Shut up and get back to work

No, we’re not trying to sound like your boss, just telling you about a great new iPhone application to download if you come across some free time later today.

Shut Up and Get Back to Work is simple. When Frank the Foreman shouts a command, you do what he says within the given amount of time. He’ll tell you to pinch, slide, press or swipe the controls in the order Frank tells you. As you play, the game will speed up and Frank will mix up his commands.

No iPhone? You can still have fun on the SUAGBTW website. Go ahead, press a button and see how much Frank appreciates it.

How to feel happier at work ... instantly

What’s one way to start feeling happier at work almost instantly?

Play an online game. But, not just any game.

The Matrix brainteaser at MindHabits.com is an award-winning program developed by a McGill University psychology researcher that has been proven to improve your mood.

The game, which asks you to find smiling faces in a sea of frowning ones, has been shown to reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol, making you feel happier. It’s free to play for an hour, but after that you’ll have to pay a one-time $20 fee for unlimited games.

Research suggests that playing video games at work may help employees reduce stress and increase productivity.

“More than 80 percent of online gamers who play on and off throughout the workday said they are able to better focus on work after playing. A reported 72 percent actually rely on game breaks to help them deal with job-related stress,” according to a WorldWinner survey released last year.

MindHabits offers three other games on their site, all aimed at reducing stress and improving self-confidence. Take a break and improve your mood by testing your gaming skills on the Matrix.

Friday office humor: Play the “Layoff” game

A new game has taken the web by storm that gives average employees the power to “be the boss” and attempt to save their business from going under.

Tiltfactor Labs created the game, aptly titled LAYOFF, that examines our country’s current economic situation and how a bailout could potentially help.

From a Tiltfactor press release:

The key to the project is a focus on human values in games. "The game has an unsettling feeling,” said Mary Flanagan, the developer of the game as the Director of the Tiltfactor Lab. "It is cute and fun to play, but when you realize how frightening the situation is, the game in fact functions as a very dark portent."

In the game, players take the role of management needing to cut costs and cut jobs. Players match types of workers in groups in order to make “layoffs” and increase employee efficiency. If you eliminate enough workers in a row, their positions are replaced by financiers and bankers who cannot face layoffs.

Curious? Play the LAYOFF game.

What do you think of the Layoff game?

Employee training in the news: The good, the bad and the ugly

There have been some interesting stories in the news covering employee training issues in the past weeks. Some are good, some are bad, while others are downright ugly. Here’s a rundown of a few of the top stories:

The good

Just to be nice, we’ll give you the good news first, in the form of some good advice from Keith McFarland at BusinessWeek. In his opinion, too many companies are complaining that their teams don’t have the skills to deal with the problems created by the economic downturn. “But instead of complaining, what management really needs to do right now is put less emphasis on getting the “right people” and more on getting the “people right,”” he says.

Getting the “people right” involves having managers sit down with their employees to talk about what the company could do to help each person develop their skills. Managers should put together a development plan for each employee including training and measurable objectives for each employee to achieve.


The bad

In this case, we’re talking about “bad” employee training as in the cool kind of bad. Like how Assurant Employee Benefits, a Kansas City-based benefits carrier, has improved training engagement by using a series of training video games.

Marcelo Vegara, Assurant’s video training game developer, says the games deliver information “in a way that's going to stick with people. It's active learning, not a sit-back-and-snooze kind of environment."

Since adding the games into their training mix, Assurant has found increased employee engagement, outstanding participation results and improved training retention. That goes down as some “bad” training in our books.


The ugly

Let's make that really ugly. A man in the Chicago area recently answered a newspaper ad for a job in the auto industry that claimed to pay a “generous salary” during training, as reported by the Chicago Tribune. After being hired on the spot, the man was told he had to pay $629 for training materials, a fee he would get back after a 90-day probationary period.

The man was fired after two weeks, received a meager compensation for his work, and wanted his training money back. The problem is that the money he spent on training supplies went to an outside training industry that refused to refund his money, but would provide him with “lifetime placement assistance” for another auto job if he wanted. He doesn’t want their help and is still fighting for that refund.


There they are, the good, the bad, and the ugly sides of employee training. Let’s hope this week holds a lot more good and the good kind of “bad” employee training that we love to see going on.

Is using video games to recruit deceptive?

Next to the Banana Republic and Victoria’s Secret shops in the Franklin Mills Mall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, you can now find the state-of-the-art Army Experience Center. Complete with a Humvee, a Black Hawk Helicopter and an Apache gunship, the facility is part of a two-year experiment by the Army to boost recruiting numbers.

The Army spent $12 million constructing the facility and packing it full of computers and video games for an interactive, virtual reality experience designed to recruit new soldiers.

After four months, 33 full-time soldiers and five reservists have signed up - a figure that matches the performance of the five recruiting centers it replaced.

The army says the Experience Center is more than just a recruiting hub, and also serves to “dispel misperceptions about Army life,” according to a recent Reuters article.

"We want them to know that being in the Army isn't just about carrying weapons and busting down doors," said Jennings, who wears slacks and a polo shirt rather than a uniform. About 80 percent of soldiers are not involved in direct combat roles, he said.

But some people, including former soldiers, think the use of video games in recruiting for the Army is glamorizing war and can mislead potential recruits. Jesse Hamilton, a former Army staff sergeant who served in Iraq in 2005 and 2006, called the video games “very deceiving and very far from realistic.”

"You can't simulate the loss when you see people getting killed," said Hamilton, who left the Army after his Iraq tour and is now a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

"It's not very likely you are going to get into a firefight," he said. "The only way to simulate the heat is holding a blow dryer to your face."

We want to know what you think - Could the Army Experience Center be considered a deceptive recruitment technique or is it just a creative way to meet recruiting goals?

More Friday training fun: Turkey Bowl 2008

Think you know everything there is to know about Thanksgiving? Test your Thanksgiving Trivia knowledge in the Turkey Bowl 2008, the latest training game from C3 Visuals.

Top scores will be entered in a contest to win BRAVO!, a new software suite that helps you create engaging and fun training games that make users feel like they’re in the middle of an online quiz show.

For more training quiz shows or to learn how to make your own visit the C3 Visuals profile at TrainingTime.com.

Hilton customer service training: All fun and games

Studies have shown that playing video games at work benefits the workplace by decreasing employee stress and increasing productivity. While companies that embrace gaming for fun have seen positive results, what happens when video games are designed specifically to deliver employee training?

Last month, Hilton Garden Inn announced that it would be the first hotel chain to offer employee customer service training designed and created for use on Sony's PlayStation Portable (PSP).

"Now when the Hilton Garden Inn team members are caught playing with a PSP system on the job, they are met with smiles and words of encouragement," according to a company press release.

With the use of this interactive, game-based employee training software Hilton Garden Inn is hoping to establish itself as the "hospitality leader in employee training." The software, called Ultimate Team Play trains employees to understand the special needs of hotel guests in a game setting.

“We’re thrilled to take our game-based employee training program to a whole new level, or, in this case, a whole new gaming platform that is also portable, to create some of the most advanced, realistic and interactive training anywhere,” said Adrian Kurre, senior vice president – brand management for Hilton Garden Inn.

“Ultimate Team Play is part of our ongoing commitment to making employee training compelling and relevant, which are our two most important criteria for ensuring long-term customer service success.”

The goal of Hilton's new employee training program is to show hotel employees how their actions have a direct impact on the hotel and on each guest's mood. The training game puts employees in a 3-D, virtual hotel where they must respond to a number of guest-related requests by a specific deadline. As employees respond to guests correctly, the simulated guest's satisfaction increases.

The power tool giant Black & Decker has been using technology in a similar way to deliver employee training materials to workers on the go. Through mobile learning (or m-learning) the company delivers training content to PDAs and cell phones, providing flexibility for workers who may not sit behind a computer everyday.

Companies like Black & Decker and Hilton are breaking new ground by using video games and cell phones to deliver employee training. As technology improves and opens up to a more mainstream market, we may one day see it become the standard in employee training across the country.

Does your company currently use mobile learning or online resources to deliver employee training? Have you seen any clear benefits from using technology over traditional methods?

Video games at work increase employee productivity

Video games are making their way out of living rooms and into the office, but don’t be nervous. New evidence suggests gaming at work may benefit the workplace by decreasing worker stress and increasing productivity.

Rather than forbidding gaming, some U.S. companies are embracing gaming by replacing traditional coffee-fueled break rooms with areas specifically created for employees to play video games, according to a recent article from Entrepreneur.com. Companies that have created such rooms have seen a boost in employee morale and productivity, and gaming in the office has also helped attract younger employees.

“According to a recent survey by WorldWinner, a subsidiary of FUN Technologies Inc., more than 80 percent of online gamers who play on and off throughout the workday said they are able to better focus on work after playing. A reported 72 percent actually rely on game breaks to help them deal with job-related stress.”

Of the companies interviewed for the Entrepreneur.com article, none have had to set up rules or regulations for the game rooms. Some employees who have trouble regulating themselves may take advantage of the environment, but the companies agree that the positive results far outweigh any negatives.

While many companies have not embraced gaming as a positive way to reduce stress at work, it turns out employees will play anyway. Whether it’s on their phone or company computer, almost one in four workers game on the job.

Its estimated that as many as 80 million “white collar” workers in the U.S. play casual games, according to a survey by PopCap, the leading developer and publisher of casual games. Of those white collar workers surveyed, almost a quarter (24%) said they play at work along with 35% of CEOs, CFOs and other senior executives.

“It's natural that some business executives would also look to casual video games that they can play on their PC, mobile phone or BlackBerry during a work break, as a way to quickly relax and recharge their batteries,” said Carla Drum, a recognized expert on workplace issues, in a PopCap press release.

Those who play casual games at work acknowledged the following effects after taking a short game break at work:

• 84% said they felt "more relaxed and less stressed out."
• 52% said they felt more confident, more energetic, more productive and/or more mentally focused.

When asked to choose the single most important reason for playing casual games, 72% chose a reason related to improving their mental state.

Whether it’s taking a short break to chat on the phone or grab a cup of coffee, we all need to unwind every once in a while to refresh and regroup. Loading up a quick game may have the same effect, and without all the caffeine-jitters.