Gamified Work -- Done Right, What It Would Look Like

#302: Hint: Employee Opt-In 

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Gizmodo has a review of a recent Microsoft product that allows management to follow worker 'productivity'--to what extent a given employee uses Microsoft features over a 28-day period.  

Framing 'productivity' this way--how many times does an employee speak up during a group chat, for example, could easily prod the average worker to spit out unhelpful dialogue just to score points.  And then there's the somewhat spooky notion that Big Brother is watching your every move, a concern the article highlights.  So, ...What do I think?

Everybody can understand the desire for accountability--a goof who doesn't try, and makes life miserable for everyone else, should ideally be encouraged by gamification to help out.  Just keep it elegant and worker-centric.  But, you ask, ... Why focus on the worker?

For motivation to guide employees towards helpful behavior, each worker must be in control of their own destiny.  Otherwise, motivation drys up, and with it, success; or, coercion milks for fascist joy.

Designing boardgames as a hobby, I've come to realize that engineering a desired end--job motivation, in our case, is usually a simple matter of finding the right fit.  

If, to enhance productivity, one were to begin with an employee opt-in RE: objectively gathered data, and salaries were based on either the opt-in, or a lower, but attractive standard salary, and management never has knowledge of said objectively gathered data, something like 50% or more of a company's employees would be expected to goose their own motivation in order to reach the higher payout.  And, ideally, opt-in reports would go straight to payroll, so that everyone is 'at ease', with management only privy to an overview of how many reach the higher pay level. 

True, management is paying more for employees who self-report their enhanced productivity.  But, this model is engineered so that half the productivity goes to the employee in higher wages, and half to management in higher profits, or some such split.

The details of how the objectively gathered data are constructed are key to a model working well, but are well outside this simple outline of how a generalized system could work.