Using Gamification to Influence Business Travelers' Behavior

Gamification is proving to be successful when applied to many different subjects. In the classroom children are scoring higher. In the workplace employees are becoming more engaged at work and generating more revenue for their employers. Now it is being applied to business travel.

Business travel has changed a lot in recent years. A recent Forbes article highlighted the changes in corporate travel in recent years.  Employees are increasingly personalizing their travel experiences by updating seat assignments, customizing in-flight meals and booking their own hotel rooms without the involvement of a corporate travel planner. But with all of this flexibility, business travelers are pushing the limits of their company’s travel rules and budgets. Companies have turned to gamification to solve this issue. Here are two examples of tactics companies are using to change employee behavior.

Travel management company Ovation rewards travelers for obeying the company’s policies. They earn points and can redeem them for merchandise from digital stores.

Rocketrip, a gamified travel service for companies, rewards clients' employees who adhere corporate policies with cash. The closer they follow or beat the budget that is set, the higher the reward.

In an age where personalization is central to consumer's experiences, convincing people to sacrifice a bit of that experience for the good of the company is a tough task. Entrepreneurs have risen to the challenge and used gamification as a means to fix this trending problem. And it’s working.

Five Myths of Employee Engagement Infographic

This infograph created by Michael C Fina accurately depicts many misconceptions in the workplace today. While debunking the myths, it also simultaneously highlights the importance of employee engagement and its key role for maintaining a powerful staff. Having intangible rewards that give employees incentives makes for a higher return on investment and creates an environment of happy campers. Treating each individual equally and applauding their accomplishments are just a few suggestions to becoming an effective and amiable boss. 

This is especially true with millennials, who are often depicted as unmotivated and uncommitted. As the fifth graph shows, a millennial’s dream boss is a mentor who is open minded and treats others equally. If that is done, millennials will look up to their boss in admiration and respect and want to impress them. An effort put in on the boss’s side will result in having a mutually beneficial and effective work relationship with his/her employees. Finding the perfect balance of when to be socially equal and when to be a leader will create an ambiance that everyone looks forward to entering daily. An employee who continually shows respect will naturally reciprocate that, both on and off the clock.

We would like to hear from you. What do you think are some good ways to engage the millennial workforce? 

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.

Motivating Employees with Recognition and Rewards Programs

Are corporate gifts a part of your incentive program? Results from Incentive magazine's 2013 Corporate Gift IQ Survey prove that corporate gift giving has increased among many industries, leading a fair amount of people to believe that the economy in these industries is steadily improving. The surprise doesn’t end there. Surveys also show that the average total spend on corporate gifts has also increased. 

While corporate gift giving occurs for a number of reasons, the number of gifts given for employee recognition has also increased dramatically. Employee recognition gifts rose from 38.3 percent in 2012 to 51.5 percent this year.

Sure, one reason for this spike in gift giving could be that the economy is improving. Or maybe organizations are starting to realize that by rewarding gifts to outstanding employees they are in turn driving employee engagement. By rewarding employees for exceeding company standards, you are not only demonstrating your appreciation, you are also giving other employees incentive to work harder. They have a clear example of what exceeds company standards, and with that they can set goals for themselves.

Although corporate gift giving is only one way to further engage employees, it seems to be a tactic that more and more companies are turning towards. If you are interested in learning alternative ways to drive employee engagement, visit our website at www.inwardconsulting.com.