TL;DR – Gamification in 5 Bullet Points

Staff earn points for being on time or completing work on time: 3 points for on time, 1 for late, 0 for missed.
Each on-time action contributes to a Hot Streak. The longer the streak, the higher the score multiplier.
Each shift or work item's score is individually boosted by the Hot Streak.
At the end of the month, total points are divided by the number of items completed to create a fair average.
This average is used to rank teams on the leaderboard—rewarding consistency, not just volume of work.

Why consistency is harder in hospitality

Hospitality is a tough environment for consistency:

Staff turnover is high
Teams are young, often in their first jobs
Pay is low and incentives are limited
Managers are stretched and can't supervise everything
Culture is often verbal, with little written down

👉 I've written a more in-depth article on the problem here.

In this kind of environment, relying on checklists and good intentions doesn't cut it. You need a system that makes expectations visible, makes follow-through easy, and builds habits through feedback.

In this article, I'll explain how we've built a fair gamification system which increases accountability and engagement in your processes.

Why we needed to create our own gamification algorithm

Gamifying work sounds simple: give people points for doing things well.
But in hospitality, it's not that easy.

When we first explored gamification, we quickly ran into problems that most other industries don't face. Hospitality teams are messy in all the ways that make gamification hard to get right and even harder to keep fair.

Here's what we were up against:

Challenge	Why it matters
Teams are of different sizes	Some teams are two people, others are twenty. A system that rewards total output would always favour larger teams, so smaller teams would feel like they can't be recognised and might stop caring.
Some teams are busier than others	Front of house might have dozens of short shifts. Kitchen teams might have fewer shifts but more work tasks. Back office teams might only do a few things a week. We needed a way to make all these rhythms count equally.
Some users only use shifts, others only use work	Some teams use Pilla to schedule shifts and record clock-ins. Others use it to track daily tasks like opening checklists or fridge logs. Many use both. Our system had to work for any combination and reward teams fairly, no matter which features they used.
Staff come and go	With high turnover, we couldn't base team scores on individual staff or long-term tracking. We needed to focus on team performance month by month, so everyone can contribute right away and see results quickly.
Habits are what matter most	We weren't just trying to reward one-off success. We wanted to build consistency—the kind of reliability that comes from showing up, getting things done, and doing them well every day.

That's why we built our own gamification algorithm.

It rewards punctuality and task completion.
It adjusts for different team sizes and workloads.
It works whether you're using shifts, work, or both.
And it encourages habits by rewarding momentum.

Gamification Part 1: The Points System

At the heart of the gamification system is a simple rule:
Do the right thing, at the right time, and your team earns more points.

Here's how it works:

Status	Meaning	Points
✅ On time	Staff clock in or complete a work activity on time	3 points
⚠️ Late	Staff clock in late or complete a work activity late	1 point
❌ Missed	Staff don't clock in at all or don't complete a work activity	0 points

This scoring method applies equally across shifts and work activities.

Why We Chose This System

Clarity for Staff – Teams often change fast. New starters, part-timers, and temps need to understand instantly. 3-1-0 is as easy as it gets.
Encourages Improvement – A late clock-in still earns some points, which avoids a "zero or nothing" mindset.
Supports Team Accountability – Every action contributes to a shared team total, building a "we" mindset.
Baseline for Progress – This lays the foundation for streaks and leaderboards.

Gamification Part 2: Hot Streak Boosts

Great teams aren't perfect occasionally—they're consistently good.
That's what Hot Streaks reward.

A Hot Streak = doing the same thing repeatedly.

When a team is consistently on time and finishing their work on time, they're on a roll—and that momentum should be rewarded.

Hot Streaks will:

Encourage good habits, not just isolated wins
Give teams a clear goal to chase ("let's keep the streak alive")
Make performance visible in a motivating way
Create positive peer pressure—no one wants to break it

Inside Pilla, teams build two types of streaks:

Type	How it works
Shift Hot Streaks	+1 when a team member clocks in on time
Work Hot Streaks	+1 when work is finished on time

How the Hot Streak Boost Works

Every time a team completes a shift or task on time, their streak grows.
The higher the streak, the bigger the boost.

Examples:

Streak of 5 → 1.05× multiplier → score of 3 becomes 3.15
Streak of 10 → 1.10× multiplier → score of 3 becomes 3.3

👉 Only on-time completions count. Late or missed resets the streak.

Gamification Part 3: Average Scores

Not all teams are the same size or workload.
So instead of total points (which favours bigger teams), we use monthly averages.

How it's calculated:

Each shift/work activity gets a base score (3, 1, or 0).
Each base score is multiplied by the streak boost (if any).
The total score for the month is divided by the number of items completed.

Example:

FOH team completes 80 activities
Total points earned = 190
Average = 190 ÷ 80 = 2.38

Leaderboard score = 2.38

Working Example

Here's what 10 shifts + 10 work activities might look like:

Activity	Type	Result	Base Points	Streak	Boost	Points Earned
Shift 1	Shift	On time	3	1	1.01	3.03
Shift 2	Shift	On time	3	2	1.02	3.06
Shift 3	Shift	On time	3	3	1.03	3.09
Shift 7	Shift	Late	1	0	1.00	1.00
Shift 9	Shift	Missed	0	0	1.00	0.00
Total						62.4
Monthly Average						3.12

👉 This 3.12 average is what goes on the leaderboard.

How Gamification Works in Pilla (3 steps)