Four Apps to Gamify Your Life

As gamification continues to be a prominent topic of discussion in the workplace, it is simultaneously growing in the social world. With smart phones becoming a necessity in our lives, apps have become a useful tool to keep us organized, entertained and up to date in our fluctuating world. There are now apps that are designed to help you live the lifestyle you desire, and will reward you for every step towards that direction. Here are some notable apps that can help gamify your personal life. 

AchieveMint: If you have been struggling to keep a healthy lifestyle, this app may be exactly what you need. Whether you walk the dog, take the stairs over an elevator, shop healthy, or even tweet about something healthy, you get rewarded with points. Five thousand points earns you twenty five dollars, and you will soon be eager to do the activities that earn you the most points, like go on extensive runs or do yoga. Just link it up with mobile apps like RunKeeper, Fitbit, Foursquare, Twitter, Facebook and your healthy activities will be sent to AchieveMint.

RecycleBank: Similar to AchieveMint, this app rewards you with points and discounts for going green in any way possible. Bike to work, recycle, donate clothes, buy environmentally friendly products, share green tips and you will get rewarded. Even taking online ecology quizzes can earn you points.

#NwPlyng: Bringing gamification into the music world makes perfect sense. Rewarding people to share their favorite songs and artists with friends (something they do anyway) will give them even more of an incentive to do so. This app does precisely that.  You can share the current song playing on your iPhone with others, and as a result you are rewarded with “records” (badges). The more plays and shares of a certain artist, the higher title you are given (a different “record”), legitimizing your love and knowledge of that artist for people to see. You are also urged to share an artist’s lesser known songs and will get uniquely rewarded with special artist “records” for doing so.

Mobee: Companies who are in dire need of accurate feedback from their customers can turn to the gamification tactic for a solution. Mobee, a mobile app started by an MIT student, lets you, the “secret shopper”, take a unanimous survey of your current location about the experience you are having. A quick survey earns you a discount or free item, depending on the place.  It’s a win-win for both the company that needs consumer data and the shopper that can always use a discount.

The high ratings of the apps can be credited to the natural success of gamification. We are all instinctively competitors in one way or another, and want people to know what we have mastered and how educated we are in certain fields.  This system can be applicable to employees at work. Creating a system for employees to earn badges and rewards that praise them for their knowledge, skills and accomplishments raises morale and brings positive energy, confidence and diligence to their work ethics.  Gamification motivates employees to demonstrate their competencies and achievements, while continuing to develop their skills.  Through gamification work can become a place where we have a chance to show off our talents and create opportunities for our hard work to receive attention and recognition from managers and peers.

Should We Give Up on Employee Engagement?

By Rick DeMarco

Recently, I read a post in which the author posed the question, “Is It Time to Give Up on Employee Engagement?”  He makes the point that engagement scores have not increased despite the focus on engaging and inspiring employees, and the investment of both time and resources on this effort.

Although it may be true that organizations are spending time and resources on employee engagement, the return on this investment may not be apparent for two reasons:  length of time to see results, and commitment to a comprehensive employee engagement strategy.

It takes time to build an engaged and inspired workforce. An organization cannot expect to invest in an effort and see employee engagement scores increase dramatically over night.  Employees need to see that this is a commitment, not a short term focus intended to drive metrics.  I compare this to annual employee surveys.  Many organizations spend time and money asking employees how they feel about a number of things like the work environment, compensation structure, leadership, but then fail to do anything with the input.  As a result, they spend a lot of time and money with the survey, but see no increase in employee satisfaction.  Employees cannot be fooled.  They will recognize a sincere effort to obtain employee feedback versus a half-hearted attempt in engaging with employees.  Similarly, even with a good employee engagement initiative, if employees perceive a program as an effort to simply meet internal metrics rather than a sustained commitment to creating an engaged and inspired workforce, the organization may not see the results they expected.  

Many organizations throw out a reward and recognition program, an employee event or employee satisfaction survey, and then are surprised to see no impact on their employee engagement scores.  Employee engagement is not a one-off activity, it is a long-term commitment to creating a culture in which employees are passionate about the vision, strategy, and brand promise of the organization and demonstrate their passion in their daily interactions with customers and potential customers.  To achieve this, you need a comprehensive employee engagement strategy that drives employees through a cycle of education, inspiration, empowerment and relevancy, and includes reward and recognition. 

Giving up on employee engagement means that you are giving up on customer loyalty and satisfaction. Customer loyalty and satisfaction are continually affected by increasing price competition, technology and other economic factors, yet organizations continue to spend valuable time and resources to address these volatile metrics. 

These investments are only half the battle; organizations that do not invest in their employees and prioritize employee engagement are doing themselves and their stakeholders a disservice.  An engaged and inspired employee can make the difference between a loyal customer and a public relations disaster.  

Is it time to give up on employee engagement? On the contrary, I believe in our dynamic environment that it is important now more than ever to step up employee engagement efforts if organizations want to retain talent, foster innovation, and create loyal customers.