechanics

This is how gamified onboarding works in practice

How to use gamification? First, it is good to know that there are at least three types of onboarding: site-specific level, general onboarding, and professional onboarding.

The site-specific level means onboarding and orientating to the immediate working environment. General onboarding includes things related to brands, values, and other company affairs. Professional onboarding is an introduction to the actual work tasks.

How to use gamification in practice?

1. A carefully designed onboarding process

Design your onboarding process carefully. What skills and information are needed on the job? What should the employee know? Can onboarding begin even before the first day, meaning pre-onboarding?

2. Enables onboarding and pre-onboarding with style

Surprisingly many employees back out even before starting. Onboarding can begin even before the first day. The place of work must meet expectations. The employer needs to build trust, and onboarding and orientation are great means to achieve this.

Gamified onboarding makes onboarding easy for both the company and the new employee.

3. Makes an impact and commits

An interesting, engaging, and exciting way to learn corporate policies and information in order to make a fresh start at a new job as painless as possible.

4. Human and narrative-driven

People love stories. A good story immerses you and makes you want to know more. At best, gamified onboarding can benefit from stories and convey them to employees. Stories are also often better remembered, making a bigger impression.

5. Rewards and fun

Any onboarding can be committing and addictive when done well and in a structured way. Gamified onboarding is a fun way to learn the basics of the company and the new job.

One of the largest theme parks in Great Britain uses gamification with the Seppo gamification platform

Thorpe Park, one of the largest theme parks in Great Britain, wanted to invest in gamification and training. This required a gamification platform. After looking at various alternatives, they chose the Seppo gamification platform, because it is easy to use, versatile, and available on mobile.

After starting gamified onboarding with Seppo, the park’s general level of customer satisfaction and staff friendliness and helpfulness scores have improved significantly.

Are you interested in the benefits of gamification for employee onboarding? Read more on our website: LINK

Sources:
1. What do millennials want from work? | YIT.fi