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I found this on a recent post on TechCrunch and figured it would be appropriate to share.  Keas is a virtual game that promotes health within a company by using social pressures as well as rewards to encourage employees to live healthier.

I particularly like the achievable aspects of the game.  Setting small weekly goals that are easily achieved but that build up over time to create an overall healthy environment.

It’s both social and individual.  You have the opportunity to earn rewards as an individual and as a group.  The rewards can be both tangible and virtual providing incentive for everyone who gets involved.

The only initial issue I see is in an environment that has a high turnover, or bringing in a new employee and working them through the system.  It seems a little difficult to add members to a team, which may cause issues, but should be something that can be overcome.

Humans are, by nature, competitive.  We need to be better than others, at least in some way, and we need to be able to prove it.

That’s where achievements come in.  Giving your team members some sort of recognition for completion of a task gives them the ability to prove they’ve done something that another person may not have.

I usually recommend creating some type of simply badge or certificate system for employees.  First of all, it’s cheap.  Badges and certificates only have one initial cost and one ongoing one.  The initial cost is, of course, creating the system and the the badges in the first place.  The ongoing cost is the paper you’re printing on (if you’re even printing them.)

To create a certificate system you’ll have to figure out what your measurements are going to be.  First, what is the position?  Is it a sales position, a support position, a task oriented position?  What are the goals of the position, and what type of knowledge is required for those in that position?

By understanding what the position is, what that position does, and what people in the position need to know, you can set different levels for the employees in that position.  If you’re selling something this is pretty easy, just define what you’re selling, what the sales agent should know about the product, and then set different levels of sales goals to earn different certificates.  If the sales agent wants to go out of their way and learn more about the product, offer them further certifications for different levels of knowledge.

If you’re working with support agents you’ll have a little harder time.  The goals here are knowledge of the product, tool, task, etc., and ability to perform within a designated timeline or scope.  So, we again work to define the position, and then set multiple levels of certification for different levels of understanding.  You’ll have to increase the amount of training material here, you probably have something in place already, and offer certifications for meeting different levels of skill/understanding for the position.

Keep doing this for every position you can, and soon you’ll have a more engaged employee base with a higher level of understanding.  You can even have your current employee base help you in creating whatever materials you need (and usually for the low cost of free) by offering different certifications and badges for those willing to go outside their normal work scope to help in the creation of missing training material, new badge sets, or whatever it is you need.

Photo Credit:  Olaf

This is the slide deck for a presentation I gave at PodCamp Phoenix 2010.  I discussed how creating a game around your site will help lower customer churn.

I also made some suggestions on implementing gaming techniques on your website and into your workflow.  By adding these techniques for your employees you will see an increase in productivity and morale.  If you’d like to know how, contact me.

(I will be posting the video of the talk in a future post.)