Gamification's Influence on the Gig Economy: Unlocking Motivation and Efficiency
Between inflation, rising costs of living, stagnant wages, and macroeconomic fears, many workers have turned to gigs and side hustles to supplement full-time income or simply embrace a more flexible and free lifestyle. Gig workers comprise roughly 5.7% of the U.S. GDP, and the market is worth $350 billion. The culture and flexibility of the gig economy are also indicative of growing trends in the professional workforce; employees everywhere are looking for more flexible schedules and increased income.
Gamification also played an important role in the popularity of the gig economy; incentives, rewards, and game-like elements attract short-term workers to certain engagements, accept more jobs, and increase their customer service. Before diving into gamification, let’s take a look at the history of the gig economy and how it’s shaping the American workforce.
The Beginnings of the Gig Economy
The gig economy was first championed by driving and delivery apps like GrubHub, DoorDash, Lyft, and Uber, which allowed regular consumers to make money on the side and do something they enjoyed on their schedule. The term first appeared in 2009 from the journalist Tina Brown, who coined the idea of workers free-floating from project to project transacted through the digital world via online marketplaces.
Especially after the 2008 financial crisis, many workers were laid off and looking for immediate income to bring into their households. Nearly 9 million Americans lost their jobs in the financial crisis, and specifically popular with millennials, hundreds of thousands joined the gig economy over the next few years.
Now, the gig economy is a sophisticated ecosystem of part-time and full-time independent workers. Roughly 40% of Americans are involved in the gig economy in some capacity. These include knowledge-based gigs where workers monetize their skills like writing, ads management, art, or more, or service-based gigs like TaskRabbit, delivery services, and more. The “sharing” economy is also increasingly popular, with 4 million people hosting their homes on Airbnb or letting people book their personal cars through Turo.
The Rise of Gamification
With an increasingly sophisticated ecosystem, workers now have multiple companies to choose from when looking for their next gig. For example, delivery drivers can parse through GrubHub, UberEats, Instacart, DoorDash, and more to find the mix of the best compensation, flexible schedules, and ease of use. Now, even gig-based companies like Uber or Lyft sometimes struggle to appropriately staff; it’s common to see “driver shortage” alerts on popular apps. Gig workers have the choice to ditch a company if they’re not seeing jobs come through or they’re simply unhappy with their experience.
This has led to companies focusing on happy, engaged gig workers and retaining diverse talent. Gig workers can switch easily between apps and platforms, so creating encouragement to stay and work on a specific platform is popular. This has led to companies embracing rewards systems, “hot jobs” with higher pay, bonuses, tier-based compensation systems, and other game-like elements.
How Gig Companies Benefit from Gamification
Research shows gamification leads an emerging IT industry trend of higher engagement and brand loyalty and even incentivizes changed behavior. Even simple “rewards” like sending gig workers summary sheets of their success or usage can go a long way in retaining them on the platform.
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1. Increased Brand Loyalty
If a worker knows they’ll get rewarded with higher pay or first-come, first-serve opportunities based on how many jobs they accept on an app, the more likely they are to invest their time and energy into that app. For example, Lyft runs weekly ride challenges to encourage drivers to hit weekly goals, so if a worker was driving on multiple apps, they might be willing to spend more time accepting Lyft rides over others.
2. Increased Engagement
Gig companies can increase engagement with their brand and app through gamification as well. Lyft also runs signup bonus offers, leading drivers to pick their platform over other ride-sharing apps. These signup offers might increase or decrease as well, depending on Lyft’s need for drivers in certain areas. Uber shares Weekly Feedback Summaries with drivers, sending them a visual report of rider feedback and a new driver rating as well as if they received a special flag for something like cleanliness or friendliness. By seeing positive comments or trends, drivers might feel encouraged to continue participating.
3. Increased Satisfaction
A key element in any type of retention is customer satisfaction, and for gig companies, it’s important that gig workers are happy and satisfied. Seeing positive omentum and feedback, earning bonuses here and there, and overall, simply having fun goes a long way in retaining them on the platform.
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