Corporate Training and Serious Games: The Benefits

Training employees effectively is vital to the growth and sustainability of a company. From onboarding to ongoing training and development, a skilled workforce leads to greater employee retention and higher productivity for the company.

Is gamification in corporate training truly beneficial?

Signs point to yes. Here are several  of the primary reasons why:

• The new generation of workers is tech savvy in a way that is unprecedented. It makes sense to capitalize on their comfort with technology. Serious games are a natural way for modern hires to learn.

Serious games are a more collaborative training strategy and encourage a sense of teamwork. Discussion before and after activities is an important component of the process. Comprehension of presented information is increased when the learners have the chance to talk through an activity with their peers.

• Trainees are active participants in their own learning, as opposed to a more traditional, one-way flow of information.

The days of sitting and listening to someone speak, with no interaction, are going by the wayside. Serious games provide learners with intrinsic motivation. They have to be successful on one level to move on to the next.

Serious games make learning fun, interesting, and much more engaging for the learner.

• Though the skills in the game are simulated, they are teaching the new employee how to handle real-life situations, including failure. They are able to fail in a safe environment and learn from their mistakes without serious repercussion.

Failure is part of any game, so it isn’t as anxiety-inducing as it could be in other situations.

Learners are allowed to construct a knowledge base by connecting with the digital world within the game. They comprehend how to react to real-world situations by interacting with the scenarios in the game.

• A study by the UC-Denver Business School indicates that employees trained with serious games have a 9% higher retention rate, a 14% higher skill-based knowledge, and an 11% higher level of factual knowledge.
• Serious games have the advantage of instant feedback. Learners can immediately assess what areas they were successful in and where they need extra work.

Supervisors gain better insight into individual goals for each of their new hires. They can then customize further training and support. Learning games allow employees to develop skills over time.

Making serious games a part of a comprehensive learning program yields positive results and empowers employees to better acclimate themselves to the company and to their role within the organization.

Serious games use familiar technology to present information in fun and engaging ways, while motivating the learner to reach higher and higher levels of success, in the simulation and in their real-life job.

Designing Digitally, Inc. can provide you with the tools you need to introduce serious games into your organization to attract and retain a highly skilled workforce. Talk to the team today!