Employee training is expensive and, often, the return on investment (ROI) doesn’t exist. The Association for Talent Development (ATD) estimates that companies spent an average of $1,273 per year per employee on training. However, without “practical follow-up or meaningful assessments,” learners lose 90% of the skills they learn in those training programs. That’s a lot of money to throw out the window.

1. Improve Engagement and Retention

According to the National Training Laboratories passive training (lectures, reading, and videos) results in 5-20% retention rates while active training (learning through games and simulations) can deliver retention rates as high a 90%. (Games deliver Why are games so much more effective? Because they are much more fun and engaging than death by PowerPoint.

2. Feedback and Rewards

Charles Duhigg, author of “The Power of Habit,” explains that in order to change a habit, we must first set a goal and then reward ourselves for accomplishing it. Training games provide a playground for employees to practice predefined goals and earn rewards. They also give trainers an opportunity to provide feedback and encourage repeat plays, improving performance and increasing knowledge retention along the way.

3. Play Anywhere

Mercer’s 2018 global talent trends survey found that “most employees want their company to offer more flexible work options.” With the increase in flexible work, employees also need more flexible learning. Training games can be deployed on phones, tablets, computers, and kiosks, enabling employees to play and learn when and where they want. Organizations can deploy training games on phones, tablets, computers, and kiosks.

4. Microlearning

As humans, we tend to have short attention spans. Creating games is the best way to provide quick yet effective training. 3-to 5-minute games can drive home key points and when designed right, keep learners coming back over and over again. Sometimes the best training games are fun and fast, helping learners digest your message and improve prescribed skills. Everyone is under ever-increasing time pressures. Breaking up their training content into bite-sized game-based experiences that they can access between tasks can help keep their attention and result in better learning.

5. Data

Simply checking a box or using a 5-question assessment at the end of a course isn’t effective in measuring learning. Games can unveil patterns of individual and group engagement and improve training ROI by revealing knowledge gaps, individual behaviors, and group comparisons. It’s simply impossible to obtain this same kind of analysis in an instructor-led or classroom method. Game analytics can show behavioral trends (what paths do players take, how do they engage with different characters, how do they approach different situations, etc.). The more you can learn about employees, the more you can identify where they need additional help and how your organization can leverage their skills more effectively.

6. Provide a Practice Playground

Games are a remarkable tool for teaching and testing employees about products and processes, critical thinking, collaboration and interpersonal skills, and problem-solving. They provide a safe place to experiment and fail. We call this a “practice playground” where learners can make mistakes in a judgment-free zone.

7. Social and Collaborative

75% of employees say that being collaborative is very important. Games are a fantastic medium for healthy competition and collaboration. So much so that, 54% of the gamers report playing with others, stating that video games help them connect with friends and family.

8. Bring Learning Back Again & Again

Games tap into our competitive nature as humans. Employees will return to the training games repeatedly to increase their score and raise their name on the leaderboard. The more they play the game, the more they’re learning.

9. Entertainment,  Characters & Stories

Learners connect with and recall content when it is presented as a story. The presentation of the story helps learners to visualize themselves in the same situation. Research has found that training games, which require learners to practice by doing, can have a significant positive impact on training outcomes.

10. Live Events Training

Effective instructor-led training is not about being the “sage on the stage”–it’s about being the “guide on the side,” leading participants to water instead of blasting them with the fire hose. Games are a fantastic way to engage your learners in company meetings and training conferences. Our Motivate Meeting tool makes live and virtual meetings easy for presenters and engaging for audiences.

We help trainers become heroes

Every 10 seconds, an employee at these companies are educated and inspired by playing our games.

"Using Jeopardy in the new Instructor Mode with our trainer and team challenges is instrumental in helping the team learn and get them excited about learning. What really attracted me to The Training Arcade was the CMS backend, the analytics part of it- where we can just go in and dive deep to see which questions were answered incorrectly the most. We fell in love with everything that is in The Training Arcade, it's fun, really fun."

Walter Gill Learning Technology Manager, Barclaycard

“Today we held our monthly sales meeting. Team members shared feedback on The Training Arcade games saying that they are fun, the points are motivating, and that each experience made them lean-in and think. Overall, we think it’s a very engaging platform for learning!”

Patrick Nardi Sales Training Manager - Lundbeck Pharmaceuticals

“The Training Arcade provides 3 benefits for Siemen’s global workforce. First, it allows us to reduce travel costs. Employees don’t have to come to training centers; they can get the learning anytime, anywhere. Second, the analytics of the platform allows you to see the performance of the students, real-time. The third benefit is that it’s gamification, this is what the next generation of the workforce is going to expect. The Training Arcade is a simple platform that creates an engaging and fun experience for the learner.”

Mike Kovacs Manager, Technical Training and Digital Innovation Owner at Siemens

Let’s make something great

Schedule a Call

Click Here to See More Services From The Game Agency A Division of ELB Learning