Motivation 2.0: How a gift shop takes motivation to the next level
Employee motivation has always been one of the key factors in the success of learning. Engaged and motivated employees not only deliver better results, but also contribute to a positive team environment, which in turn leads to increased productivity and loyalty.
As developers of a corporate e-learning system, we are constantly exploring new innovative solutions that will help make the learning process even more effective. Having analyzed the latest gamification trends, we decided to develop a new LMS Collaborator functionality – the Gift shop. This is a useful tool that allows you to create your own loyalty system and reward employees for their achievements.
In this article, we will tell you more about the work of the “Gift shop”, its impact on staff motivation and the experience of its implementation at OKKO.
LMS Collaborator “Gift Shop”: How it works
LMS Collaborator’s “Gift shop” provides additional rewards and motivation for employees to learn.
The principle of operation is quite simple. To open your own store on the training portal, you need to add gifts to it. There are no restrictions on the assortment, it can be corporate merchandise, various accessories, books, electronics, and any certificates. Everything that will be of interest to your employees.🙂
LMS Collaborator “Gift shop”
To create friendly competition within the team and add exclusivity to the gifts, a separate “price” is set for each bonus and the number of bonuses available is indicated. That is, employees who accumulate the required number of bonuses the fastest will be able to exchange them for a gift.
And you can collect bonuses for completing the necessary tasks that you choose. Determine how many bonuses will be awarded for completing each task: test, course, program, workshop, webinar, etc. You can set more bonuses for complex tasks that require more effort and time, and fewer for simpler ones.
A gift shop is a great way to make the learning process more interesting and exciting!
To try it, leave your application.
What is the Gift shop for and how to use it?
The Gift shop is a useful tool for creating a stimulating and engaging learning environment that promotes active development and motivation among employees. It can be used for:
- Creating a gaming atmosphere.
The “Gift shop” adds game elements to the employee learning process, which helps to increase their interest and enthusiasm.
- Stimulating activity and encouragement.
This system of bonuses and rewards helps to increase the interest of employees in participating in various learning programs and courses.
- Improving the learning process.
Gifts available in the store can be related to the development of professional skills. This will make the learning process even more effective.
- Increasing loyalty.
The use of the Gift shop allows for additional rewards for employees, which helps to increase loyalty to the company and build a positive corporate culture.
What can be added to the store?
You can add a variety of items to the store that will be interesting and useful for your employees.
Implementation of the “Gift shop”. Experience of OKKO
Kateryna Skrebkova – Head of the OKKO Distance Learning Sector
«We are currently piloting the implementation of LMS Collaborator. On the one hand, we need to test the technical side – integration with the corporate HR system. On the other hand, we need to motivate employees to visit the learning portal and navigate through it to study behavior, analyze results, and get feedback on the learning and user experience. The test group was chosen carefully, focusing on loyal HR and IT departments, and several gas stations were also involved. To reward colleagues for their time and effort, we decided to use a system of bonuses and gifts. Because, you see, it is much more interesting to test 🙂
The goal we set was to provide an additional incentive and motivation for colleagues to test a new portal they had never seen before, plus gratitude for their activity, performance, and feedback.
We have added the following items to the Gift shop:
– OKKO branded products (merchandise): cups, sports bottles, metal bottles with preservation of beverage temperature, eco-bags.
– Electronic certificates (Yakaboo, MAKEUP, bodocard, Planet Kino). It was an experiment and our first experience of using certificates as awards.
The most interesting thing is that the first certificate to be purchased was for the Planeta Kino cinema chain, and the greatest demand was for metal bottles, because they are really stylish and cool :). The very first certificate used was Yakaboo. A colleague bought children’s books for his son and kindly shared his experience.
OKKO Gift shop
We tried to balance to maintain a fair distribution of bonuses between tasks and followed the logic that the more complex and longer the task, the more expensive it is for the employee. For example, the most expensive were hard skills development courses and extensive training programs, while the most affordable were small self-tests and longreads on mental health and well-being.
To summarize the opening of the Gift shop, it was a sensation. Colleagues organized real learning races to earn as many bonuses as possible and buy the gifts they wanted. We realized that the first days of testing would most likely be just like that – focused on getting bonuses. Colleagues would complete tasks at night and postpone work tasks. At the end of the third day, the Gift shop was empty. We were even a little upset, because it seemed that interest in the portal would gradually fade away, but we were wrong. During the “race”, colleagues advertised the learning portal to each other (they talked about its convenience, beautiful interface, “something new”, available 24/7, etc.) They also shared what they were studying and what content was most interesting. Over the next two weeks, colleagues continued to learn, research, share their impressions and ideas, even if there were no awards. The focus of attention shifted from “getting a gift” to “getting knowledge.” I consider this a good result and the achievement of the goal.
I can also share how we calculated the number of gifts according to the number of testers. According to the forecasts, the involvement of colleagues should have been 30%. Thus, we planned 105 gifts for 340 employees, meaning that every third employee should have received 1 gift. In fact, the participation rate was 51%, exceeding our expectations.
This tool will definitely achieve its goals if the following components are successfully combined:
– a defined goal (why do it and what will be the result),
– gifts that employees will like (and the budget for them),
– interesting and relevant tasks,
– a fair bonus system,
– clear rules,
– transparent communication.
Every company has different values and goals, but in any case, the result is worth it. Now is the best time to celebrate achievements, add a little joy to everyday life, and thank people for their efforts.”
Conclusion
Implementing the Gift shop will be a significant step in creating a stimulating and engaging learning environment. This is not just another element in gamification, but an effective motivation tool that will help you:
- Increase the level of employee engagement in learning..
- Make the learning process more interesting and exciting.
- Improve employee loyalty to the company.
- Create a positive competitive atmosphere.
