Nudge
in your workplace
how to effectively
(and subtly) transform behaviors
The Nudge?
Nudge is a theory from the behavioral sciences that suggests encouraging an individual to act, without ever seeking to coerce him or her.
Its use is winning over more and more companies, convinced by its effectiveness in changing behavior, its immediate acceptance, its low cost and its perfect response to CSR issues.
With NUDGE YOUR TEAM! the CBR Team Building agency introduces your employees to the concept of Nudge in 1h30. After an introduction to Nudge, backed up by real-life examples, participants will be divided into teams and introduced to the practice of Nudge in the workplace through game-based workshops.
So if you’re intrigued by Nudge, if you’re wondering about its effectiveness in business, or if you’re simply curious to discover this new concept, come and do it under the best conditions with Nudge your Team!
Key points
Nudge theory aims to guide behavior in a predictable way, while preserving the individual’s free will.
The fields of application of Nudge are vast for HR, Communication and Management departments, but it is effective at all levels of the company: increasing productivity, encouraging energy saving, preventing accidents, combating absenteeism, stimulating creativity, but also encouraging recycling, encouraging sustainable eating and reducing food waste, proposing concrete initiatives and sports incentive programs…
By subtly influencing employee behavior, Nudge is proving to be a fundamental tool for improving the human side of business.
Ready to Nudge your business?
What is Nudge?
Nudge is a theory from the behavioral sciences that suggests encouraging an individual to act or modify his or her behavior, without trying to coerce him or her with a directive discourse.
The foundations of Nudge: from theory to practice
Nudge theory, developed by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, aims to influence behavior in a predictable way without prohibiting options or changing individuals’ economic motivations. Nudge operates through small interventions in the environment that encourage beneficial decision-making, exploiting individuals’ cognitive biases to guide their decisions without constraining them.
However, although designed to positively influence behavior, Nudge can be perceived as a form of manipulation using individuals’ cognitive flaws, raising ethical questions about the legitimacy of influencing people’s free will. This is why the notion of transparency of intentions, inherent to Nudge, must be taken into account when developing strategies based on it.
Cognitive biases
Do human beings make decisions rationally? The answer is in the question! Yes, we are influenced by others, by our emotions, by associations of ideas… So it’s not enough to be convinced to change your behavior. The proof is in the fact that you still automatically accept cookies from websites without a second thought! But the good news is that behavioral science has shown that irrationality is not insurmountable.
In this age of immediacy and rapid decision-making, with all kinds of demands on our time, it’s hard to make decisions or change behavior. Our brains take deceptive shortcuts – cognitive biases. By being aware of these decision-making mechanisms, we can anticipate them and encourage behavioral change.
That’s where Nudge (and CBR) come in !
5 stars? Of course!
If you doubt this rating, you’re right. These stars are one of the trust badges used in e-commerce to encourage purchases. These sites also play on our cognitive biases, just like Nudge, but without the ethics involved, and are therefore known as Nudge Marketing. In this case, the information given is intended to manipulate, unlike Nudge, which is transparent (and does not encourage purchase).
CSR and HR applications
The targets and areas of intervention are numerous: improving safety in the workplace (e.g. fall simulation workshop, harnessing), combating discrimination, obesity and smoking, choosing supplementary pension schemes, protecting the environment and reducing waste, influencing the mechanics of choosing between one behavior and another… Nudge is the perfect answer to the problems faced by HR departments (talent management, onboarding…) and CSR departments (highlighting objectives, green nudge…).
To become involved in CSR initiatives, employees need to understand the company’s stakes and objectives, and the benefits that CSR can bring them. With Nudge, it’s possible to play on the influence of the group ( social norm bias) to get people to adopt the desired behavior by placing the relative information at a relevant time and place, it’s possible to highlight the message ( salience bias) to encourage behavior by capturing attention at the moment when the decision needs to be made. Nudges can be used to promote the ecological and social transition, notably through the adoption of everyday eco-gestures.
The applications of Nudge in HR are numerous: supporting digitalization, talent management, recruitment, preventing accidents, reducing absenteeism, increasing productivity, promoting well-being, etc. Nudge makes employees the actors of change. By structuring their environment, Nudge helps them achieve their organizational objectives.
