Skip to main content
Facilitate Magazine: Informing Workplace and Facilities Management Professionals - return to the homepage Facilitate magazine logo
  • Search
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit Facilitate Magazine on LinkedIn
  • Visit @Facilitate_Mag on Twitter
Visit the website of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management Logo of the Institute of Workplace and Facilities Management

Main navigation

  • Home
  • News
    • Comment
    • People
    • Reports
    • Research
  • Features
    • Analysis
    • Features
    • Round Tables
    • Webinars
  • Outsourcing
    • Contract Finder
    • Contracts
    • FM Business Models
    • Interviews
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Opinion
    • Procurement
    • Trends
  • Know-How
    • Explainers
    • Legal Updates
    • White Papers
  • Jobs
  • Topics
    • Workplace Services
      • Hospitality
      • Catering
      • Cleaning
      • Front of House
      • Grounds Maintenance
      • Helpdesk
      • Mailroom
      • Manned Guarding / Security
      • Pest Control
      • Washroom Services
      • Disaster Recovery
      • Specialist Services
    • Professional Performance
      • Behavioural Change
      • Continual Professional Development
      • Education
      • Management
      • Recruitment
      • Training
    • Workplace Performance
      • Benchmarking
      • Health & Wellbeing
      • Operational Readiness
      • Procurement
      • Security
      • Workplace User Experience
      • Workplace Culture
    • Compliance
      • Health & Safety
      • Risk & Business Continuity
      • Standards
      • Statutory Compliance
    • Building Services
      • Architecture & Construction
      • Asset Management
      • Building Controls
      • Building Fabric
      • Drinking Water
      • Fire Protection
      • HVAC
      • Landscaping
      • Mechanical & Electrical
      • Building Security
      • Water, Drainage & Plumbing
    • Technology
      • Building Information Modelling
      • CAFM
      • Data & Networks
      • Document Management
      • Information Management
      • Internet of Things (IoT)
      • Software & Systems
    • Energy management
      • Energy Management Systems
      • Electricity
      • Gas
      • Solar
      • Wind
    • Sustainability
      • Environmental Quality
      • Social Value
      • Waste Management
      • Recycling
    • Workspace Design
      • Agile Working
      • Fit-Out & Refurbishment
      • Inclusive Access
      • Lighting
      • Office Interiors
      • Signage
      • Space Planning
      • Storage
      • Vehicle Management / Parking
      • Washroom
    • Sectors
      • Corporate Office
      • Education
      • Healthcare
      • Manufacturing
      • International
      • Retail
      • Sports & Leisure
      • Regions
  • Buyers' Guide
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Facilitate Magazine Issues
  • May 2020
Features
Features
Features
Research
Workplace services
Cleaning

Gamification: Know your target group and keep it simple

Open-access content 4th May 2020
Authors
Pauliina Tuomi
web_p28-29_cleaner_iStock-1035101180.png

Pauliina Tuomi, a postdoctoral researcher at the Tampere University, Pori Unit in Finland, shares findings from her research into the gamification of facilities management jobs – specifically cleaning and maintenance.

One of the fundamental purposes of gamification is to solve problems. That is what makes games motivating. Gamification is often described as the use of game elements to improve user engagement and experience with non-game initiatives.

Gamification at work has been the interest of recent studies, looking at how it supports user engagement and enhances positive patterns in service use such as increasing user activity, social interaction, or quality and productivity of actions. Gamification primarily aims to increase users’ positive motivations towards given activities or use of technology. 

At best, gamification motivates employees and encourages them to engage with their work and the organisation. 

Studies of the gamification of different work tasks have focused mainly on conceptual considerations that are often lacking on empirical evidence. This is what we wanted to tackle. 

Our aim and methods 

Our KiSA research project (2017-2018), funded by the Finnish Work Environment Fund, focused on the gamification process in facility services jobs – cleaning and maintenance. 

The project manifested the process of gamifying facility services jobs from the pre-interviews of staff to the implementation of the custom-made application, WorkAI (in cooperation with Headai Ltd). Eighteen employees took part in our pilot study and filled in a questionnaire and attended semi-structured end-interview sessions. 

Organisations have become increasingly aware of the positive implications of promoting wellbeing at work. In our study, the overall approach was to explore whether the gamified approach influences both the self-awareness and the knowledge acquisition of respondents during the pilot. 

We used a gamified solution called WorkAI that aims to track the employee’s daily routines and feelings through relevant thematic areas. WorkAI – with a user interface similar to WhatsApp or Messenger – is an AI-based software robot (bot) that asks users 15 different question patterns under nine themes. It is a tool for self-evaluation. 

With the WorkAI application, the aim was to get the workers to self-evaluate different aspects of their work. The content of the application was on a general level (not profession-specific) and it dealt with work-related content widely, through the following themes: 

results

The results of the study 

The attitudes after the pilot study were positive and the gamified features implemented in the application were favourably perceived. 

Half of the respondents felt the use of application motivating, especially through the gamification elements – for example, collecting trophies and a progress map. 

Most importantly, the use application did not interfere with respondents’ work routines during the pilot. 

Key takeaways:  

  • The gamified solution needs to be easy to adapt.
  • It should not disturb work routines.
  • It should operate on relevant issues and offer new insights such as on wellbeing at the workplace.
  • Gamified elements play an important role when motivating respondents to use the solution on a daily basis. 

The main outcome of the research

The application got respondents thinking about their own behaviour. Participants started to reflect on their own attitudes, behaviour and working habits – for example, safety at work. 

Although personal development might appear to be an intrinsic outcome, as an incentive it is an extrinsic goal that can be achieved through the participation in the gamified process. As such, it is not the participation in the gamified process that motivates the participant, but the expectation of improved personal skills. 

Final thoughts 

Although gamification is a major trend, it should not be used just for the sake of it. 

You need to know what you want to accomplish and use gamification to solve a specific problem. Know your target group, their background, and their competence on adapting to new methods. Understand the available technology infrastructure and, more importantly, the work description you are about to address through gamification. 

For example, based on our in-depth pre-interviews, we had to move from specific work-related tasks to more general user needs because the tasks and work environment of the facility service and cleaning workers varied substantively, even within both groups. 

Games and applications should be fast, simple, and motivating for the employees to use them. A game does not need to be complicated to be good. If an employee can only devote two minutes to a game there is no need to come up with anything complex. The well-thought-out design, the balance between the actual substance and the use of gamified features are important. 

Image credit | iStock
Facilitate May 2020 cover
This article appeared in our May 2020 issue of Facilitate Magazine.
Click here to view this issue
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Most-Popular

 

Latest Jobs

Senior FM Manager - Electrical

London (Greater)
Competitive Salary & Benefits
Reference
55503

Group Maintenance & Special Projects Manager

London (Central)
£65,414 to £67,237 per annum + competitive benefits package
Reference
55498

Systems Manager

London (Central)
c. £40,000 to £45,000 plus excellent benefits including generous pension and holiday entitlement
Reference
55491
See all jobs »

 

 

Sign up to our newsletter

News, jobs and updates

Sign up

Subscribe to print

Sign up to receive our bi-monthly magazine

Subscribe
Facilitate magazine cover, June 2020
​
FOLLOW US
@Facilitate_Mag
Facilitate Magazine
Facilitate Magazine
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel: 020 7880 6200
​

IWFM

About IWFM
Become a member
Qualifications
Events

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy
Think Green

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to Facilitate Magazine
Write for Facilitate Magazine

General

IWFM Jobs
Help

www.facilitatemagazine.com and Facilitate magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive, Level 5, 78 Chamber Street, London, E1 8BL