Hinda’s Own Stacey Wilson Talks to Premium Incentive Products about Employee Engagement

The latest issue of Premium Incentive Products magazine features an Employee Engagement Roundtable moderated by associate editor Deborah L. Vence which focuses on game components, social media and mobile as leading industry trends. Vence starts off by raising the point that having engaged employees leads to better service, customer satisfaction and overall profits. Hinda vice president, client services Stacey Wilson offered her input on employee engagement from the Hinda perspective.

Wilson begins by offering her observations of some of the trends taking place in employee engagement programs, namely that they are re-emerging after having dropped off somewhat during the Great Recession. “I think employers are feeling vulnerable to losing their good employees, and they need to get back to developing incentive programs that generate engagement,” she says. “Hinda is seeing a comeback of those mid-sized programs that were cut a few years back.”

She adds that she sees the trend leaning toward social media, gamification and mobile, and that it’s through these avenues that engagement will see a boost, but she mentions that “we are still trying to identify how well these initiatives will ‘stick’ in the industry.”

Wilson notes that the key is understanding that you need your employees to help build your business. Incentivizing both veteran and newcomer employees as the job market improves is imperative in order to make your business grow and prosper as opposed to flatlining.

She also points to social media as having an increasing role in the company, especially when it comes to employees who work from home and those with flex schedules. “Social media has been a key initiative in maintaining engagement among employees as well as engaging off-site workers,” she says. “The key in any engagement program is to ensure that off-site workers are receiving the same benefits as on-site. Off-site workers need to be self-motivated but need to feel as part of the team, as well.”

As a final thought, when asked about the outlook of employee engagement over the next few years, Wilson says, “I think it is important that the focus remain on the employee. The quality of your team is what is truly important.” Now that’s a concept we can all get behind!

Read the full article here.

Gamification: Turning Work Into Play

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Gamification in the workplace is still in the early adoption phase, but we've talked about it before on our blog. As gamificiation in the consumer field is taking off, more people are talking about how it can be incorporated in the workplace.

According to research, only 10% of employees report an understanding of their company's mission statement. Couple that with the increase in the amount of time and money people spend playing online games, and one can begin to question whether or not leaders can apply gaming techniques in the workplace to create more engaged employees.

This chart, which was created by Socialcast and featured on their blog, tries to compare the relationship between disengaged employees and the increase of online games. With the explosive success of the billion dollar online gaming industry, it's no wonder why employers would be interested in incorporating gaming techniques at work.

One particular takeaway from this chart is the comparison and similarities between the gaming world and the job world. From aiming to higher levels to receiving rewards, the two have similar underlying mechanics.

Do you think gamification in the workplace is a feasible idea? In what ways do you think employers could utilize it? Or, as Socialcast put it, is there something to be learned from this phenomenon that leaders can apply to their organizations to create more engaged employees? Sound off in the comments section. We'd love to hear your opinions.

Could You Gamify the Workplace?

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Not too terribly long ago I ran across this article from Fast Company about how video games are infiltrating every aspect of our lives. The article covers everything from wellness to education. What really caught my eye was the way some corporations are using video game elements into their employee's everyday lives.

Most of the examples come from technology companies. The article first talks about IBM employees. When they have conferences, instead of spending a lot of money on travel and hotels, each employee has a virtual avatar that represents them in an online conference. The employees use these characters (that are slowly being able to look very similar to the employee) as methods of engagement with other employees across different offices...and continents. This video-game like environment helps make these events more engaging while cutting overall costs simultaneously. 

A second example came from Sun Microsystems. The company has actually developed video games as part of their employee training. Using titles like Dawn of the Shadow Specters and  Rise of the Shadow Specters, employees engage in a fictional world whose inhabitants reflect the same values as the company. Not only does this make training more engaging, it communicates company values in a fun way.

Not every company will have the resources like the two named tech giants to create a corporate video games. Very few do. Even still, there is a takeaway for everyone.

You don't have to have video game developers at your fingertips to make everyday work more engaging. Using the same basic game mechanics used in video games, there are ways to make work more engaging and fun. Using the same sort of points-style system games do, rewarding points is one way to start.

"Level Up" Your Engagement

Even "leveling up" could be applied to a company recognition program. There is a big emphasis on "badges" when it comes to loyalty programs and location-based services. The same concept could be applied inside the office. For reaching certain milestones, point-wise or some other clearly communicated metric, an employee could earn some sort of badge or "level-up" style of recognition. Zappos uses this concept inside their offices using license plates. A rookie Zappos employee is presented with a paper copy of a license plate with their name on it. After their tenure continues and they mature in the company, they eventually get normal metal license plates. From there on out, the employee receives stickers for however many years they've been there.

The above Zappos example is used in a "Years of Service" program but the concept could be applied in other styles of programs. There's a lot we could all learn from simple game mechanics.

What do you all think? Will work eventually be gamified?

Gamifying Groupon for Loyalty

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Groupon, to the shock of onlookers, recently turned down a $6 billion buyout offer from Google. Yes, that's billion with a "B." They apparently have a lot of faith in the growth of their business model despite the threat from competitors like LivingSocial.

In an article from CustomerThink.com, Bryan Pearson talks about the future of Groupon from a loyalty standpoint. He makes the point that Groupon is doing great now but needs to plan how to retain that loyalty and enthusiasm down the road. One of these suggestions is offering free Groupons to loyal users or rewarding them loyalty points for frequently buying deals. Definitely a few solid point of suggestions from Pearson.

Why couldn't we take that idea a step further. With gaming elements becoming more prevalent in loyalty and rewards, what if you were to add a game layer to Groupon loyalty?.

Part of the appeal to Groupon for a business offering a deal is increased brand exposure. Sure they are giving steep discounts but I assume the goal is to have more people walking through the door that may not have otherwise. In return, that "preview" of their business may result in more return customers.

Groupon Meets Location-Based Services

If the goal is increased brand exposure for the business and in addition - more Groupon loyalty - why not tie both in together through a location-based marketing campaign? SCVNGR has already shown ways it can add a game layer to "check-ins." One could incorporate a check-in style like SCVNGR's that would both promote the business offering the deal while rewarding points to Groupon users. Let's explore that:

SCVNGR's game model is built mainly on a progression dynamic, meaning that one has to complete a series of tasks to achieve some ultimate goal. We talk more about that dynamic on this post. Let's say a Groupon buyer wants to earn a free Groupon. They could not only buy X number of deals to ultimately earn a free deal (like the Subway sticker card or punch card for a free hair cut) but could also ask for brand interaction in return. They could have a game set up on SCVNGR asking customers to "check-in" using SCNVGR to earn points, giving that particular business an online shout out. In addition, deal buyers could earn more points by taking a picture of their Groupon deal, mentioning what they're ordering (if the deal is at a restaurant), taking a pic of that venue etc.

The Object of the Game...

Ultimately, the "game" on SCVNGR would be to earn enough points to land a free Groupon deal. By participating in the above tasks (checking in, snapping photos etc) deal buyers could earn points. Using the progression bar provided by SCVNGR, these consumers would be able to see how many tasks or deals they would have to redeem and participate in to earn a free deal. This game function would not only improve brand awareness for businesses offering deals but increase engagement and loyalty for Groupon.

Obvoiously, this concept could be taken in many different directions and would require more marketing specificity and could involve other services. What do you all think? Could LBS help improve Groupon loyalty? How else could Groupon create loyalty?