Millennials dream of a nurturing, enjoyable workplace

Mindset & vision – let’s start from here

We want to transform the work environment into the place where people are happy, they play and they develop.

Why focusing on work environment ?

Work is a big part of our lives. We are under the illusion that we pay with money but I believe everything we pay for, we pay with time. Would you like some candy ? That’s probably several minutes of work. Need an urgent cab to the other part of the city ? Few hours of work it is. Gift for a friend ? That should be around 1 day of work. New clothes ? Let’s approximate that to one week of work. Summer holiday for a week ? That should be around one month of work… for two ? Let’s make it three. And from here numbers become bigger and bigger… wanna buy a car ? An apartment ? Costs of living for a new family member ? The equation is quite simple, you need or want things, you have to work to be able to get them. Well… in most cases. But for these in particular, life makes work a mandatory activity. And, if you do the math, this mandatory activity defines half of our lives.

I don’t know about you but I feel like I’m constantly surrounded by people and, after a certain age, one of the hot topics we discuss is work. Seems to me that too few of these people actually like their work life. In most cases, it’s just a thing they have to do so they can afford stuff and experiences they desire or were told to desire for the rest of the day, weekends and holiday, not realizing that a happy life should also include that 8 hours of work.

Now, just to clarify this, we don’t intend to design a world where people don’t have to work at all. (This may come as a shocker for some, but we believe work is the strongest part of our development and growth as human being and can be a good thing.) Instead, we want to redesign work environment so “that place where I have to go because they pay me and I need the money” becomes “that place where I develop in a playful and happy environment”, that place which fulfils me professionally, where I grow as a person, where I enjoy going 5 days a week, where together with my colleagues I build relevant stuff for this world and, nonetheless, where it’s fun.

Is this idealistic or achievable ?

We certainly believe it’s achievable, and we’re already changing this work perspective as we speak using gamification, including ours. But don’t take us for granted, just picture this for a second

• A workplacewhere your so called tasks are quests in your personal journey 
• A workplace where your accomplishments are acknowledged and rewarded 
• A workplace where you understand the vision and values of the organization and are part of your growth and aspirations 
• A workplace where you feel you’re part of something bigger and understand why you’re doing what you do, apart from the cash 
• A workplace where you understand and see that your work matters and makes a difference 
• A workplace where it’s fun and you enjoy frequent 
• A workplace where you barely feel time going but you strongly feel developing 

And the list can go on. What gamification does in this situation is transforming the motivators of working into playing while keeping the responsibility needed for any professional.

In few words, adding another layer (gamification) on top can make a person change perspective. How ? By making boring tasks challenging quests and overcoming them part of personal development, by encouraging and praising healthy behaviors and creating this environment where building up your character translates in growing as professional and becoming better at your job, all this while having fun as an entire group (organisation).
So here’s a thought for the end, take 5 minutes and imagine a world where people choose their jobs based on how and what they want to develop and are asking the employers about fun, colleagues and environment.

Playful Team