Workforce Management Featured Article
A Job Well Done: American Workers Not so Impressed with Gamification and Thanks
One of the great things about changes in technology is that the sheer number of possibilities that are opened up when they are put to use. But as is the case with just about anything, new isn't always better, and figuring out the right way to fit new technology into business operations can be difficult.
A new survey from Globoforce suggests that some beliefs about technology used to fuel employee recognition aren't exactly working out the way some might have hoped.
The survey titled, “Spring 2014 Globoforce Workforce Mood Tracker,” offers a look at some of the biggest tools in the field when it comes to motivating workers—things like years of service programs, gamification systems and the free recognitions program known as eThanks—and how the workers actually feel about the use of these tools.
One of the biggest points the Globoforce survey brought to bear was that less than one in three respondents—30 percent—believed that gamification was a good thing to bring to a recognition program. That's not good news by itself, and the scope of the bad news in question was only augmented by further parts of the survey. For instance, 62 percent thought that, should the giver of recognition also get recognition in the form of points on a leader board, the recognition itself would be inherently less valuable. If such was the case, 79 percent of workers would actually not work harder to get recognition.
What's more, the years of service program, a staple for many companies, is regarded as prime ground for improvement thanks to new technology. Seventy-three percent of users would like a years of service program to come with “milestone input,” while 68 percent believe years of service programs should come with career details for more meaning overall. And only 25 percent got such an award for less than five years. The biggest hit of the survey, perhaps, came to eThanks, a free recognition system; just four percent of respondents believed that was a memorable form of recognition, and 59 percent preferred a “thank you” gift that came with a gift or similar reward.
This was quite the blow in the long term; not only did gamification show some serious issues afoot, so too did even the venerable years of service program. Meanwhile, eThanks was almost completely scuttled as a valuable reward mechanism.
In a way, this makes some sense. Employees aren't exactly pleased by the prospect of waiting five years before the first bit of recognition arrives, so a year of service program has limited impact for everyone who's been at a company less than five years. Gamification was often regarded as one of the biggest new developments in the field, but clearly it needs some retooling; the idea that some employees can actually earn rewards by offering recognition to other employees does indeed look like an issue; what value is there, the employee might think, in recognition that was solely given so someone else could get points toward recognition?
At the end of the day, employees like to feel valued, to know that the work that's provided in a typical day is going somewhere to help the company succeed. Recognition programs can help on this front, but need to make the employee actually feel valued. Free thanks and long waits to get the recognition don't go far. But with a little retooling and new engineering, these points can help revitalize a workforce.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi