The rise of Pokémania has also created new concerns in the workplace, though, about just how much and when employees are indulging in their quest to be the very best. And for good reason. Estimates put the number of Pokémon GO users between 10 and 21 million, with those users spending nearly 45 minutes per day playing the game (about double the average daily use of apps like Snapchat and Instagram).
So is Pokémon GO a danger to productivity? Does it have the potential to sink your company’s efforts to keep employees on task? The short answer is, absolutely. But it could also provide a major boost to your company’s morale and kickstart employee engagement in a way you’ve never seen before.
Here are four simple ways to use Pokémon GO to your advantage:
Pokémon Gyms are where trainers take their Pokémon to gain more experience by battling other Pokémon, other trainers, and other teams. Gyms can be won, lost, or claimed by any of the three teams, Team Mystic (blue team,) Team Valor (red team,) and Team Instinct (yellow team.) These team alliances can actually lend themselves to some fun team-building opportunities, which I’ll cover a bit later on.
So just how important are these Poké Stops and Gyms to your employees? Pierre Tran, Director of Project Management at CyberCoders said, "Well, we don’t really play it at work per se, but our choices for lunch now revolve around which restaurant has a Poké Stop nearby." And CyberCoders Software QA Engineer Long Pham says, “I go across the street for lunch most of the time, and since there’s only one Poké Stop within walking distance, I now take much longer route to get lunch effectively doubling the distance I walk each time.”
If your office does happen to be on top of or adjacent to a Poké Stop or Pokémon Gym, you’re in luck! This can absolutely be used to your advantage. It also virtually guarantees that your employees are going to try to play Pokémon GO at work, whether that’s on their short breaks or even during their designated work time. I’ll discuss what to do with both of these scenarios later, but step one is to start by getting a lay of the Poké-land.
All you need to do is set up a time, let employees know that you’ll provide the lure (these cost less than a dollar to purchase), and voila! It’s an inexpensive, fun, and easy way to build some great rapport with your team. It’s also one of the quickest and most painless ways to get your employees in one place and interacting with one another.
Take the lead in organizing either onsite or offsite activities where members of Pokémon teams get to work together (regardless of their department). This could mean onsite games or other activities, or it could mean organizing an offsite meetup at a local park or shopping center/mall where there are sure to be loads of Poké Stops and Pokémon Gyms. Give employees every opportunity to sign up other members of their Pokémon team and see the faces of other employees who belong to Team Valor, Team Mystic, and Team Instinct. It will create some fun new relationships as well as competition between employees who already work together.
I spoke to one company who has done just that, and the result was a major success. The company is Levy Online, and their Art Director Sam Orf was one of the employees who attended the offsite meetup. “It was honestly a blast,” he told me. “We all left straight from work and met up at a park with about a dozen Poké Stops and two Gyms. There were people from every department – design, development, and marketing – and we had a great time.” He mentioned that most of the employees had teamed up on Team Valor (the blue team), so they could compete together to take over the Gyms in the park. Just the type of team building activity any company could benefit from!
Start by implementing some of the ideas I mentioned above. That will allow your company to be a part of the conversation organically, without seeming out of touch. But don’t be afraid to lay down a few ground rules with employees, as well. Maybe start by suggesting that employees refrain from using lures during work hours (these can cause a bit of a frenzy, becoming a big distraction). Let workers know that you think Pokémon GO is as great as they do, but it’s important to not let it get in the way of accomplishing your shared work goals. Again, this doesn’t need to (and shouldn’t) be a harsh crackdown, but it’s important to tackle the conversation head on.
You should be able to have a lot of fun with Pokémon GO and the activity, conversations, and rivalries it will create. If you have any great Pokémon GO stories, feel free to share them with us on the CyberCoders Facebook page!
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