Gamification is the practice of integrating training in a way that makes work resemble a game. There are many promising studies that show this tactic helps employees retain knowledge better than traditional classroom training. In addition, employees will be much more likely to stay engaged during training if there is some sort of gamification involved. However, many companies struggle with how to integrate gamification into their training for employees.

Below are several ways that gamification can be used to train employees in a more efficient way for large and small companies.

Recognizing Employees

Employee recognition programs are one of the most central aspects to effective training. The end goal of training is to make employees better at their jobs. This means that some sort of recognition program should be used with the gamification training. This works in well with the overall premise of what gamification is. People that are training should have an end goal or problem to solve. Employees that do the best in training should be recognized and rewarded for picking up the concepts quickly. This will signal to other employees that the company cares about their overall growth as an employee.

Make Training Interactive

One of the biggest keys to success in the gamification of training is the fact that it makes training and learning interactive. According to e-learning industry, interactive training is much more effective in making employees retain the knowledge that they have learned. This is a huge area of value added time for a company. Many company employees feel like their training sessions do not benefit them over the long term because they forget most of it within a couple of hours. However, by using the gamification strategy of making training more interactive, you can be sure that employees will retain more of the information in training and that they will stay more engaged as a result.

Solve a Problem

Most games involved solving a problem at some basic level. When designing a training program, be sure that the end goal of the training is to solve a problem in some way. Employees are much more likely to be engaged in learning if they have a problem that they can work towards solving. Always be sure to present the problem at the beginning of the training and then work backwards from there. This strategy has been proven to have positive results in the training of employees.

Incorporate at Your Own Pace Training

Another benefit of gamification is that it can be played at a person’s own pace. This should be incorporated in the training that employees receive. Here are several benefits to incorporating this type of training:

• More knowledge retention
• Training is voluntary
• Users can learn at their own pace

Make Training Fun

Finally, one of the central tenets of gamification is to make training fun. One of the biggest reasons that typical company training is not effective is because the employees are not having fun while they are participating. Incorporating gamification within training can make training fun once again. Not only will people learn more when they are having fun, but they will also be more excited about the next round of training that comes through.

There is a cost in time and money to train employees at a company, however by incorporating concepts of gamification, companies can get a higher return on investment through knowledge retention in training classes for employees.