Don’t Push Employees to Change Their Behavior, Nudge Them

• Every decision we make is informed by biases and heuristics, but they are a double-edged sword. They enable people to make quick and intuitive decisions but also lead to rash and misinformed choices.
• Biases and heuristics are of particular concern in an organizational context since misinformed or suboptimal decisions made by employees can have a significant impact on organizational outcomes.
• Nudges, a behavioral science tool, alter the environment and context that decisions are made in to encourage better decision making. However, HR’s use of nudges has been limited due to its perceived complexity.
• The reality is nudges are not new. HR professionals have been using nudges without even realizing it. But by taking an informed, measurable approach, HR can stop guessing and start reporting on the effectiveness of their nudge interventions.