What’s next in employee satisfaction?

“Play is universal, even more universal than humanity”

(Ralph Koster)

“And then it happened. As my young heart began to thump, as my pink lungs expanded like the wings of a bird, as the trees turned to greenish blurs, I saw it all before me, exactly what I wanted my life to be. Play.”

(Phil Knight in ‘Shoe Dog’)

In today’s labor market, the challenge to attract and retain staff -both in terms of young talent or more mature experienced people- is heating up. In the age group 15–25,31,4% of employees had a different employer than the year before in 2018. The war for highly skilled people in professions like accounting, engineering, IT and security is harder than ever before. At the same time digital transformation, fast changing market conditions and rapid changes in modes of production and logistic make continues training and education of the utmost importance.

The Employee Journey

So, it is no wonder a topic like “employee journey” is moving to the forefront of what is keeping HR professionals occupied these days. At the heart of this “employee journey” is the Digital Employee Experience or DEX. DEX encompasses how employees work, what tools and technology they use, and the culture they exist within.

If we take a look at the number one topic in the Gallup Q12 “Do you know what is expected of you at work?” and we take this as a necessary first step to achieve employee satisfaction, it is easy to see that most important are:

1. Training staff to understand what is expected
2. Get feedback on where you as an HR specialist have succeeded and where not
3. And where more training/education is needed

In the field that has now adopted the name “Business-to-Employee communication”, a combination of tools is available to deliver products, information, learning opportunities and services to employees. This includes topics like:

• Company policies, official documents, and forms;
• Company strategy and goals;
• Values and corporate social responsibility (CSR);
• Training and learning;
• Digital assets and brand center;
• Product and services information;
• Other HR related information.

Serious learning through gamification

The great success of HQ Trivia in the US in 2018 may be the considered the start of the development of new generation of fast paced gamified interactive video products. From a technical point of view, it was the availability of ultra-low latency video distribution that facilitated the rise of this new category of entertainment. It worked out to be an innovative very successful way of combining the power of video and the power of gamification

This great new way to combine video with the urgency of real-time interactionis to introduce a live streaming trivia quiz that can be played on mobile phones. Aim is to boost engagement and motivation of employees to stay up to date on the latest trends in technology, regulation and processes, all in the form of a gamified live environment. The use of points, badges, leaderboards, challenges, and immersion can be used to positively affect learning outcomes. Staff can be trained on new spring or autumn clothing line, new features in latest product release or train staff on new compliance regulations. It’s a fun and entertaining way that differentiates from existing learning programs/efforts.

A trivia quiz offers a mobile learning platform that will keep employees motivated to play while learning and validating new concepts. The team functionality creates competition between colleagues and responsibility to a team.

Trivia games can be an extension to existing learning efforts and is not meant to replace those. It is easy to integrate with an existing internal Learning Management System (LMS) and/or an intranet.

So, what are the benefits of using a live trivia application for learning?

The benefits of using live trivia for learning are multiple:

• Circular information: Communication, learning and HR officers can see if for certain questions more wrong answers than anticipated are given, indicating the need to further train staff on that specific topic. Data-supported HR will get a great boost and it seems that in the end everyone wins.
• Increase company awareness of the latest trends in technology, regulation and processes;
• Create cross-department understanding of skills and responsibilities;
• Understanding workplace policies, compliance and safety rules;
• Becoming familiar with the philosophy and mission of the company;
• Create a feed-back loop to identify where more training is needed;
• Link to resources where additional information can be found;
• Train specific departments in new practices — e.g. Train and inform the sales team about new techniques and service offerings;
• Freedom to produce unique content for each show introducing new themes, topics and questions categories;
• A live game creates a sense of urgency and a fear of missing out (FOMO) especially since every show has a unique theme and topic which is beneficial.

So, imagine…

Imagine having staff preparing the whole week, reading articles, watching videos or following seminars and then sitting, excited, ready for a live quiz at 14.00 Friday afternoon, presented by a well-known person (or maybe even the CEO?). Points can be collected for giving the right answers and after -let’s say- 12 questions the winning team is announced in a leaderboard, for all to see. The team will be winning a price -some cash or an iTunes gift card, for example- and the challenge is on for next week for other teams to beat the record.

And on the other side, the HR team can see if for certain questions more wrong answers than anticipated are given, indicating the need to further train staff on that specific topic. Data-supported HR will get a great boost and in the end everyone wins.

If you are interested in getting your live trivia corporate idea off the ground, get in touch. At Ex Machina Group, we provide everything you need to launch your very own live trivia solution, including concept creation, business modelling, front-end design, back-end development, and operations. Check out our website to get inspired by our portfolio and client list. You can also contact me directly on LinkedIn.