Should we gamify the employee induction process or just a simple e-induction is good enough?
As a custom development e-learning company, we are often asked this question by our clients. And our answer or rather the question is- “ What are your learning objectives and what purpose do you wish to accomplish with your employee induction programs? ”
Some of the common benefits of e-induction over traditional classroom training are:
1.Flexibility and accessibility
2.Reduced cost of induction
3.Helps in increasing productivity of the organization as well as increases effectiveness
4.Accommodates all learning styles.
5. Consistent quality in delivering learning modules.
So if an employee e-induction gives multiple benefits why this hype and hoopla around gamification of employee induction?
The answer to this question lies in the concept of gamification of learning. As per Wikipedia -”The gamification of learning is an educational approach to motivate students to learn by using video game design and game elements in learning environments.“ The objective is to maximize engagement through capturing the interest of learners and inspiring them to continue learning. Gamification, is the introduction of game elements in a non-game situation.
Gamified e-induction is a form of gamification of learning and is applied in the context of making employee induction process or onboarding process gamified with the objective of orienting the new joiners as well as lateral hires into the organization. Gamified e-induction is slowly gaining popularity ,as many organisations are willing to try out this strategy owing to its freshness and high engagement levels.
Following are the benefits of gamified e-induction:
- Makes the learning sticky as learners “want it” rather than “ compelled to finish it”.
- Leads to more successful learning outcomes as the learners are better able to retain and apply the concepts due to the gamified nature of employee induction
- New joiners may carry a positive image of the company owing to the gamified nature of learning. Millennial may find it rather “cool”……
Whether to go for employee e-induction or gamified employee e-induction depends on several factors like types of learners, LMS support, cost, involvement of various stakeholders etc the biggest factor is the underlying need and the post implementation strategy. So as a practice we always recommend the organizations to clearly state the expected outcomes from each of these learning methods and choose the appropriate one which suits the organizational culture and requirements.
Here in this blog,I have drawn a table to compare e-induction and gamified e-induction on various points, which will help you to structure and formulate a strategy for your employee induction programs.
| Point of Difference | E-induction | Gamified e-induction |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | With the use of technology and electronic devices, the usual traditional classroom induction program when moved to online, it is called as e- induction. | Gamified induction is simply the process of including game elements and game mechanics to your induction process by converting your existing classroom training or implementing gamification into your e-induction modules. |
| Interactivity and engagement | E-induction modules doesn’t have the same level of interactivity which is delivered by a gamified e-induction and hence there exists the danger of learners to feel that the content is boring for them. | Gamified e-induction modules enables high interactivity in the learning modules. The module demands the users to perform various actions and achieve challenging tasks and milestones which ensures the active engagement among the learners. |
| Reward System | In e-induction, there is no particular reward system associated with the learning modules. It is basically a simple click next style of learning. | Gamified e-Induction includes the element of rewards. The learners are rewarded when they achieve specific tasks or reaches the milestones etc. A proper reward system can motivate the learners to achieve the learning objective. |
| Development cost | Development cost is low compared to developing a gamified e-induction module | Although cost of developing a gamified solutions has come down, the costs factor stands a little higher when compared with simple e-induction modules. |
| Inducing competition among the learners. | E-induction may not be able to rise the necessary element of competition among the learners as it just requires the learners to understand,read and learn the topics from the modules. | The use of game elements in the gamified e-induction can induce motivation among the learners.. For example, use of leaderboard can induce healthy competition among the learners to earn more points and reach higher positions. |
| Future proof strategy | The traditional e-induction is already being replaced by new learning strategies like gamification. Hence a traditional e-induction is not a future proof strategy. |
Gamification is still continuing to be a trend and hence more organisations is sure to utilise the gamification as a strategy for e -induction. Gamification becomes future proof as even the advanced technologies like AR , VR etc can be combined with elearning gamification. |
| Engaging the millennials | With the millenials ready to replace the workforce in the near future, e-induction may not be the right strategy to engage them as their attention span is found to be very less and you might require highly interactive and engaging modules. | Gamification of e-induction is a better strategy to engage the millennial as it promises more interactivity and engagement. |
| Retention and recall of the learning topics | A simple e-induction process may not help the learners to remember and recollect the learning topics if it built around level I of Bloom’s Taxonomy. An e-induction process should necessarily have some theme or a storyline around which the entire induction program can be centered. | A gamified e-induction module can more successfully help the learners to retain the learning topics and implement them at work The game elements and game dynamics can create positive reinforcements among the learners to help in better retention and recall of learning topics. |
| The WOW factor and excitement levels | A traditional e-induction module lacks the wow factor and lesser excitement level among the learners. | Gamified e-induction can bring the wow factor and higher excitement among the learners and at the same time it helps the organisation to enhance the reputation and value of the company in the mind of the new joinee. |
These are some of the key differences between e-induction and gamified e-induction.
If you are looking to convert your traditional classroom training to e-induction or to gamified e-induction and would like to have a discussion before making your decision, feel free to call us anytime.
