Nudging better behaviours at work - Your Natural Progression

As a leader or manager, despite your level of authority, it is likely that at some point you have pondered on how to introduce change less painfully in your work environment. So have I. Over the years I have learnt more and more about nudging and its immense benefits in the workplace, which I want to share with you.

Nudging means gently influencing others to move towards a certain desirable behaviour or outcome. A nudge is anything that is used to steer our choices and decisions towards what is desirable. However, nudges are small changes but with incredible ability to change behaviour in a big way. For example, staff can be nudged to eat healthier by limiting the number of non-healthy options available at workplace cafés.

True nudging allows the person being nudged complete freedom to do or not to do what is being recommended by the person doing the nudging. Importantly, there are no repercussions (e.g. penalty or punishment) for choosing not to be nudged towards a certain outcome. For example, staff that choose non-healthy options at the workplace café will not have to pay more for them.

Who is involved in nudging?

A ‘nudger’ is the person doing the nudging. The person steers others towards a certain direction by influencing how and what people decide to do. A nudger normally has a goal in mind, which is often behaviour change. The nudger then designs ways to influence people to make decisions, choices and actions leading to the targeted behaviour. You may not know it, but you probably are a nudger, or you will have met one today. Examples include nutritionists, doctors, teachers, managers, web designers, parents, sales agents, mortgage brokers, mentors, corporations, religious leaders, government and even friends and family. A good example of a community of nudgers is Instagram.

A ‘nudgee’ is the person being nudged or steered towards a certain direction. We’ve all been there. Examples include savers, students, children, shoppers, buyers, followers (social media or religion), employees, citizens, patients, among others.

The above examples may imply that nudgers always have positions of authority over nugdees – for example, as a parent does over a child or a doctor over a patient. However, this is not always the case. Nudging can be done by those with seemingly little or no authority. For example, patients can give feedback to the doctor and change the course of treatment or the doctor’s behaviour.

Does nudging influence behaviour better?

Change is a fact of life. But all too often change is associated with pain or much difficulty. We know that the change process needs to be made less painful if it is to succeed. Nudging is a more gentle approach to bringing about changes to behaviour, both big and small. It is subtle in its ways but powerful in delivering sustainable change. Nudging works because people find it easy and beneficial to do as suggested. This ease also means that the small changes in behaviour can be done long enough for them to take hold as habits, and good habits as it were.

Is nudging always voluntary?

Yes, following a nudge is always a choice. Nudging does not use coercion or manipulation. People should always be allowed to make their own choices, even when they make not-so-good ones. Nudging respects this and only serves to guide people towards making certain choices that are beneficial without forcing them to.

However, sometimes people are not aware that they have been nudged towards a certain direction, behaviour, or outcome. Also, unfortunately nudging can be used to exploit others.

These realities raise questions around the ethics of nudging and whether nudging others is always a good thing. As such, caution needs to be exercised by the nudgers to ensure integrity and accountability. People should always be made aware that they have a choice. Nudgers should also remember bad nudges, like PPI – Payment Protection Insurance, often come back to bite.

Is there a difference between nudging, advertising, and incentivising?

Short answer is yes. Although these are all forms of influencing, a good way to distinguish between them is to ask, “who profits predominantly?”. If the advertiser or the person giving the incentive stands to gain the lion share of the gains, then that is unlikely to be a nudge. Nudging does not use any form of financial or nonfinancial reward to influence/change people’s behaviour.

Incentives and advertising can be costly while nudging can be done cheaply and even cost-free. For example, offering staff free breakfast till 8.30am to incentivise early arrival to work has a cost, while encouraging staff who start early to leave early has no cost at all.

Also, conformity to behaviour because of incentives and advertising often stops when the incentive or messaging stops. In this regard the behaviour change was temporary and unsustainable. Nudges on the other hand are choices people want to make and are not dependent on stimuli such as incentives. Consequently, nudges become easier to convert into habits that stick.

Incentives are probably easier to come up with compared to nudges, which require some creativity and a good understanding of human behaviour. Depending on your level of responsibility, a degree in Behavioural Science can be a worthwhile investment to help you understand, predict and influence human behaviour. However, most people will not require this level of knowledge and a bit of functional understanding may be sufficient.

