How can gamification support workplace well-being?

Gamification uses game-like features to enhance non-game processes. Gamification tools add game mechanics such as points, levels and badges to learning environments, sales processes and other apps. It aims to engage participants by using storytelling, offering them choice and control over their environment, and making progress visible. Competitive challenges with a leaderboard can also encourage healthy competition.

Gamification aligns game mechanics with features that offer intrinsic motivation. People seek autonomy and social interaction, and enjoy mastering new skills, and gamified systems can provide all three.

Research has shown that introducing gamification to workplace tasks can boost engagement among younger employees who previously showed low engagement, and it can also boost engagement across generations. It's also led to sustained engagement with workplace well-being programmes by making self-care and healthy habits enjoyable. In some cases, gamification increased engagement by 200%.

If you're designing a new well-being programme or want to improve results compared to your previous efforts, it's well worth considering introducing some game elements.

Gamification can work well in initiatives and challenges, but the design will likely differ between the two. Initiatives typically focus on long-term benefits and individual targets, whereas challenges introduce a competitive element. However, the principles are broadly similar.

Here are some ways to introduce gamification to your well-being programmes.

Define a clear focus

It's wise to start with a clear idea of what you want to achieve. A well-defined goal gives participants a sense of purpose. Improved well-being can take many forms, such as increasing movement, healthy eating, or better mental health. You can review data from sickness absence records, employee health assessments or your health insurance provider to identify areas for improvement.

Choose your format

When you know what you want to achieve, choose a goal and a format that will support it. For example, if you want to encourage more physical activity, a step challenge is accessible to everyone and fits into everyday tasks. It's a good idea to build in a support structure to encourage collaboration. Group challenges can build team spirit and provide social support, or you can arrange events to encourage participation in solo initiatives.

You can find ideas for workplace challenges here.

Set a time frame

Initiatives and challenges often work best when there’s a clear end in sight, as it helps to sustain motivation, particularly if there's a prize or reward at the end. If you plan to run longer programmes, it's wise to set new goals or refresh the content regularly. Generally, you're aiming to encourage sustained improvement and build long-term healthy habits. Short challenges and initiatives can lay the groundwork.

Set performance metrics

Decide how you'll measure progress against your goal so that participants understand when they've hit their target. If you've designed a competitive challenge, ensure everyone understands how you'll choose the winner. Gamification can help, as it typically includes points and progress levels that players earn as they go. Also consider how you'll set targets for people who may be starting from different ability levels.

Create the game elements

Leaderboards work well for challenges with a competitive element, as they help people see how they compare with their colleagues. This requires careful management to ensure it doesn't lead to bullying or become demotivating. You can use points and levels that allow participants to progress at their own pace, or from different starting points. For example, on the learning platform Duolingo, new members describe their level of expertise when they join, so the programme builds on their current knowledge.

You could also use existing platforms with game structures, such as virtual walking challenges or fitness trackers that award badges for different activities or step counts.

Add side quests

Your programme will have a clear structure and focus. Still, side quests can give people the opportunity to boost their rewards or test their knowledge without affecting the main challenge. You could reward trying a new food or activity, or set weekly interactive quizzes with a treat for high scorers. You could feed these into the main challenge to help staff with varying abilities boost their points, which will also increase motivation and engagement levels.

Choose your rewards

Working towards a prize or reward encourages engagement and helps your staff understand the long-term benefits of improving their health. In a competitive challenge, you could offer a prize to the winners and treats to everyone who took part. If an initiative has significant employee engagement, you could offer a smaller prize to staff who meet their goals. With team challenges, you could offer team rewards such as a celebration or group event, or individual prizes to each member.

Tangible rewards are ideal and help to keep employees engaged. You can offer different reward systems by letting participants choose their preferred treat, such as an extra day off, a team day out or vouchers or gifts up to a specific value.

Think about accessibility

Accessibility is a vital consideration. Tailoring a challenge or initiative to different ability levels and lifestyles is key. If you have hybrid or home-based staff, ensure they can access the challenge wherever they are. Personal preference will also influence engagement. Some staff might enjoy a visit to the gym, while others prefer a long walk or a parkrun event. Including various options that serve the same goal will help keep employees engaged. If you have staff with disabilities, consider how you can tailor the challenges to them.

The same principles apply to rewards or celebrations at the end of a challenge. Some employees might love an evening out, but this may be a struggle for staff with caring commitments.

Consider collaboration

We've mentioned the importance of a support structure in boosting employee engagement. Gamification can include built-in support, particularly when using a digital platform. Consider allowing likes and moderated comments so employees can cheer each other on, or include team discussions in group activities. If practical, you could also allow employees to nominate colleagues who have been particularly encouraging or supportive, and offer a prize as a thank-you.

With any challenge or initiative, fairness is key to participation. Here are a few points to bear in mind.

Voluntary participation

If staff feel forced to participate in a challenge or initiative, they are likely to disengage, and their motivation will drop rather than increase. Voluntary participation also ensures that employees only join if they'll benefit. For example, a step challenge likely won't be of much interest to someone who already runs marathons, although they could be a useful participant in a team challenge.

Make the rules clear

Transparency about how to earn points or make progress avoids conflict later. You can preview the challenge so people can ask questions, and you can adjust the rules to ensure clarity if you’ve overlooked anything.

Ensure targets are realistic

A good target is something that's within reach with a bit of a stretch. A strategy that lets participants set their own goals within specific metrics encourages improvement and reflects differing needs and abilities.

Health insurance can support your initiatives in various ways. Some already include game mechanics in their reward programmes, offering a variety of perks and discounts so employees can tailor their benefits to suit their preferences. While these are useful for personal goal-setting, they may not help create initiatives with a common purpose. However, you could use their structure and rewards for inspiration.

Your health insurer can offer helpful data about policy usage or, based on health assessments, help you identify health trends and areas for improvement. Insurers usually also have a bank of resources you can use to educate your team about the benefits of the initiative, or they can access to learn more.

Including health insurance as part of your employee benefits package lets your team access well-being support and rewards that motivate them to achieve their healthy living goals. Contact us for tailored advice and to learn more about how health insurance can help you support your team.