Enhancing the New Hire Training Experience with Gamification:

New hire training is a critical step that companies take to ensure that their new hires develop the knowledge, skills, and behaviors needed to be successful. Companies invest heavily in hiring new employees, which is one reason why it is so important to have an effective training program. Each new employee will represent the company’s brand, displaying their culture and values, as well as being expected to perform at a required level in their job. Gamification is a rapidly growing approach to ensure your new hires are getting the most out of their training.

Gamification is adding game-like elements into non-game contexts, such as tasks- or in this case, the new hire training program. Many of the people joining the workforce today are from the Millennial Generation (1980’s-early 2000’s). Millennials are highly social and like working in groups, seek challenges, enjoy instant gratification, and are technologically savvy.  These individuals have grown up in the “Digital Era.” Technology is easily accessible and is the preferred method for getting information.  To keep up with the changing workforce, companies are implementing gaming strategies into their learning to increase engagement and retention.

The next time you need to train new employees, consider these statistics from Harvard Business Review:

• Nearly 33% of new hires look for a new job within their first six months on the job. (Among Millennials, that percentage is even higher…and it happens earlier.)
• 23% of new hires turn over before their first anniversary.
• The organizational costs of employee turnover are estimated to range between 100% and 300% of the replaced employee’s salary
• It typically takes eight months for a newly hired employee to reach full productivity. 

Applying gamification techniques, such as rewards, recognition, and collaboration will help keep employees engaged and interested in the material early on in their training.

Here are 4 ways that you can implement gamification into your new hire training program.

1. Create a digital list of “beginner level” or basic tasks that your new hires should be able to do. Tier your list of tasks, allowing employees to work their way up. Once they complete an easier new hire task, they can then “unlock” the next task. This will allow managers to see where employees are getting stuck and will be able to help them. Training for the tasks can include watching online training videos or modules. Allowing employees to complete tasks when they are ready to move on, reduces “information overload” that is typical in new hire training. Employees can gain a sense of achievement right from the beginning, identifying gaps and potentially reducing time to performance.

2. Hold “team based competitions” for group learning. On their first day of training, new hires could feel nervous or even stressed out. Allowing them to complete challenges together will help them achieve the results together, reducing concerns in individuals. The ones who aren’t fully grasping the topic will be able to learn from others. A group will be able to discuss all the options and agree on the best possible answer. Have the groups earn “points” when they complete challenges correctly, that they can redeem later for small prizes or company gear.

• Introduce new hires to the company and other employees by means of a “Quest”. Quests are great tools for getting new hires to meet others and explore areas of a business. An example of a quest could be a treasure hunt where employees would search for a particular item or location to familiarize themselves with the company. Or you could have new hires seek out and interview other employees they will be working with. Provide them with a virtual map that they can use and be able to enter their findings into. Once they find a treasure, they can then “level up”, making the next treasure more challenging to find. Allowing new hires to meet other team members will help them visualize themselves within the company and creates a feeling of belonging. Keep a leaderboard and reward the person who finishes their quest first.

• Create an engaging, virtual environment. Design a game-based course that replicates your company or campus. Include different rooms that participants can click on to learn their way around and see who works there. You can incorporate your organization’s safety standards in a fun way where the learner can identify and click on a safety standard, answer the question, and earn a badge if answered correctly.

As more and more Millennials are joining the workforce, make sure your company implements gamification to help engage them from the beginning, reducing speed to performance, and increasing retention rates. Let learning and fun come together to create a successful new hire training program.

Are you looking for a fresh approach to creating your new hire training program? Choosing an experienced company to bring gamification to the table can benefit your organization in many ways. Contact the team at TrainingFolks today.