In case readers don’t know, gamification transports elements of game-playing—like scoring points and comparative ranking—into other areas of human endeavor.

The term “gamification” was coined in the 21st century and has rapidly spread, but it represents a basic understanding of human behavior that was alive and well in the early 20th century, long before the introduction of the digital technology that powers today’s notion of it. Let us explain.

What’s gamification?

In 1896, the Sperry & Hutchinson Co. originated “S&H Green Stamps,” which retailers handed to their customers based on their purchases. Customers dutifully pasted their Green Stamps into pocket-size booklets and, when finished, exchanged them for items listed in a catalog showing the number of stamps required to redeem them. Indeed, S&H Green Stamps were reportedly so popular in the 1960s that, in some years, more of them were issued than U.S. postage stamps.

S&H Green Stamps popularly introduced a sort of “game” for retail customers. If you find any, you can still redeem them today. 

In the meantime, the Boy Scouts of America introduced “merit badges,” complete with a broad sash to recognize individual achievement. Continuing today, Boy Scout merit badges cover 135 categories of learning experiences. The Girl Scouts have also employed badges to display achievements and experiences. Analogously, one of the fundamental components of gamification for occupational training today is the awarding of “badges.”

So, too, in gamification, there is routinely a “leaderboard” displaying achievement levels and progress bars. Gamification crops up in many industries and forms, including “rewards” for customers’ purchases, the coded score a cashier immediately receives for the speed of a checkout or badges awarded on a smart watch for exercising.

What caught our attention recently was the extraordinary way that one leading company has, in a short number of months, created a great deal of excitement by applying gamification to a training program on wireless lighting controls for electrical contractors.

How does this relate to training?

Lutron Electronics, Coopersburg, Pa., rolled out its new “Vive Skilled” training program in fall 2022. Powered by gamification that will delight its target audience—younger workers—Vive Skilled will convey career-building skills that anyone who enrolls can effectively add to their personal tool kit.

In addition to the strength of its foundation in gamification, Vive Skilled meets a host of criteria that young workers value most, according to surveys. It begins with a 4-hour, in-person session, followed by online and on-demand segments. And, yes, there are badges and other bits of recognition all along the way.

In our relentless advocacy of service and maintenance, we have always looked at wireless lighting controls as an unappreciated and untapped source of retrofit business with unending possibilities. By offering training on wireless lighting controls with such an innovative mindset, Lutron has unlocked a door that we have been hoping to see swing open for a long time.

Linda Backo, senior manager of training and services at Lutron Electronics, helped us put this into perspective.

“Contractors are stretched for time,” Backo said. “They’re dealing with manpower and a million other problems. But they value learning.”

And what about that gamification that we have heard so much about?

“Our in-person Vive Skilled course will make you proficient in one of the latest wireless lighting control systems. Complete it and you’ll earn a badge! That opens the door to some great online training available to you whenever you want it—at no cost,” she said.

With its gamification and other great features, how is the program faring?

“The response has been fantastic,” Backo said. “Demand for it continues to grow.”

In a famously astute observation, Henry Ford was credited with saying, “The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.”

Today, with the universal problems of recruiting and retaining talented people for every part of an electrical contracting company—but especially its service and maintenance business unit—a variation on that famous quotation seems more fitting:

“The only thing worse than training your employees is not training them and expecting them to stay.”

A program such as Vive Skilled will solve only a portion of a service-oriented electrical contractor’s training needs, but we can count it for a win.

shutterstock / Ron Leishman