I came across an interesting press release this week and have been wondering whether any organisations in this sector run schemes such as this or whether they're considering doing so...

Data from the One4all 'Workers on top of their game report' has found that 52% of UK trades and 50% of retail workers would be more productive if offered gamified rewards and bonuses, which are said to not only introduce an element of fun into the workplace, but which also increase employee performance.

The survey of 1,096 UK workers by the workplace incentives and rewards provider, encompassed employees from different age groups, genders and industries and revealed that 52% of UK workers in the trades industries and 50% in retail would feel more motivated to work hard and 20% would increase their performance if their employer introduced a points-based rewards and bonus system.

The technique works by setting small rewards for desired actions and then inviting workers to repeat that behaviour, which they do in anticipation of the same result, and 26% UK workers in the trades industries said they would work harder to unlock rewards and bonuses in this way. There are also clear softer benefits of gamified rewards systems, with the perception amongst workers that this would also increase their happiness at work and make them feel more engaged with their company, while making work more fun.

"In SMEs, finding the budget for a rewards scheme can be tough, but gamified rewards can be more flexible in some ways and they don't have to involve large budgets," says the company. "While some might think these kinds of rewards are more complex to implement, this isn't necessarily the case. As we can see from the survey data, and the sheer number of workers who said that the implementation of a gamified reward system would make them work harder, the cost of implementing this kind of rewards could soon be recouped by the increased productivity employers would benefit from."

I've always been someone who does my best at whatever I've set out to do - whether it be a personal task or work-related, but I can see that we're not all made the same. And with UK Plc's productivity levels being renowned for being low these days, I'm thinking that this type of scheme may well be worth investigating...

www.one4all.link

Yours,

Jan Hobbs