Can gamification make compliance training more engaging?

Games, challenges, leaderboards and rewards are increasingly being used in workplace training, but do they actually improve learning, or are we simply making mandatory training more entertaining? It's an interesting question, particularly when we consider how difficult organisations often find it to get employees to engage with training they haven't necessarily chosen to complete.

In our previous two blogs, we explored [how to make employees want to complete compliance training] and [why employees rush through mandatory training]. We looked at the pressure organisations face to maintain completion records, the frustration of repetitive annual training and how even well-designed courses can become something employees simply want to get finished. But what if we introduced a different reason to participate?

What if employees weren't just completing training because they had to, but because there was a challenge they wanted to take part in, a colleague's score they wanted to beat or even a prize up for grabs?

This is something we've been exploring at Emblem while developing our new Digital Toolbox Talks library. We're looking at how gamification could introduce a little friendly competition into regular workplace training, without losing sight of what the learning is actually supposed to achieve. Because while gamification has plenty of potential, it isn't a solution to every training problem, and we need to be careful about how and why we use it.

What is gamification in workplace learning?

Gamification involves using elements commonly associated with games in activities that aren't necessarily games themselves. In workplace learning, this might include points, challenges, progress indicators, badges, levels, leaderboards, rewards or opportunities to compete against other learners. The idea is to introduce elements that encourage people to participate, progress or return to an activity.

It's worth making a distinction between gamification and game-based learning, because the two are often used interchangeably. Gamification might involve adding a scoring system or competitive challenge to an existing learning experience, whereas game-based learning involves using a game itself as the learning activity. For example, learners might develop their understanding through a simulation in which they make decisions and experience the consequences, rather than simply answering questions about a subject.

Both approaches can be useful, but neither automatically improves learning. A quiz with a leaderboard might encourage someone to participate, but if the questions are poorly designed, the learner may achieve a high score without developing any meaningful understanding. Equally, a beautifully designed game might be enjoyable without helping someone apply anything to their actual job. The important question isn't whether we can turn training into a game, but what that game is helping someone learn, practise or remember.

Why might competition encourage employees to complete mandatory training?

One of the biggest challenges with mandatory training is motivation. Employees may understand that a subject is important, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're enthusiastic about completing another course on it. This is particularly relevant to regular compliance training, where people may revisit similar subjects throughout their working lives, sometimes completing almost identical content year after year.

Gamification gives us an opportunity to introduce additional reasons to participate. For some learners, the motivation might be achieving a personal best, while others might enjoy competing against colleagues or working towards a shared team goal. Recognition, rewards and the opportunity to represent their organisation can also influence how people approach an activity, particularly when there's a little friendly rivalry involved.

Imagine two employees being assigned the same short safety refresher. The first opens the course knowing they need to complete it before Friday, so their objective is straightforward: finish the training and remove it from their to-do list. The second opens the same course knowing there's a knowledge challenge at the end, their colleagues have been comparing scores and their company is taking part in a monthly competition. The learning content hasn't necessarily changed, but the reason for participating might have.

Of course, that doesn't guarantee the second employee will learn more. However, it creates an opportunity for them to approach the experience with a little more interest, and once we have their attention, we can use good learning design to make that participation worthwhile.

Does gamification actually improve learning?

This is where we need to be careful, because gamification can encourage participation, but participation and learning aren't the same thing. A learner might complete a game several times because they want to improve their score, enjoy the challenge or compete with colleagues. Those are potentially positive outcomes, particularly if the alternative was rushing through the training with very little interest, but we still need to consider what they're learning while doing it.

For example, a game that simply rewards someone for clicking quickly might encourage speed rather than understanding. A quiz that repeatedly asks learners to recall the same simple facts might improve their ability to answer those particular questions without necessarily helping them make better decisions at work. If the purpose of the training is to help employees recognise risks, understand responsibilities or respond appropriately to a situation, then the game needs to reflect those objectives.

This is where learning theory becomes important. Retrieval practice, for example, involves asking learners to recall information rather than simply reading it again. A well-designed knowledge challenge can encourage this process, particularly when learners receive feedback that helps them understand why an answer was right or wrong. Repeated practice can also be valuable, especially when people revisit important knowledge over time or encounter it through different questions and scenarios.

These principles don't require a game to work, and they can be incorporated into many different types of learning. Gamification simply gives us another way to encourage learners to participate in those activities. The game might provide the motivation, but it's the learning design behind it that determines whether the activity offers anything meaningful.

Why gamification shouldn't be the starting point for learning design

One of the things we feel strongly about at Emblem is that the learning need should always come before the technology or activity. It's easy to become excited about what we can build, particularly as digital learning tools continue to develop, but an impressive interaction isn't necessarily an effective learning experience.

AI-assisted coding tools, including Claude Code, have made it increasingly practical to create bespoke interactions, games and challenges that might previously have required significant development time or specialist programming support. For learning designers, that's incredibly exciting. We can explore ideas that would once have been difficult or expensive to produce, creating more tailored digital experiences for different organisations and learning needs.

But there's also a risk that we start designing around what the technology can do rather than what the learner actually needs. Just because we can create an elaborate game doesn't mean we should, and sometimes a realistic workplace scenario followed by a few carefully designed questions will be more valuable than a complex interactive experience.

This is why we always need to start by understanding the problem we're trying to solve. If employees are struggling to remember important information, we might introduce opportunities for retrieval and reinforcement. If they're finding it difficult to apply knowledge in real situations, scenarios and decision-making activities could be more appropriate. If the biggest problem is motivation, gamification might be worth exploring, but only once we've considered whether it genuinely suits the learners and their working environment.

Good learning design is about choosing the right approach, not using every available feature.

Does gamification work for every industry?

This is another important consideration, particularly when designing compliance training. Different industries face different challenges, and employees don't all have the same opportunities to participate in workplace learning. It's one of the reasons we believe organisations should avoid assuming that one training format, however successful elsewhere, will automatically work for everyone.

Think about hospitality, for example. Employees may work changing shifts, have limited time away from customers and need to complete training around busy service periods. In health and social care, staff may work across different locations, provide direct support to individuals and have very limited opportunities to sit at a computer for extended periods. Construction workers might move between sites, work outdoors and rely on mobile devices to access learning, while office-based employees may have easier access to computers but face entirely different pressures on their time and attention.

These differences matter when deciding how training should be delivered. For shift-working industries, short, mobile-friendly learning that can be accessed at a convenient time might be a more important improvement than introducing competition. For organisations with employees working across multiple sites, consistent digital content and completion tracking may be particularly valuable. For teams completing regular safety training, a monthly challenge might provide an additional reason to revisit important subjects.

We also need to think about the type of learning taking place. Somebody developing a complex practical skill may need hands-on experience, observation and feedback from an experienced colleague. An employee completing a short knowledge refresher may benefit from a very different approach. Neither situation automatically calls for a game, and trying to introduce gamification where it doesn't serve a purpose can simply create more work for the learner.

This is why gamification should be viewed as one tool within a much wider learning design toolkit. Its value depends on the learners, their working environment, the subject and what the organisation is trying to achieve. Sometimes a combination of approaches will be far more effective than relying on one method alone.

What could gamification look like in digital toolbox talks?

Toolbox talks are one area where we've been particularly interested in exploring gamification. Regular, short workplace learning provides an opportunity to reinforce important information, introduce practical situations and encourage employees to think about the decisions they make at work. However, we've heard from organisations that getting people to engage with regular toolbox talks can be difficult, particularly when employees have completed similar sessions numerous times before.

For some employees, the experience has become familiar. They receive the information, complete the required activity or sign the attendance record, and return to work. From a learning design perspective, we wanted to explore whether we could introduce something different without losing the practical purpose of a toolbox talk.

Our new Digital Toolbox Talks library is being developed around short, practical learning experiences that use realistic scenarios, interactive activities and knowledge checks to encourage learners to apply what they've covered. We're designing the talks to be accessible on mobile devices, recognising that many of the people completing them won't be sitting at a desk or working a traditional nine-to-five day.

But we're also introducing a competitive element. At the end of each talk, learners will have opportunities to take part in interactive games and knowledge challenges. We're developing a monthly competition where individuals and organisations can compare their performance, with leaderboards and opportunities to win prizes.

The idea is to introduce another reason for people to participate. Perhaps somebody wants to beat their colleague's score, a team wants to see their organisation climb the leaderboard or somebody simply enjoys a challenge and wants to see how well they can do. These are all different motivations, but they could encourage people to approach regular training with a little more interest.

Of course, none of those motivations replaces the purpose of the training. The learning still needs to be relevant, the questions need to test meaningful understanding and the activities need to support the knowledge and decisions employees are expected to apply in their work. The competition is there to encourage participation, while the learning design is there to make that participation worthwhile.

What about employees who don't enjoy competition?

Not everyone finds competition motivating, and that's something we need to recognise when designing gamified learning. Some people enjoy comparing scores and challenging colleagues, while others may find leaderboards distracting, discouraging or simply uninteresting. There's also a difference between friendly competition and creating unnecessary pressure, particularly when training relates to subjects that employees are required to understand as part of their role.

If someone consistently finishes near the bottom of a leaderboard, that experience might discourage them from participating again, especially if they feel their performance is being judged publicly. We therefore need to think carefully about how competition is presented, what information is shared and whether employees can still have a positive learning experience without taking part in the competitive element.

