Integrating incentives into the workplace and beyond

Small Incentives, Great Change

Rewards and Recognition Programs aren’t new, but they typically haven’t extended into the physical work environment. Let’s look at how we can extend these programs into the working environment.

Gamification for Good

What I mean by this is, let’s use the same mechanisms that you might commonly see in gambling, video games, or advertising, etc. And apply it to the workplace so you can encourage positive outcomes. Ever so slightly nudging user behavior to a place that’s better for business.

For example, meeting rooms are a highly sought after commodity and removing the amount of times a meeting room gets booked where no one shows up, or ghost meetings, would be a positive outcome. The same would go for any bookable resource like desks, cars, lockers, etc. If we take a look at the user journey, we can see the user behavior which is ready for improvement:

Room Booking User Journey

1. User Books Room.

2. At the meeting time, the user doesn’t turn up.

3. The system still recognizes the user booking and remains an unavailable resource.

What kind of system could we implement to start reducing the number of ghost meetings and encourage certain user interactions that result in a better outcome?

A points system would be a simple but effective solution here. It solves the problem by going straight to the source, the user. Let’s say someone books the room and they need to cancel their booking. If they cancel 24 hours in advance or more, then they can receive points for doing so.

Another action worth rewarding could be checking in instead. When users get to the room, they can check in through by scanning a QR code at which point, they receive points. That way the system can verify whether or not someone has turned up to the meeting.

This kind of logic can be applied to any user action that generates a data point in the workplace.

But what can I do with the points?

This is where it’s important for the organization to define what points are worth and how they can be spent. Some examples are exchanging them for small goods purchases, snacks, coffee, time off, etc.

A further extension would be to tie the rewards program into the precinct’s surrounding businesses. You can offset the cost of coffee for employees by incorporating the local cafe into the program. It’s an easy way to build a community around your business.

‍