One of the key challenges faced by organizations today is engaging talent in the first few days. According to research, 69% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they experience great onboarding. And 20% of employee turnover happens in the first 45 days. In view of this, companies today are adopting a number of methodologies to make new hires onboarding a great experience. They are also turning to technology which has become an impeccable protagonist in driving an onboarding program. One such means is gamification.

Gamification provides an opportunity to experience the real world applications that enhance the new hires’ learning. The rewards linked with learning creates a sense of excitement and motivation to achieve objectives. The interactive elements of a game make learning fun and immersive.

Following are three steps in designing a gamified onboarding program:

Know your objectives:
Before you go ahead with developing the gamified program, identify the objectives that you want to achieve out of your onboarding program. An onboarding program is designed in a way to make new hires aware about the company’s policies, vision, and mission. Additionally, it is required to build the awareness about a company’s culture so that they can assimilate with the workforce and set themselves up for success.  Identify behaviors, attitudes, and skill sets that you want your new hires to develop during the training.

Design interesting game content:
Create content that focuses on real life scenarios and align it with the objectives you want new hires to achieve out of the program. Add levels or milestones to the game to keep the engagement and motivation level high. When gamifying a learning program, remember that use of game elements is not same as creating a game. It is much more than playing games and earning badges or rewards. At the end of the day, gamified learning should include three elements: interactivity, engagement, and immersion.

Keep the rewards real:
One of the unique features of a gamified program is the rewards attached to the program.  The rewards may range from collecting badges/ scores/ titles after clearing each level. However, these rewards are mostly virtual in nature. Make sure that you are matching these to personalized rewards like a free movie or a concert ticket, whenever a learner completes a level or an overall program.

A report by ADP notes that managers spend an equivalent of 7 days on onboarding of a new hire while HR spends 4 days – both working hand-in-hand with the new employee to complete paperwork and policy acknowledgments and build an understanding of team culture, expectations and success factors. A gamified onboarding program place learner in the center of the program, this motivates the new hire to achieve goals and subsequently build on to new skills, behaviors, and awareness of the organizations' culture and values. Gamification also acts as an ice-breaker among new hires which helps in building a sense of collaboration and team bonding since everyone is moving towards the common goals.