Gamification in the field of remuneration

Let's play on your paycheck

Today I want to talk about gamification. On Habré there were already articles about the interface, startups and the very principles and approaches to the reception. Some companies fully or partially apply gamification in sales. I want to draw attention to the internal processes in our web studio and talk about how we have introduced gamification in the accounting of working time and payroll system.

How it all began

I think that it is worth starting with a more global question that periodically arises in any studio, and goes online to the holivar - “Fix or piece?”. Naturally, there is no definitive answer to this question, and it all depends on the business processes in the studio, and sometimes on the worldview of the manager. I, in the early stages of the studio’s development, decided that we would have a piece of work, because “Whoever works more, eats more”. Until now, I think this is the most compelling argument in favor of a flexible s / n.

I will not list the very first system of charging, because they are more like office freelancing, which is not surprising, since the first 1 - 1.5 years we took orders mainly from freelancing. Then, the situation has changed and it was necessary to change the approach to pay. The last model we used looked like this:

• The employee had a fixed minimum (n p.);
• All tasks were evaluated in a point system, depending on the complexity and timing, as a rule, 1 working day “cost” 0.5 points;
• The employee had a plan, depending on the position (m points per month);
• If the employee did not fulfill the plan, then he received a minimum fix;
• If an employee exceeded the plan (he gained M points for the month), he received a minimum fix + bonus calculated by the formula (Mm) xZ, where Z is the value of one exceeded score;

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For example, the programmer Vasya has a minimum fix of 40 000 rub., The plan is 8 points and the cost of the overfulfilled score is 4 000 rub. In the month there are 22 working days, of which 19 days Vasya made projects with an estimate of 0.5 point per 1 working day, and 3 days of rules bugs. In this case, Vasya's salary will be:

((19 x 0.5 + 3 x 0) - 8) x 4 000r. + 40 000 rub. = 46 000 rub.

Figures taken from the ceiling for clarity.

This approach has a number of advantages:

• Vasya is profitable to make projects more qualitatively, so that later he will not correct the bugs.
• How many have gained, and got so much

and cons:

• Programmer Petya came, who works slower than Vasya and gets at least the same salary.
• Programmer Peter is a sophomore of the institute, and Vasya has 10 years of experience, but the minimum fix is ​​the same
• Petya is not interested in his own development in order to participate in more complex projects, since the project is more difficult, and the salary is the same.

As a result, it turns out that although the salary depends on production, the professional growth of employees is not stimulated in any way and the employees of obviously different professional level have the same minimum fix.

Targets and goals

In November of 2012, I decided to optimize the payroll system and structure it according to the importance of achieving the goal, which should be achieved after its implementation.

1. Honest salary. The most important task. The employee should receive as much tenge as he really earned;
2. Transparency. When calculating salaries, in no case should there be a black box effect;
3. Stimulation of advanced training;
4. Loyalty to the studio as a whole;
5. Prediction salary. One of the sores belonging to the first systems, when an employee could hit a jackpot in one month and suck a paw on the other;
6. Career growth. There should be a clear understanding of when a person can claim to be promoted and under what conditions;
7. Socialist competition and comparison of the length of the skill.

Theoretical model

Having prescribed these goals for myself, I reconciled with the fact that the calculation system will be very cumbersome from the point of view of calculations, so the eighth task was added - to move as far as possible from manual calculation and automate everything that is possible.

Minimum fix

It is logical to assume that the longer the experience of the employee, the more effective his work, and it is more valuable for the studio (there are exceptions, but in general, the dependence is directly proportional). It remains for us only to calculate how much Vasya is more effective than Petit and what difference they should have in the minimum fix. I approached this issue based on the fact that all the work performed is assessed in our points, which means that the amount of all the work done by this or that employee can be calculated.

It turns out something like RPG: I gained 20 points - get the 3rd level and the minimum fix is ​​15,000 rubles, I gained 100 - 10th level and 30,000.

Bonus and odds

In general, the system of norms for the month should remain the same, however, it is necessary to introduce appropriate factors that would stimulate work in complex projects and contribute to the fulfillment of tasks before the deadline. For evaluation, I divided the projects into project ones (website design development) and support trivia (draw a static banner) and highlighted the following factors:



Thus, the design tasks are assessed before the actual execution, and the support ones are on the fact of execution at the rate of 0.5 points per working day. For design factors, coefficients (surcharges) for complexity, problems in understanding with the customer can be added and a speed bonus applies.

