At CPQi, we value our employees and team members above all else. Keeping our team engaged and ensuring the continued development of their skills and abilities is something we hold close to our heart.

We heavily invest our time and resources ensuring our team get an amazing working experience, and our clients get a fantastic service provided by leaders in their industry.

Recently, we’ve introduced gamification into our workplace. We’ve done this to encourage continuous training and growth amongst our team members and create strong engagement. We thought we’d share with you what gamification in the workplace is, and how it can help businesses reward, encourage and engage their teams.

Why does it work?

Gamification works by leveraging guided play to create improved engagement. We are all used to, and in tune with, the methods used in gamification. We use a points system at supermarkets, are awarded miles when we travel and get a free cheeky Nandos with every 9 stamps. We’re used to gamification, and as a society we enjoy it.

Bringing gamification into the workplace triggers genuine emotions and provides our team members with positive experiences they can associate with their work, creating greater engagement. With gamification, we create a sense of belonging amongst our team, they know they are part of something and are an important team player within our company.

How does it work?

Gamification is the application of gaming methods, techniques and principles in a non-gaming environment, in this case, our workplace. By leveraging gamification, we are able to create healthy, friendly competition, a strong reward system, and clear guidelines for improvement.

The purpose of the game is to get to the maximum level, at CPQi that would be Scrum Master, however each company could have its own maximum level based on their processes and needs. We also implemented different tracks, for example, players can follow the leadership or quality game path. Both tracks can be done by one person but not at the same time. Our team players work together, and the game includes comedy, rewards, frustrations, reasonings, and planning.

Game masters have procedures in place to deal with crisis moments, for example, if a player stops playing the game for personal reasons, or if someone performs an illegal activity, we have processes in place to ensure everyone is treated fairly and the game continues in an orderly manner.

At certain checkpoints throughout our gaming process, we provide rewards to our team members. These include personalized items such as badges and mugs.

The final, and most important reward comes when a team member finishes all stages and hits the target, that player gets to occupy a new position in the company.

Each player is provided with a constant feedback loop throughout the game. Any objectives they may have found difficult provide CPQi with an opportunity to help enhance their skills, ensuring each team member is getting the right help in the topics they struggle with. For example, if during a hackathon one of our developers does great in one area but struggles with another, we as a business can reward and encourage him/her for their success, while also being aware of how to help that developer improve. This enables us to couple up our team members with the client projects they’ll be most successful in. We are also able to, as a business, improve their skills in a fun and engaging way before they provide services to our clients, ensuring our clients get the best possible services from the right people.

We’re always looking for great new ways to reward, encourage and grow our team. With gamification, we’ve found a way to incorporate a range of benefits under one scheme. Check out our careers section if you’d like to join the team.