Increasing employee engagement with digital signage

Engaged employees sitting in front of a desk discussing the company's strategy.

An engaged employee is one who is excited about their job, knows the goals of the company, and has a clear plan for achieving those goals. In addition to these characteristics, an engaged employee works collaboratively with their team members and continuously brings creativity and passion to the firm. They are excited about their job, and they find their role purposeful and motivating.

Sounds ideal, right? Every company wants high levels of employee engagement, and many “talk the talk” when it comes to discussing their desire and need for engaged employees. However, when it comes to actionable strategies and efforts for increasing employee engagement, many companies show up empty-handed.

The issue of disengaged employees is an issue that firms must address – it is prevalent and extremely costly. A recent Gallup Poll finds that only 34% of employees in the United States are engaged in their jobs (an improvement from previous years!). Additionally, another Gallup study estimates that disengaged employees cost the economy between $450 billion to $550 billion per year. So, what can a company do to increase employee engagement among their team members?

In this article, we discuss how companies can use digital signs to increase employee engagement. Deploying digital signage with an integrated communication plan is a real, actionable strategy that firms can use to increase employee engagement. Below we show you what to content to display and the technical details of how to display it.

Why is digital signage a great tool for increasing employee engagement?

First, you may be wondering, What is a digital sign? A digital sign is any display screen or monitor that shows media content. This content can include in-store advertisements, data dashboards, live traffic updates, or a team’s Google Calendar. Check out our page on digital signage use cases to learn more.

One way to think of a digital sign, especially in the corporate office environment, is as a modern-day bulletin board. Instead of pinning up paper print outs of announcements and other messages, teams can now display engaging 1080p Full HD images, videos, and live web page content on a digital screen. Digital signs are a visual communication medium, and with the right content, they can be extremely engaging.

Another positive characteristic of digital signs is that they are a direct communication channel between the company and employees. Everyone can see the same message at the same time. This medium is different from non-direct communication methods where managers and middle-managers pass on a company-wide message to their respective employees. The practice can result in inconsistent messages, rumors, and misunderstandings.

Additionally, a digital sign is a time-efficient communication medium that does not require participation from the message recipient. An employee can simply walk by the digital sign, glance at the content, and go on with their day. This communication method is ideal for displaying simple notices, such as HR updates, or for displaying real-time business data. With digital signs, teams can communicate more efficiently and reduce the amount of time that employees spend in meetings.

What content should teams display on digital signs to increase employee engagement?

To effectively increase employee engagement, teams will need an integrated content plan for their digital signs. Below we list several content ideas and use cases that will help you get the most out of your digital signage deployment.

One content idea is to use digital signs for public recognition of individual and team achievements. Great work needs to be recognized, and it needs to be recognized publicly. This content is sure to make the recognized employee feel valued, and this content may also inspire other employees to go the extra mile on their own tasks.

Even if there is not a huge win or particular achievement, teams can use digital signs to feature team members and projects of various departments within the organization. This content idea is great for large corporations, where one department may rarely interact with another department. Such content can help with team-building and creating a more collaborative work environment.

Another team-building content strategy for digital signage is to display content that features and welcome new employees. This strategy will help create a more friendly work culture, where new employees feel like part of the team rather than like outsiders. This content can feature fun facts or background information on the new employee – the content should be more than just his name, title, and photo! Companies can likewise feature fun facts and background information on company executives to provide a more human element to possibly distant executive leadership.

Tracking, reviewing, and hitting team goals is an essential part of fostering employee engagement, and digital signs can help on this front as well. Teams can use digital signs to display business KPI metrics so that everyone is on the same page regarding the team’s progress. When numbers are on track, teams can celebrate their success. Additionally, when numbers could be improved, teams can work together to identify and solve any issues or roadblocks.

Lastly, companies must build a culture of purpose and mission to keep employees engaged. People need to know not only what they are trying to achieve but also why it is important and who it will impact. To help build this culture, teams can use digital signs to communicate the company’s mission and impact in the world. One way to communicate this message is by displaying customer success stories that feature how the company has improved the customer’s life or business. Additionally, companies can display content features on recent corporate social responsibility efforts or community engagement projects.

As you can see, teams have a wide variety of content strategies that they can implement to have digital signs improve employee engagement. One piece of advice here is that imperfect content that is on your screen is better than half-finished content that sits on a hard drive forever. Sometimes, teams will take forever to reach perfection at the expense of not completing the task. Make content and show it!

What software and hardware do I need to launch a digital sign?

To launch your first digital sign and implement these content strategies, you will need a few different components. First, you will need a digital signage player. A digital signage player is a physical device that renders digital signage content to your display. Any screen or monitor can work as a display screen, so long as it accepts HDMI input. Most digital signage players use an HDMI connection to connect to display screens.

Next, you will need digital signage management software. This software allows you to upload, schedule, and manage content on a screen from a central web interface. This software makes digital signage content management easy and efficient, especially compared to the content management processes of the past. Before digital signage software, users would have to physically visit each display and manually upload content with a USB drive to each digital signage player.

Check out Screenly’s digital signage solution to learn more about setting up your first digital sign.

A final thought increasing employee engagement with digital signs

Engaged employees help companies achieve their goals more effectively than disengaged employees do. When companies increase levels of employee engagement, they also improve in other areas as well, such as decreasing employee turnover, increasing customer satisfaction, and increasing revenue. While we listed many content ideas above on how to use digital signs to increase employee engagement, there are plenty of other content ideas out there!

A Dale Carnegie study found that improving an employee’s confidence in leadership, pride in the organization, and their relationships with supervisors has a positive impact on employee engagement. Create content that impacts those areas, and get that content displaying on your digital signs!