Examples of nudging you might already know of:

Nudging can be applied anywhere. From academia to finance to workplaces to social relationships. It is a powerful strategy of influencing decisions and behaviour.

Some examples from the UK:

Improved healthy eating in London: In 2019 the Mayor of London banned the advertising of junk food in London’s public transport. Three years later a study found this move helped to reduce the consumption of unhealthy foods across the Transport for London network. Similarly, positioning healthy food options near supermarket entrances has had healthy eating effects. Also note, if you have a supermarket loyalty card, the offers you receive every so often aim to nudge you to buy certain things.

Energy saving: Smart Meters in the UK help to save energy by letting energy users see how much energy they are using, when and where in their home the most energy is being consumed. This has nudged lots of people to look for ways to reduce wasteful consumption.

Automatic enrolment to workplace pension: Previously people used to be required to opt into their workplace pensions. Now most people are automatically enrolled into their workplace pension but have the option to opt out. Most people never opt out, which has led to a huge increase in the number of people saving for the future. However, not all automatic enrolments benefit us – think of a trial subscription that you may have forgotten to cancel or opt out of.

Organ donation: In England all adults are automatically enrolled as organ donors unless they opt out or fall in an excluded group. This law took effect in March 2020. Again, most people have not opted out.

Abandoned shopping basket reminders: Have you been nudged via email reminders to complete a purchase that you may have abandoned after putting some items in your online shopping basket. Also have you also noticed how keen some online retailers are in nudging you to order right away because only one or two items are left in stock?

Stars for young learners: Most of us will have worked terribly hard to get one from our teachers. We didn’t have to, but the sticky little stars have a way of nudging young learners to put in some effort when learning.

Product reviews: Have you noticed how much reviews from other people influence your decision to buy a product or service? Apparently, we do not like to feel like we are missing out or to go against the status quo.

Beyond the UK, nudging is being used successfully all over the world. Very interestingly, nudging was used at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands to reduce problematic “spillage” in men’s urinals. Even Sub-Saharan Africa has nudged its people to send girls to school through this tune. More examples are in the USA and Denmark.

Does nudging at work influence better behaviour?

We spend a considerable amount of time in the workplace, which means change will constantly be required to make it an environment that is healthy and productive for staff and any customers.

Nudging has been used at work to:

Solve problems.
Bring about changes to behaviour e.g. healthy eating at work, stress management etc.
Reduce frustration caused by distractions and disruptions at work.
Increase ability to focus and reduce costly errors.
Reduce waste. We all hate losses.
Increase productivity through nudging higher levels of performance.
Create a more responsive workplace. Messages based on an understanding of human behaviour are more effective.
Create value for staff and customers by nudging them to deliver or give feedback.
Promote a greener workplace by nudging more environmentally friendly behaviours.
Simplify choices which reduces inertia and feelings of being overwhelmed. In that sense it promotes mental wellbeing at work.
Create beneficial habits and sustainable change. After a while nudges become habits and the change becomes sustainable.
Get people out of a bad routine. Nudges are easy to follow and can give people better alternatives. For example, swapping caffeinated coffee with decaf can help some people reduce their caffeine intake.

How to nudge effectively

First, here are some principles for effective nudging:

Keep it simple: For nudging to succeed, the desired behaviour or outcome needs to be presented as the easiest, most attractive, or most natural option/choice. In other words, make it easy for people to do the thing you need them to do. Remember we have loads to do and our brains are often overwhelmed. For example, if getting to work is challenging for staff, offering a pickup transport service to and from the nearest transport station might help to nudge employees to be at work on time.
Uphold freedom of choice and other freedoms: Unlike coercion and other manipulative tactics of influence, nudging fully respects people’s freedom of choice. For example, the HR department might decide to promote better mental health at work. To this end you are all encouraged to practice 10 minutes of mindfulness through an email sent out to all staff every day at 11am. You can choose to participate for your own good. However, choosing not to do it should not get you into any trouble with your managers. If it does, that means mindfulness is not a nudge but an obligation upon staff. Effective nudging respects all other freedoms too, including freedom of expression, speech, etc.
Understand human behaviour: Effective nudging is based on a good understanding of human behaviour, including how people make decisions. Understand that we are all predominantly irrational, habitual, terrible at losing, unrealistically optimistic and prone to inertia. We also like mental shortcuts, simplicity and conforming to the status quo. Against this background, appreciate that nudges that are too different to how humans behave are likely to fail. Learn more about human behaviours and how to design nudges around them. Notably, nudging has its roots in Behavioural Science, Psychology and Economics but it is applicable to all areas of life.