This speed bonus is valid if completed before the deadline (for example, the 15% bonus to the total points for the project is charged 15% before the deadline), or, if the deadline is broken by more than 20%, the following amount is deducted 20%. If the deadline is broken by less than 20%, then the coefficient is not applied (these 20% are put into the deadline, which is voiced by the customer).

For understanding, consider a few examples.

1. Vasya needs to do a support task, which he estimated at 12 o'clock
Vasya will get (12/8) * 0.5 = 0.75 points
Everything is simple here - how much time I spent, I got so many points.

2. Vasya needs to create complex site layouts for a loyal customer, and instead of 100 working hours he fits into 83.
Vasya will receive (100/8) * 0.5 * 1.05 (difficulty) * 1 (loyalty) * 1.17 (time) = 7.68 points
In this case, first the standard number of points (100/8) * 0.5 = 6.25 is calculated and an amendment is made to complexity and surrender ahead of time. Since the client does not cause problems, the coefficient is equal to one.

3. Vasya needs to create complex site layouts for a very picky customer, and instead of 100 working hours, he breaks the deadline and makes 127.
Vasya will receive (100/8) * 0.5 * 1.05 (difficulty) * 1.15 (loyalty) * 0.8 (time) = 6.04 points
Here, the client brought Vasya many problems when coordinating and Vasya, being upset, did a lot of bugs, thereby disrupting the deadline by more than 20%. Although Vasya received a surcharge for both the complexity and the inadequacy of the customer, the broken deadline greatly reduced the number of points.

4. Vasya needs to create simple site layouts for a standard customer, and instead of 100 working hours, he spends 113.
Vasya will receive (100/8) * 0.5 * 1 (difficulty) * 1.07 (loyalty) * 1 (time) = 6.69 points
In this case, there is no difficulty for Vasya, the customer doesn’t hurt Vasya very much and Vasya is in the “spare” 20% of the time.

From theory to practice

The system was very cumbersome, however, all the logic was programmed in Excel, it remained only to make the original data. We took 4 months for testing - from January to April. The essence of the test was that the actual salary was charged in the old manner, but at the same time a log of calculations was also made using the new system.

After analyzing all the information and feedback from the staff at the end of April, the decision was made at the studio management’s meeting ... that all this is complete garbage. Actually, everyone liked the idea on paper and solved all the goals that were set, but we spent just an impermissible amount of time on estimating and calculating the coefficients, even taking into account that the overwhelming number of operations were programmed. In addition, there was a problem in assessing the complexity and loyalty of the customer. “By what percentage is TukhloRybSnab loyal to DyroShin? And why?".

Another important problem is the failure of the deadline of more than 20%. Economically, the logic is correct - “I missed the deadlines? Get fine! ” But in fact, a person is already morally exhausted by this project (deadlines are not just being broken down), and if this also affects his salary, then the mood for further work will be lower than the baseboard, and this studio is not profitable.

It's not so bad

Despite the fact that we did not launch the entire system, one very important point was taken from it - the calculation of fix depending on experience. Now each employee has his own level, his own number of points earned, and he himself can estimate how much work he needs to do to raise his salary.

In addition, we decided that every working day, regardless of the complexity of the current project, will be estimated at 0.5 points, and if the employee leads a clearly heavy project, then after the project is completed, he can be stimulated with an additional bonus / weekend / gift / diploma, etc. d.

There remains the question of how to count the experience of new employees whom we arrange for ourselves in the company. It would not be fair to put them "0" if a person is already experienced and ready to solve complex problems. We decided to follow the simplest path - after a month of probation. the director or art director will determine the starting level of the new employee from his own subjective assumptions.

Returning to the original tasks

1. Honest salary. The problem is solved completely and the principles are preserved;
2. Transparency. So far, none of the employees have had problems with the calculation of their own salaries or their accrual schemes;
3. Stimulation of advanced training. There was a direct dependence of participation in complex projects and receiving bonuses;
4. Loyalty to the studio as a whole. We decided that loyalty should not be bought and closed this question by constant joint activities;
5. Prediction salary. See p.2;
6. Career growth. We have created a career growth table. Each employee sees how much he still needs to work to raise the question of his own promotion;
7. Socialist competition. Petya wants to receive just like Vasya? Let him work outside the classroom and quickly get Vasin level;
8. The complexity of the calculations. Actually, there is no difficulty left. Employees fill in the daily time sheet of working time (2 minutes a day) and see what salary they will receive at the end of the month and whether there will be a minimal fix level;

I would like to hear feedback about the proposed scheme. How does gaming work in your studios, KPI?