It's also important to consider how scores are calculated. Rewarding speed alone, for example, could encourage exactly the behaviour we're trying to move away from: rushing through activities without properly considering the answers. A scoring system that encourages careful thinking and rewards accurate responses may be more appropriate, depending on the purpose of the activity.

The design of the game, the scoring system and the feedback all influence how learners behave. Competition should support the learning experience rather than undermine it, and we need to remember that some learners will be motivated by the challenge itself rather than by how they compare with anyone else.

Can gamification help turn one-off training into ongoing learning?

One of the limitations of traditional compliance training is that it can become a series of isolated events. An employee completes a course, receives a certificate and may not revisit the subject until their next refresher is due. However, learning doesn't necessarily work best when information is presented once and then left untouched for another year.

Regular opportunities to retrieve knowledge, revisit important concepts and apply information in different situations can help reinforce understanding over time. This is where shorter learning experiences and gamification could work particularly well together, particularly for organisations that need employees to maintain awareness of important workplace risks and responsibilities.

Rather than asking employees to complete one lengthy course and then leaving the subject untouched, organisations can introduce smaller opportunities to revisit relevant information. A monthly challenge might encourage someone to return to a topic, test their knowledge or engage with a new scenario. For organisations with teams working across different locations, it could also introduce a shared activity that encourages conversations about the learning.

Of course, this only becomes valuable if the activities themselves have a purpose. Repeatedly answering the same questions to climb a leaderboard isn't necessarily going to develop someone's understanding. Revisiting important principles through different situations, decisions and feedback offers considerably more potential.

And importantly, digital learning shouldn't exist in isolation. A supervisor discussing a scenario with their team, employees sharing experiences or managers reinforcing safe working practices can all help connect the learning to what happens in the workplace. That's particularly important for toolbox talks, where the relationship between the information being shared and the work being carried out is central to their purpose.

How do you know whether gamified training is actually working?

If we introduce gamification because employees aren't engaging with their training, we need to consider what success would look like. More people completing training might be a positive sign, particularly if previous participation was low, and learners voluntarily returning to activities or engaging with additional challenges could also tell us something about their interest.

But neither automatically demonstrates that learning has improved.

We need to look beyond participation and consider whether employees are developing and retaining the knowledge they need. Are learners demonstrating understanding through meaningful assessments? Can they apply what they've learnt to realistic situations? Are managers noticing changes in workplace behaviour? Are employees having better conversations about the subjects covered?

The answers won't always be straightforward, and a digital platform can't measure every aspect of workplace performance. However, we can be more thoughtful about what we're trying to achieve and what evidence we collect. If the original problem was that employees weren't completing training, improved participation might be an important outcome. If the problem was that employees were completing training but making the same mistakes afterwards, we need to look much more closely at how the learning is being applied.

At Emblem, we see gamification as an opportunity to explore a different approach to engagement, not as a guarantee of improved learning outcomes. As our Digital Toolbox Talks library develops and organisations begin using it, we'll be particularly interested in understanding how people respond to the competitive elements and whether they encourage greater participation.

Ultimately, the success of gamification shouldn't be measured by how entertaining the game is, but by whether it contributes to the purpose of the learning.

So, should you use gamification in compliance training?

Gamification can be a valuable addition to workplace learning, particularly when organisations are struggling to motivate employees to participate in regular or mandatory training. But it isn't the answer to every problem, and we need to be realistic about what it can achieve.

For some learners, the biggest barrier might be time. For others, it might be accessibility, relevance, repetition or a lack of opportunities to apply what they've learnt. A leaderboard won't solve those problems, and introducing a game without understanding the wider training challenge could simply add another layer of activity without improving the experience.

That's why we believe the starting point should always be understanding the learners, their working environment and what the training needs to achieve. From there, we can decide whether shorter learning experiences, scenarios, practical activities, digital resources, face-to-face support or gamification will add the most value. Sometimes combining several approaches will create a much better experience than relying on one alone.

We're excited about the possibilities gamification offers, particularly as new technology makes it easier to develop more creative and tailored learning experiences. It's something we're actively exploring through our Digital Toolbox Talks, where we hope to bring together practical workplace learning and a little friendly competition.

But we're equally interested in making sure those experiences have a genuine purpose. Because creating a game is one thing, while creating a game that supports learning is something entirely different.

Explore a different approach to workplace training

At Emblem Training Solutions, we design bespoke digital learning, scenario-based training and interactive learning experiences built around the needs of different organisations and industries. We believe that effective training starts with understanding the people completing it, the environments they work in and what they need to be able to do afterwards.

We're also developing our new Digital Toolbox Talks library, combining practical workplace learning with interactive games, knowledge challenges and opportunities for friendly competition.

If you'd like to learn more about the library or discuss how we could improve engagement with your existing training, we'd love to hear from you.