It is capable of transforming the task into fun (setting up playful stages, integrated quizzes on the company’s missions, etc.), playing on the signage (more fluid onboarding with floor paths to the various departments, etc.).
Nudge and business : real examples and application
Nudge is playing an increasingly important role in business. They are deploying strategies designed to steer professional behavior towards greater productivity, notably by meeting deadlines and improving work processes.
We believe that games are an excellent way to learn, and Nudge is no exception. With Nudge your Team! participants create their own Nudges through a series ofexamples andworkshops, under the best possible playful auspices! In our view, the best way to get to grips with this concept is to put it into practice through tried and tested examples. In this introduction to Nudge, we cover a wide range of topics, from the cognitive biases that influence our behavior to the practical uses of Nudge in business, economics, healthcare and more…
Our fun workshops will immerse you as a team in situations enabling each participant to express their ideas and devise an effective response. Will you win the Nudgebel prize?
CBR invites you to discover Nudge!
and have a coffee 🙂
Are you interested in the Nudge concept? If we’ve aroused a bit of your curiosity, then our mission is almost accomplished!
To complete your overview of Nudge your Team! Team Learning, we invite you to join us for a short Nudge workshop at one of our sessions in Paris.
Register on our waiting list using the form below, and when the session is full (around 8 to 10 people) we’ll send you the date, time and place. A great way to discover Nudge, meet new people and see how Nudge can be applied to your business.
CBR offers you a game to discover Nudge!
Some possible uses for Nudge
Nudge to promote energy savings
In the energy sector, companies use nudges to encourage energy-saving behavior. Appliances with predefined energy-saving settings as defaults and the use of graphs and dashboards to visualize energy consumption are concrete examples of Nudges.
Installing motion sensors for lighting in office spaces automatically reduces energy consumption in unoccupied areas. Providing feedback on energy consumption and comparing it with that of other individuals or groups helps motivate people to adopt more sustainable behaviors, thanks to the achievable target and competitive incentive.
Nudge to reduce absenteeism
Absenteeism is a major problem for many companies. Fortunately, Nudges can help combat it. Various Nudge approaches have been identified as effective in reducing absenteeism, such as reminders, symbolic rewards and the creation of an attendance-based corporate culture.
Nudge to stimulate creativity
Stimulating creativity is another area where Nudge has proven its effectiveness. Creating comfortable, well-equipped collaborative spaces can be used as a Nudge to encourage collaboration and stimulate creativity within the workplace.
The use of subscriptions and digital collaboration tools represents a Nudge approach to facilitating idea sharing and promoting innovation. Establishing a norm of idea sharing across all levels of the organization, including senior management, can create an environment open to creativity.
Nudge and responsible consumption
Responsible consumption is a major issue of our time. Nudge, which stems from behavioral economics and has been popularized by the work of Nobel Prize winners, can play an important role in promoting more sustainable consumer behavior.
In real estate, the Nudge approach favors habitats designed to encourage waste sorting and the reduction of energy consumption, the sharing of common environments, the practice of sport, and so on.
Nudge to promote recycling
Recycling is a key behavior for responsible consumption. Nudges can make recycling easier by providing clear instructions and correctly labeling recycling bins.
Reward programs or discounts on waste collection are examples of incentives that can encourage people to recycle more. The use of reminders, such as emails or text messages, can encourage people to recycle more frequently.
Nudge to encourage sustainable eating
Sustainable food is another important aspect of responsible consumption. Transparent labeling of low-CO2 dishes on restaurant menus can encourage consumption of these dishes by creating social pressure and signalling that this is the expected norm. Consumers tend to prefer conscious decision reinforcement, using transparent Nudges in this respect.
Nudge to reduce food waste
Reducing food waste is a major challenge of our time. Seattle has initiated the ‘Food Plus’ program, offering a discount on garbage bills to residents who compost their food waste, thus reducing food waste by 30%.
Nudge your Team: ask for the program
Course of your introduction to the Nudge concept:
1. Introduction to Nudge and the behavioural sciences, discovering Nudge and the behavioural sciences, the limits of Nudge, ethics
2. Method for creating Nudges, identifying the cognitive biases involved, using communication levers to bring about behavioural change
3. Co-creation of Nudges through play, team workshops to design a Nudge based on a given situation.
Interested in Nudge in your company?
Call us on 01 43 21 74 35 and say the magic word “Nudge”!