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Genentech – New Manager Roadmap Challenge

Onboarding Gamification

Situation

Genentech needed a more flexible onboarding process for their new managers. Apart from scheduling issues, new managers have a lot to learn, and traditional onboarding could not cover it all effectively. In addition, Genentech wanted new managers to follow best practices over their first year of employment. Genentech needed:

More flexible training delivery, so that new hires would not have to wait for their onboarding training to start.
Time-spaced learning, so content is presented over time instead of in a single learning event.
Systematic way to ensure that managers complete their training.
Ability to reflect new content quickly.

Solution

Digitec designed and produced the New Manager Roadmap Challenge – onboarding game for new managers. The game integrated with Genentech’s Oracle HR platform to automatically enroll new hires into the game. The game also integrated with their intranet, tracking to a leader board to create competition.

Onboarding topics presented as milestones on a 3D map
New managers earned points as they complete milestones
Time-spaced design automatically “unlocks” new neighborhoods over 30, 60, 90 days, 6-months and 1-year
Milestones linked to dynamic content derived from the Genentech intranet to keep the course content up-to-date

Results

The game transformed what was a passive, one-time instructor-led course into a scalable, more engaging and continuous learning experience. The reporting allows supervisors to easily see where new managers are in their journey. These insights can be used for performance reviews.

With roughly 40 new managers hired in or promoted each month, thousands have taken the New Manager Roadmap Challenge since its inception. The following represents some of the feedback from project stakeholders, business line managers, and project reviewers: