(For some nostalgia and to set the mood, here’s the Pokemon theme song for your listening pleasure)
If you asked me three months ago if I ever imagined myself writing an article about Pokemon Go at work, my answer would be an emphatic “NO.” Now, it’s hard to argue with facts: Pokemon Go is prolific.
For those who need a crash course, Pokemon Go is an augmented-reality scavenger hunt that allows players to quest for 151 different types of Pokemon, battle other players and visit ‘training gyms’. The app is already bigger than Tinder, and it’s closing in on Twitter for the number of active users. And yes, that means your workplace is probably crawling with Zubats and Rattatas. Lucky you.
The game is causing more than a few headaches for human resources professionals and managers. Although no one is expecting mass chaos from Pokemon Go at work, offices are already dealing with lost productivity from employees wandering off to catch the odd critter. Not only that, it’s physically risky as well: Reports abound of people walking in front of cars, trespassing, crashing into trees while driving and leaning dangerously far out of windows.
The mobile nature of the game is most concerning for workplaces, and organisations are approaching the game in different ways.
So you wanna be the very best, like no one ever was?
As with most questions about workplace behaviour, how you approach Pokemon Go at work really boils down to organisational culture.
Some workplaces – especially those with public-facing roles or more conservative workplace cultures – are taking a hard-line approach. The most common reasons for banning the game are concerns about employer liability and lost productivity.
Stories about employees who have lost their job, or almost lost their job, thanks to Pokemon Go have started to appear. One Reddit user who works for an IT company described how he was almost fired after using his phone’s camera function to to track Pokemon in his office. His employer thought he was taking photos, something that was forbidden in the workplace given the sensitive nature of the work the company does.
Another player shared an image of the warning he found on his desk one morning, which has since gone viral: “We are paying you to work, not chase fictional video game characters with your cell phone all day,” it reads. “Save it for your break time or lunch. Otherwise you’ll have plenty of time unemployed to ‘Catch them all’.”
And Boeing sent around a memo to all staff after a close call involving an employee who was distracted while playing. Although the nature of the near-miss hasn’t been revealed, the image of a Pokemon hanging out on a runway comes to mind. Boeing has since banned the game from all company devices.
I will travel across the land, searching far and wide
That last example illustrates one of the major concerns for workplaces: If a worker is injured while playing Pokemon Go at work, is the employer liable in any way? Laws vary from state to state, but employers in Queensland are especially vulnerable, says Kristin Ramsey in a blog post about the phenomenon.
“In Queensland, employees are generally entitled to worker’s compensation if they are injured whilst traveling to or from work, or during authorised breaks from work … the employment does not need to be a contributing factor to the injury,” she writes.
Pokemon, oh you’re my best friend
Some places, however, are approaching the game from a different angle. For workplaces that are a bit more casual, or that have a critical mass of people all playing the game, it can become a tool to build team morale. One employee in the US describes how his workplace created a special Slack group so he and his co-workers could coordinate some capture time together.
Maxwell Renke, a project manager at the University of New Hampshire’s InterOperability Laboratory, says employers should embrace the game rather than fight it.
“It gets people up and away from their desks, walking around; the strong social aspect can’t be understated,” he says. “I think employers should put guidelines in place to discourage people from constantly getting distracted … but still foster the community that has sprung up so rapidly.”
You teach me, and I’ll teach you
The Society for Human Resource Management in the US has these tips for workplaces swarmed by Pokemon Masters-in-training:
- Review employee handbook policies about playing computer or phone games while at work. If you provide employees with company devices, speak with the IT department about controlling the purchase of the app.
- Implement a distracted driving policy, especially for company cars and employees who commute to work.
- Set rules about social networking in the workplace.
- Apply policies consistently to avoid claims of condoning or permitting the activity.
The general rule seems to be treat the game like a personal phone call: It’s permissible as long as it doesn’t interfere with or distract from work, and you aren’t getting up every five minutes or taking two-hour lunch breaks.
But most of all, it comes down to common sense. You can’t always control whether or not employees play Pokemon at work, but when they’re on the clock you can remind them to use their heads and think twice before chasing a Pikachu across the road.
Pokemon Go is a free app!