Nudging at work to influence better behaviour

Step 1: Asses the problem that needs changing

Establish the problematic or challenging behaviours that you want to change.
Find data or evidence to help you fully understand the problem as well as the impact it has in the workplace – for example on productivity, morale, customers etc.
Frame the problem clearly and simply. For example, 50% of staff fail to submit their timesheets on time resulting in problems in processing salaries and accounting.

Step 2: Determine the vision and strategy for change

Define the change you want to see in the problematic behaviours.
Determine if nudging is the most appropriate strategy for influencing the change you want. There will be times when nudging is least ideal. In such cases, educating people and allowing them to make an informed choice would have better outcomes. For example, a career adviser may provide information on possible career options but leave it to the students to make a choice.
Simplify the vision. Although people prefer lots of choices, the reality is that numerous or complex options are overwhelming and tend to paralyse them. This is perfectly explained by the Paradox of Choice. When visioning, consider simplicity.
Determine some performance measures for the behaviour change. What will success look like?
Consider in which ways technology could be helpful. For example, most staff will already have smart phones – are there apps that you can use to nudge their behaviour?

Step 3: Design the nudges

Understand and appreciate human behaviour e.g. we hate losses and complexity. Aim to model your nudges around how people actually behave and not on ideal forms of behaviour.
Design and develop some simple nudges towards targeted behaviour. For example, a few years ago I worked at a place where the Payroll office would always send out email reminders every Friday afternoon reminding us to complete our timesheets on time. If not, we risked delayed pay or no pay at all.
Keep nudges simple but be creative where possible. Do some research to see what best practice is out there. Think of Schiphol Airport’s innovative nudge.
Carry out a Cost Benefit Analysis or a SWOT analysis for each nudge.
Make it easy for people to choose the nudged behaviour. People are busy so make it easy for them to do what you want them to. For example, the automatic enrolment of staff into the workplace pension scheme has made it super easy for more staff to be part of the scheme as not much is required on their part to join.

Step 4: Test the nudges

Test the changes on a small number of people or for a short period of time.
Gather data and insight. Also, ask for feedback.
Review the data and results. Remember not all nudges are good or lead to the targeted behaviour.
Make improvements where needed.

Step 5: Roll-out the nudges

Promote the changes to staff. Consider promotional campaigns or simple emails and posters, etc.
Introduce and implement the nudges.
Encourage and support staff to adopt the nudges. For example, visualisation of progress made always helps e.g. let it be known the percentage of staff that have completed their staff on time…or better still how many staff may not get paid because they failed to submit their timesheet.
Make the benefits clear and easy for staff to see. Even better, show them how much loss has been prevented.
Nudging is powerful, so do it ethically. Have the right intentions, be open, transparent, and accountable. Remind people their compliance with the change is beneficial but not mandatory.

Step 6: Measure adoption and impact

Gather data and insight. Ask for feedback regularly.
Review the results of the nudges regularly against your success measures.
Make improvements to the nudges if necessary.
Encourage people to share ideas and suggestions for improvement or simplification.
Feedback to staff on the behaviour change and benefits
Document the changes and enjoy an improved work environment
Apply nudging at home, school or in your social life…

In conclusion this article looked at what nudging is, who is involved in nudging, and it’s benefits in behaviour change. Also included is the difference between nudging and other influencing methods such as advertising and incentivising. The article also looked at some fascinating examples of nudging that may or not be obvious to most people and the applicability of nudging to the workplace. It ended by highlighting five simple steps to take when nudging behaviour change at work.

Useful resources and links