Let’s assume you’re about to join a big organization tomorrow and you are super excited to start your new job. So the first day begins by watching a few boring videos and then, going through heaps of documents. Oh, and let’s not forget those lengthy training sessions!

Now, as a company, to create that first “great” impression and to be unique from your competitors, you’ll need a fantastic onboarding process — something that sets a lasting and incredible career experience for a new employee. So how do you do this? Well, that’s where gamification in employee training comes into play.

Let’s look at the concept in detail.

In short, rather than being taught via lesson plans, people learn with the help of interactive gamification, an environment that’s more rewarding and interactive. It uses game-playing elements like creating competition, scoring points, and following specific rules to keep things engaging.

According to this report, the market for gamification is anticipated to grow by $30.7 billion in 2025. Gamification has been used in different industries, even including sales and digital marketing, but interestingly, it has also seen some useful applications in the learning & education industry.

Another study published in 2018 stated that almost 70% of the students found “gamified online courses” to be interesting and more motivating than traditional courses. On the other hand, many educators even shared anecdotal evidence claiming that “games” in classrooms, be it in-person or online, help increase influence behavior and user engagement, and motivate participation among students.

Now that you know what gamification is, let’s understand the various benefits it offers for corporate or employee training.

Most employees find training sessions boring. In fact, a majority of them start thinking, “This is even necessary” or “How is it going to even help me?” But when gamification is included in employee training and development, they find things to be more fun when learning. In return, this boosts engagement and most importantly, they are more likely to remember what they’ve learned.

Imagine sitting before the computer for hours, watching those lecture-style training sessions. It adds up to the cognitive load, making the person lose interest after some time. Now, with gamification, things can be made interactive.

Say, for instance, employees can be given a few real-life scenarios and can be asked to respond (Similar to NatGeo’s Do or Die). This not only forces deep knowledge of the learning materials but also provides a realistic approach to learning.

Speaking of traditional training, participants often know their score once the session ends and are typically given advice based on that, but with gamification in employee training, employees are given instant feedback throughout their sessions.

So this continuous feedback turns to be more useful because employees know where exactly to make adjustments and to progress for the better.

With gamification in employee training, things that need to be changed can be identified easily. This is through space repetition and repeated retrieval. Say, for instance, one training session might be categorized into 4 sections, with 4 days off between every session.

This kind of format has been proven to create better knowledge retention, providing more time for self-reflection. The outcome is enhanced learning and less behavioural mistakes.

Without gamification, most learners can recall only 20% of what they hear and 10% of what they read. If the oral presentation has a few visuals, then this number increases to 30% and if the entire presentation is carried out in action, then it rises to 50%.

According to a study published in the University of Maryland, learners tend to remember things 90% if they perform a job themselves.

About 80% of the learners prefer their institution/university-related tasks to be game-like in order to be productive.

More than 60% of the learners say that they would be motivated if their training sessions included leaderboards or had something that increased competition. And 89% claim to be more engaged in an e-learning app if it had a point system.

No matter what age a human is in, he or she is motivated by recognition or rewards. But this might vary, depending on the learner’s age. For an adult learner, especially one who is from a corporate background, public appreciation, and monetary gains work the best. Without rewards, gamified employee training makes no sense.

Speaking of both learning setups, gamified training is a win-win for than conventional approach because it:

Develops a feeling of accomplishment

Enhances learning

Boosts engagement

Calls for healthy competition

Stimulates behavioral changes

It’s true that gamification in employee training tends to be a bit more expensive when compared to a conventional training setup and needs more lead time, the learning benefits also surpass the conventional approach.

So, if you’re thinking about whether gamified employee training includes learning gains or not, then the answer is a big YES! In addition, the ROI in gamification training is much higher because it influences better abilities for learners to remember, retain, improve, and put learning to practical use.

Now that the benefits of gamification are clear, the next question is how to use gamification in training.

Let’s say you already have an LMS (Learning Management System) in place, then adding gamification to it seems like a big question.

So here are a few things to consider:

Rather than inventing games that can be time-consuming and costly, look at the existing materials. Are there places where gaming elements can be inserted? Pay more attention to spots where you want employees to change behaviors and solve challenges. Identify these and add interesting gaming elements to these training areas.

When there is a complex training session, make sure to break it down into sub-training sessions to keep things simple. Imagine it like a video game, which involves multiple levels where you cannot skip a level before advancing to the next. But once you complete all the game levels, you win.

The same concept is applied in gamified training too. When an employee finishes a training session, he/she goes through an evaluation test. When passed, he/she accumulates points and gets to move to the next training section.

As a company or trainer, these points turn out to be extremely helpful in knowing where the employee is lacking and where things need to be improved. When there are multiple employees involved, this becomes rewarding and serves as a wonderful motivational factor.

Companies and employees both know how crucial training is. The problem is that it’s at times, an afterthought.

Let’s understand this with a simple example. Let’s say you’re the marketing head who is about to launch a new product in a week. Eventually, you realize that your marketing team needs training on the new product.

Rather than putting the training at the backseat, make your Learning Management System interactive or perhaps, a tool that employees will often have the need to come to. Try adding features such as appointments or deadlines to the LMS. This way employees will have no choice left but to access the LMS periodically, making “training” a priority.