With the increasing number of businesses hiring new employees who begin their roles from remote locations, virtual onboarding is becoming more and more necessary. In addition to that, companies now realize that an effective onboarding process facilitates staff retention and decreases turnover. Thus, they started investing in LMS that has gamification features, such as, Litmos, Docebo, Cornerstone Software, and many others.
This enables your new employees with an efficient and organized introduction to your company. Thus, new employees can begin to work more efficiently and become more productive. Having your new hires trained as quickly as possible will lead to them being ready to contribute faster and more effectively.
An onboarding eLearning program is the first contact new hires have with the organization and helps them to develop important skills, capabilities, and habits that will help them become more productive. This impression can influence employee retention both positively and negatively.
To increase trainee engagement and training effectiveness, many organizations are implementing gamification elements within their onboarding learning. These five strategies will help you incorporate gamification into your eLearning program.
Motivate your learners
The goal of gamification is to encourage learners to grow. As such, gamification can help to engage and encourage your readers to learn more by using motivational factors. You can integrate gamification into your e-learning by utilizing a variety of means. Let’s look at a few methods.
- Create a progress bar in the dashboard. Their progress can then be tracked, as well as how far they have completed the course.
- From the beginning, let your employees know how they may earn rewards.
- Publish your employees’ progress levels or scores socially so they can share them with their colleagues.
As a result, they will gain a greater sense of confidence and zeal for better grades.
Link rewards to learning objectives
A key element of gamification is choosing the right mechanics and rewards. Getting employees to achieve gaming goals/objectives only happens when they win badges or receive rewards for completing them.
Game-based learning needs to be linked to learning objectives. Putting your learning goals in mind will allow you to achieve such results. For instance, when you want to teach your learners some sales techniques, provide them role-play games where they are in the role of a salesman. Gamification should be used to increase knowledge retention and behavior which facilitates employee learning.
Focus on behavioral benefits
A course can be completed by skipping through sections and getting rewarded. New hires must be able to access the required information using their gamified learning. You should not just reward your learners for the completion of the course. Instead, add behavioral rewards. For example, you can give them rewards when they watch a video and take the quiz that goes along with it. Your learners should be rewarded for every task they complete as part of your learning design. Only those who have met the learning objectives of the stage should be eligible to move forward.
Provide clear instructions and rules
Your eLearning course must start with a clear set of rules and guidelines. Motivate your learners by letting them know what rewards they will receive for completing a certain task. As an example, to receive a marketing badge, they have to attend some conference related to it. When an employee is motivated by intrinsic motivation, they will strive to achieve higher levels of performance to win the reward.
Include challenges and competition
A game-based learning experience is excited by the ability to overcome difficulties or levels. Challenges motivate learners to put into practice the skills and knowledge they have gained. Therefore, the level of the challenge should be determined by the employee’s abilities and goals.
There are many different types of challenges, including questions, puzzles, or logic exercises. There should be a connection to the employee’s actual work responsibilities, and employees must be able to meet the challenges based on their abilities.
To sum up
E-Learning that incorporates gamification can be a great way to invest in new hires. As a result of gamified learning, new hires are motivated to learn new skills and have access to resources that are essential for them to succeed in their careers. In addition to learning better, employees are motivated to win the virtual rewards associated with the gamified course. The use of gamification is not only engaging, motivating, and fun for employees, but it also aids in team-building, retaining knowledge, and providing effective feedback. So, gamify your onboarding learning courses now!
