Casinos and Collecting: The Unlikely Connection

I am often asked, “What does your company, Snowfly, do?“ I always respond, “We build on-line Casinos so employees can play games at work.” This always elicits the desired look of shock and disbelief. Then, when I list a name of well known corporate users, the questioner realizes I am serious and they ask, “How does it work?” The next response is invariably, “Wow, what a great concept! Where did you get the idea for letting people play games at work?”

The workplace game concept came from two sources. First there was the referred academic study I read while completing my doctoral dissertation. It was by Ed Pedalino and Victor Gamboa, who convinced a manufacturing company to reward good attendance with the opportunity to play a poker game for cash prizes. In the experimental group, each day employees came to work on time, they were allowed to choose a card from a deck of playing cards. At the end of the week, the highest poker hand won $20. Compared to the control group, this group showed a significant and long-term decrease in absenteeism; they out-performed the control group counterparts by 18 percent. The researcher had implemented a game at work and was using the behavior management principle of intermittent reinforcement.

I was intrigued by the implications of this study and wanted to try to replicate it in a real workplace. At the time, I was doing some consulting work for the sanitation department of the city of Garland, Texas. They were having major attendance problems; absenteeism was particularly high on Mondays. My immediate plan was to buy a slot machine (to automate the process) and let the drivers take a pull for on-time attendance. I planned to give them two pulls on Monday. I was very excited by this project, but I ran into a brick wall when I checked with the local sheriff to be sure this would be legal. Twenty-five years later, I can still hear his deep, twangy voice saying, “Buddy, if you put a slot machine anywhere in my county, I’m gonna put you and everybody else who is involved in my jail.”

I really wanted to use the slot machine, but time in the slammer was not an experience I wanted to have. Using the research model of Pedalino and Gamboa, I developed a poker game that incorporated many of the same principles of playing the slot machine. I organized the truck drivers into teams. Each member of the team who made it to work on time was allowed to immediately go to the supervisor’s desk and draw a card from a deck. This simple act ensured that the supervisor recognized the positive behavior of on-time attendance. The card was then posted on a large chart in the break area. I began each weekly game on Tuesday. Drivers who made it to work on time on Monday (high absentee day) were allowed to draw two cards. There were individual as well as team prizes.

The results were dramatic. Attendance improved by 18 percent, and the attendance rate for Mondays was soon the same as for the other days. I heard of one occasion where team members went to a co-worker’s house early one Monday morning and physically pulled him out of bed to increase their chances of winning the jackpot.

Admittedly, this was a cumbersome approach to workplace performance reward games, but it was effective. Today, with Internet capabilities, this type of game is infinitely easier to implement and administer. It has also been cleared by several state Attorneys General who have said this process is not a legal problem as long as nothing is at risk to the employee and they can only win and cannot replay their winnings and potentially lose them. It is, in effect, a process that delivers the excitement of a slot machine without the negative sensation of losing.

Lightning bolt:
My experience with the sanitation drivers led me to think about the premise of playing performance reward games and having fun. Performance reward games are, by definition, fun, and I wanted to figure out how to integrate this aspect into work, many of which are inherently repetitious and boring. Then I had a defining experience, another parting of the clouds, when I realized that repetition and boredom are not necessarily one and the same. Las Vegas knew that all along.

I was waiting for a friend in front of a casino in Elko, Nevada. While I was standing there, a large tour bus pulled up. Almost before it could completely open its doors, 40 senior citizens poured out of the bus and ran into the lobby. I had to move out of the way or be trampled. The men and women scooted like teenagers past the restrooms and the buffet. They made a beeline for the cashier’s cage to buy big bags of tokens for the slot machines.

That’s when it hit me — pulling a lever on a slot machine is a very routine and repetitive task. If playing a slot machine were a job, it would be difficult to staff it at almost any reasonable wage. Yet these people were paying money to do it.

This began the process for me of figuring out how to incorporate the power of intermittent reinforcement games in the workplace. Surely, if people were willing to pay to pull a lever for hours at a time in a casino, there must be some way to incorporate that same power into our jobs.

About Dr. Brooks Mitchell
Dr. Brooks Mitchell is a Professor of Management at the University of Wyoming and the founder of two highly successful Wyoming-based software companies. When he founded his first company, Aspen Tree Software, he originated the Computerized Employment Interview and was a pioneer in the Internet job application process. In 1999, he started Snowfly. He now devotes his full-time efforts to Snowfly, his students and his classes at the University of Wyoming. Dr. Mitchell is the author of several books and articles concerning employee selection and motivation. His latest book is titled “Games, Work and Human Motivation.” He has been featured in over 75 national publications including Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, The New York Times and U.S.A. Today. He is a frequent quest on talk shows including recent appearances on CNBC and the Executive Forum. Brooks spends his free time enjoying life, whether it is on the golf course or the trout stream.

About Snowfly
Snowfly is the leading provider of Internet based employee incentive and loyalty programs. Snowfly’s incentive system allows contact centers to harness the enormous motivational power of immediate positive reinforcement to focus employee behavior on company objectives. Compared with home-grown programs, Snowfly improves KPIs by at least 20% (sales, availability/adherence, attendance, call quality), reduces a huge administrative burden and reduces costs. The results are easily seen within weeks and there is no long term obligation. Snowfly customers include multiple Blue Cross/Blue Shield providers, Hyatt Hotels, Time Warner Cable, Avis/Budget, financial institutions, utility companies, cable/satellite providers, various BPO companies (business process outsourcers), and collection departments/agencies.

Visit Snowfly online at www.snowfly.com.