Gamification is a term that is becoming more frequent when talking about organisational innovation and employee participation. Put simply, it's the use of game mechanics to engage and motivate people within their roles. A common way gamification can be leveraged is when looking at fleet driver behaviour. By using telematics technology, companies can now track and monitor driving, and give rewards and tips to encourage improvement.
Gabe Zichermann, author of Gamification by Design, asserts that gamification is "75 percent psychology and 25 percent technology." This psychological foundation is critical for driving behavioral change in drivers through three essential elements: motivation, ability, and trigger.
The idea behind gamification is tapping into an individual or group motivation and applying this to benefit an organisation. When considering gamification, one of the most important elements is deciding what your objectives are and what success will look like. Typical measurements within gamification of driving behaviour can include speeding as well as events related to G-force such as hard braking, fast acceleration or taking corners too quickly. Some other more personal metrics can also be used such as driver distraction, that is, when the individual is using their mobile phone while driving.
Keeping employees interested in the process is vital. Craft a compelling story behind why this is being done, and how they will benefit. Stemming from this, ongoing interaction with other employees and managers is important to keep the conversations going, this can include:
For organisations that are new to gamification and are unsure how it will fit within their company culture, testing and learning is a great idea. Offering the program in BETA stage can allow employees to test-drive the gamification, understand the milestones and give feedback on what is and isn't working. It will also allow the business as a whole to understand if the milestones are set correctly in-line with driver experience and skill level.
Lastly, and perhaps most important in terms of achieving employee buy-in, is visibility and transparency. It is pertinent to the success of gamification that people understand exactly what data is being collected, how it is being used and confidence is instilled that it won't be handed over to third parties or jeopardise jobs. An effective way to achieve this transparency is opening up communication early on and guiding employees through the process. If they understand the technology and tracking ability, and questions/concerns are alleviated during infancy stages, there is a higher chance of successful uptake.
While the ultimate goal is to promote safer driving, the short-term gains associated with gamification can be incredibly motivating. Research indicates that implementing gamification can lead to:
Additionally, as millennials—who thrive in tech-savvy environments—comprise a growing segment of the workforce, gamification can significantly enhance their engagement and satisfaction within the organisation. It's important to stay ahead of the trend and continue innovating not only from an employee-benefit perspective but also from an operational expense point-of-view.
While tracking driving behaviour and encouraging healthy competition can seem fun, it's important to keep a balance between responsible monitoring and "big brother" undertones. Technology is a blessing and a curse in this respect, with many individuals nowadays worrying about how their data is being used and how much information is stored by an organisation. As mentioned, this concern can be alleviated by being completely transparent about the data stored and how it will be used. Furthermore, ensuring that healthy competition does not turn into aggressive egos and pose a human resources risk within an organisation is also something to consider. Keeping things light-hearted and fun is key when it comes to reducing this risk, as well as highlighting possible concerns early on to employees and reminding that bullying behaviour will not be tolerated. Engaging HR departments to help craft these messages and provide avenues of communication is highly recommended.
Scoring systems and gamification rewards themselves should also be looked at on a company-wide basis. This is by no means a one-size-fits-all strategy, so when using telematics and gamification the goals of an organisation and cultural practices should be taken into account. For example, if the distribution of skill between drivers is high, for those on the lower end of the scale, there can be little motivation to improve if they feel that their scores are too far away from that of the top driver. There is also the risk of causing anxiety among drivers who feel as if they are underperforming. So be sure to make milestones aspirational yet still achievable, and scale to the more difficult milestones accordingly. This can be done by implementing a BETA stage of the program to test real-life how employees driving skills to match up to milestones. They can then be adjusted accordingly for a full launch.
With technology constantly improving in the telematics space, and organisations looking for commercially viable solutions to engage their employees, gamification is a natural convergence. When extensive research and development is conducted on the organisational culture, and objectives clearly outlined, organisations are seeing real benefits in employee satisfaction as well as a reduction in operational expenditure.
