Using gamification in your call centre

12 January 2012

gamification in the call centreRegardless of whether or not you like video games, you must acknowledge their role in shaping the behaviours of the new generation of workers. To ignore their effect will be detrimental to your business, says Morgan Lynch. Indeed, gamification can be used to incentivise and motivate your contact centre employees and boost performance.

What is gamification?

Gamification takes the components of good games and applies them to everyday work activities. These components are engaging and result in desired behaviours. They can include badges, achievement levels, peer recognition, direct challenges or quests, and exchange systems.

Gamification essentially takes what could be mundane, everyday activities and turns them into a game. And when done right, it is a game your employees want to try and win.

So what does this mean for your call centre?

Incentives like ‘employee of the month’ are no longer good enough. Traditional pay for performance programmes based on cash, like quarterly bonuses, are not sufficient either. Gaming allows you to tap into intrinsic motivation, which is the type of motivation that leads to creativity and connections between humans.

You need to figure out how to make your call centre environment more like a game. And one of the most powerful game components is the exchange system based on ‘points.’

Try using points

People love to accumulate points that can be redeemed for something of value. Just look at what the airlines have done. There are now hundreds of people that conduct “mileage runs” where they buy tickets on airplanes, fly all over the world for hours, just to get the mileage points. Why? Because the points have both perceived and real value.

The world might soon run on points, not cash. Jesse Schell of Carnegie Mellon outlined some extreme cases in his famous DICE presentation [LINK TO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nka-_Mhp7f0], but pay attention to this concept. Cash cannot motivate intrinsic behaviours long term. Points can, when they are used effectively.

How do I start using points?

Start small. Try to avoid an exchange ratio to cash. If your points are simply calculated like 1 point = £1, then it’s really just cash. Mix up the prizes so that the perceived cash value fluctuates, and change them regularly.

Here’s a sample program that you could get started with:

+10 points for on-time arrival each week
+20 points for top 3 leaderboard appearance
+20 points for CSAT of 9.2 or higher each shift

gamification in the call centreRedemption of points:

This week: Movie tickets (100 points)
This month: Golf lessons (500 points)
This quarter: iPad 2 (3000 points)

It’s not all easy

As with anything, there are potential pitfalls to gamification and the incorporation of points. You need to be careful about when you award them, and when you might take them away. Taking them away can be dangerous and should be used only for the gravest of sins.

You should design the programme correctly so that you don’t have too much inflation, and so that you are equitable across various activities and roles. You’ll quickly find that you can boost productivity and improve moral with a very small relative cost.