Video: REBA Innovation Day 2016: Works vs play – how gamification can drive engagement

Gamification can increasingly help with driving engagement with reward and benefits schemes at work, Patrick Watt, corporate director at Bupa, told delegates at the REBA Innovation Day 2016.

Watch the ‘Work vs play- how a games mindset can drive engagement and behaviour change across businesses’ session in full

He said it was especially important for Bupa in particular as it broadened its traditional reach. “We recognise as a traditional health insurer that to engage our customers and members more we have to think differently about how we do it. That’s been especially relevant as we move beyond being seen as a health insurer and engage people in wellbeing,” he said.

Watt explained that too often companies don’t treat employees as consumers and give them clunky, hard to use tools such as posters and email to communicate when outside of work they communicate through tools such as Messenger or Snapchat.

“We need to view our employees as consumers and learn how to engage from other industries - such as retail and consumer. We recognise that we have to move beyond traditional mediums such as website and paper to literally now being in people’s pockets,” he said.

Watt introduced Marcus Thornley, founder of start-up Play Consulting and the company behind Bupa’s Boost app, who talked about the role and importance of gamification upon engagement.

Thornley said that daily engagement and day 30 churn rates far exceeded industry averages for games for the Bupa gamified wellness platform. “Get this stuff right and you can drive really compelling experiences,” he said.

This video was recorded at the REBA Innovation Day 2016.