In an effort to increase worker engagement and productivity in the warehouse, more and more warehouse managers have started implementing gamification concepts, previously implemented in other domains – education, sales, and marketing most notably. The results, far from being unanimous or overwhelming, have further stirred the debate – can implementing gamification concepts in warehouse management increase worker engagement and productivity?

Techniques and best practices in logistics and warehouse management have evolved or undergone many changes in recent years – many of the changes are in direct relation to trends in the retail industry that redefine retail jobs. And many tech-influenced concepts have found their way into the warehouse. Gamification is one such example of this. 

In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the data compiled in recent studies and attempt to weigh the benefits against the drawbacks. Ultimately, the jury is still out on gamification in the warehouse. But the aim is that this article will provide you with more information and food for thought as to whether gamification could be right for your warehouse.

 

What Is Gamification and How Is It Used in Warehouse Management?

As the term suggests, gamification is an attempt to render otherwise monotonous or unappealing tasks more interesting by incorporating gaming elements such as point scoring, competition, and level completion. In gamification, tasks are converted into points and the worker (or learner) is motivated to accumulate points (complete tasks), and move up levels of difficulty – elements that are essential to any game.

In warehouse management, gamification is implemented in much the same way as it is in other fields:

• Converting tasks into quantifiable objectives (points or numbers)
• Setting reachable goals
• Tracking the workers’ individual and collective performance
• Creating a leader board (so workers can have quantifiable targets or records to break)
• Rewarding leaders and workers who meet objectives and break scoring records
• Providing incremental increases in difficulty to stimulate interest

 

The Case For Gamification of the Warehouse

In a recent study conducted by the International Journal of Logistics Research and Applications, several warehouse managers who had recently implemented gamification in their warehouses reported an improvement in employee morale and productivity. Though the study relied on the self-reporting of unquantifiable results, the overall anecdotal testimony was quite positive.

In the testimony of warehouse managers, an emphasis was placed on gamification helping in the training and onboarding processes as well as making certain monotonous tasks more interesting for their employees. Because gamification reduces accomplishments in terms of points, managers found it effective in assessing how well a new trainee is assimilating the information they are given and supervisors are finding it easier to keep track of the workers and their performances. 

 

The Inherent Limitations in Gamification

In order to incorporate a successful gamification approach, a considerable amount of time and energy needs to be put into the design, planning, and implementation. In most cases, tracking progress and distributing points requires some level of digitalization – most successful gamification practices are somewhat reliant on technology.

When we take into account the amount of time and resources needed to implement gamification, we see that it is really only a viable option for larger warehouses, those equipped with state-of-the-art technology, and with a budget that could absorb the high initial costs of design and implementation.

Furthermore, several warehouse managers have cited ethical concerns as reasons why they have yet to implement gamification in their warehouses. The concern is that incentivizing workers to complete tasks and adding competitive point-reward systems may provoke workers to circumvent important safety measures and take risks that would otherwise be unnecessary.

Since the implementation of gamification in a warehouse environment is relatively new still, it is unclear if the purported benefits can be sustained over the long term. Since gamification requires incremental increases in the level of difficulty, it’s easy to envision a point where the level becomes unsafe or unrealistic. 

Gamification has proved to be wildly successful in fields such as language learning where the objective could require years of work to obtain. It’s unclear, beyond training and onboarding, whether gamification can have success in the warehouse making repetitive tasks more stimulating for workers in the long term.

 

Getting the Right Fit

There is enough data for us to come to the understanding that gamification works. However, it doesn’t work for everyone. Some people thrive on competition and they can engage in friendly challenges with their colleagues. Other people are put off by competing with colleagues or they may suffer a decrease in confidence when it is evident they are not high on the leader board. There are instances where gamification can lead to bullying or the creation of cliques and factions within the team.

It’s important to know the workers that are meant to benefit from gamification. If bullying or division in the team are already a concern in your warehouse, the chances are that gamification would exacerbate these concerns. On the other hand, if the warehouse team is relatively well-knit and tech-savvy, it might be worth exploring gamification to boost employee engagement and productivity.

 

The Takeaway

The trend of gamification in the workplace is intrinsically tied to the increased fascination with and reliance on technology. These show no signs of slowing down, and neither does gamification. The more we seek to digitize our environment, the more we reduce tasks and objectives into points or numbers. This tendency is only going to increase and expand its reach. We have seen some larger warehouses implement gamification with varying degrees of success. And we will see many more in the coming years.

It’s important that we anticipate potential negative consequences and we prepare to avoid or alleviate them. Gamification adds a new dynamic to the workplace. It is meant to boost employee morale and render a job more stimulating. However, these benefits are not shared by everyone. Successful implementation of gamification needs to be accompanied by an awareness of how competition, leader boards, and point systems affect individual employees.

 

Author bio – Russell Ridgeway is an American writer based in Budapest, Hungary. He writes in business, tech, and fashion as well as creative fiction. You can reach him by email ([email protected]), or on LinkedIn and other social media platforms.