By Scott Brown

Employee engagement in this day and age of constant information barrages and short attention spans can be the difference between retaining worthy employees, reducing churn, boosting employee efficiency, and enabling a feel-good atmosphere at the work place. Engagement implies a meaningful interaction. Let us take a look at how digital signage or DOOH can help boost employee engagement.

Employees can be made to invest more of themselves into the company through engagement. Positive action by employees increases productivity and works wonders for overall company morale.

A company has to ensure that the following three needs of the employees are met.

*The employee should feel that his efforts made a difference.

*The employee should feel accepted and at ease.

* The employee should know that the tools for getting work done are available and that they have a support system to back them.

With engagement, an employee’s sense of ownership for work done rises. Such employees take pride in their work. An engaged atmosphere results in creative, out-of-the-box solutions. Customer satisfaction and higher revenue are directly related to satisfied and engaged employees.

A business with motivated employees is far likelier to do better than one with employees who consider their jobs a chore and view employer-employee relationships coldly.

Even a small improvement in communication with employees has a positive influence on the workings of an organization. Employee attendance improves. People want to come to work. They approach tasks with a sense of responsibility. Safety incidents are fewer, thefts go down, and the company saves money from hitherto unexpected sources.

8 out of 10 companies measure employee engagement. It is important for them. HR executives that focus on employee engagement contribute to creating fulfilled and happier employees. Enabled employees with a degree of freedom are able to contribute more to accomplishments.

In spite of the clear and proven benefits of engaged employees, there are still businesses that operate on the belief that an employee paid to do a job must do it to the best of his ability. Fewer than three out of ten employees in America can be considered as “engaged”. More than 50% of the employees fall under the category “not engaged”.

Six out of ten employees across industries in America do not have the means and tools that will engage them. Replacing an employee costs 150% of that employee’s salary. Employees acquire an awareness of surroundings where the engagement levels are poor and this affects their morale as well as the sense of belonging they feel for such an environment.

Employee retention is among the biggest concerns for employers across America, and salary is not among the big reasons why people choose to leave a company. At the time of writing, five out of ten American workers are seeking a new job. This level of churn cannot be combatted simply by raising salaries. Four of ten employees are planning to make a professional move and change employers over the next two years. This level of dissatisfaction is not all about money. Only twelve out of 100 people shift jobs for higher pay. Workers who are highly productive can add as much as $5000 per worker to a company’s profit. A very poorly motivated worker will cost the company $12,000 each year.

What’s worse, negativity is contagious and it catches on easily. Today, the workforce in America is highly heterogenous. Each worker has his own psychological requirements. This is why engagement with employees has to be flexible so that they can be reached at an individual level. An employee’s needs also vary with the work being done. A person may be engaged in analytical work, another might be doing creative work, and yet another may be tasked with handling social responsibilities.

Research shows that millennials, the fastest growing segment of the workforce, are among the most disengaged. Only one of four are actively engaged and almost two out of ten are actively disengaged.

Millennials are also highly active in seeking a change of job. At present, 60% of the millennials are on the lookout for a new job. Because millennials spend less time with a company before making a shift, they have very little emotional investment and that is not a factor. The absence of engagement policies by a company contributes to this ease with which millennials shift jobs.

This high level of churn among millennials costs the U.S economy $30 billion each year. Millennials that are satisfactorily engaged with the company they work for are less likely to jump over to another job. They will remain with their employer even if the job market improves. In a nutshell, as compared to other generations, a millennial worker will spend less time with a company if not engaged or dissatisfied but will remain with the company longer if his needs for acceptance, appreciation, and freedom are met.

By 2025, three out of four workers in America will be millennials. It is this demographic that companies need to consider when creating employee engagement plans. This generation is likely to exhibit a higher degree of loyalty toward a job they love even if they have to compromise a bit on the pay. In other words, they’d be uncomfortable in an environment where they are at odds with the value systems and are not made to feel comfortable.

Digital signage can help your business get millennials interested in more than just their jobs. DOOH facilitates messages that are engaging. Such messages can include advise, project details, commendations, etc. Engaged employees are happy and such employees won’t be on the lookout for a new job all the time. The likelihood of churn falls. The company saves money and gains in productivity.

Millennials see themselves as a part of a diverse community where different cultures come together in harmony. Quality of the workplace, a factor above and beyond the pay, matters to employees. Engagement is an aspect of workplace quality. And communication is key to engagement.

Digital signage enables companies to create areas for communication. It allows for dedicated space for communication. It lets employees and employees interact to exchange ideas, examine process flows, and be on the same wavelength as far as possible.

Digital signage presents information to multiple employees, and it is non-intrusive. People may look at it or not look at it. It is not an intrusive form of communication. If you receive an official email, you are kind of obligated to read it or at least mark it as read. That’s not the case here.

The digital signage can carry messages of the kind you want and deliver these when you want. There are many things that you can do. Here are some ideas on how DOOH can help you engage with employees.

• *Remind employees of the company mission and policies.
• *Recognize employee efforts and appreciate.
• *Stimulate collaborative efforts.
• *Create personalized messages.
• *Foster a feeling of community by engaging with employees across different locations.
• *Use messaging techniques appropriate for the age of the employee being addressed.
• *Display real-time performance data to boost productivity.
• *Place call-to-actions in the message and get feedback.
• *Adopt gamification techniques.

Regardless of the nature of the work being handled by an employee or the rank, with digital signage you can quickly get the message across. You can inform employees about what’s happening in the company.

Reinforce your brand’s message so that employees and synchronize their mindsets with where the brand’s headed.

Display testimonials and reviews from satisfied customers. This is powerful messaging because it enables millennial employees to realize that they are making a difference. Usually, such information is the preserve of the top management. By sharing it, you are fostering inclusiveness.

On similar lines, digital signage is a great tool for letting everyone know when a department meets or exceeds targets, or when an employee receives recognition or an award from the industry.

Use digital signage to stoke excitement and a sense of healthy competition among employees. Hold quizzes, post memes, and nice pictures.

Think about what can add value to an employee’s life and the time that he spends within company premises. Think in terms of what’ll work in your scenario. Industry news flash, local news, weather updates, sports updates, traffic updates…these are some ideas. These help employees take a decision and save time. They don’t have to reach out for their mobiles to check on apps. You’re doing it for them.

Display safety procedures. Use the digital signage as an emergency alert system. The digital signage system can be placed anywhere throughout the premises and during the course of a day, you can use it to reinforce messages of your choosing.

And it’s easy to keep the message fresh by making subtle changes in layout and copy. Along with the main message that centers on a keyword, you can use long tail keywords to drive home supporting ideas and present a well-rounded view. With connected and themed messages, you can pique audience interest and also foster good recall. Employees will consciously and subconsciously carry the message forward, in the real world and online. In doing so, they are helping business and reinforcing their bonds with the company.

Interactivity adds to the appeal of DOOH. Let your efforts at engagement be guided by the simple thumb rule that employees seek recognition and support. With DOOH, you can show your appreciation without unduly adding to the workload of the management. In fact, the H.R department may actually find that it can engage with the employees in a more efficient manner via digital signage.

One of the advantages of DOOH is that it can be viewed across devices and can be synced with other devices. The millennial generation is at ease with this technology. So, give it to them. Use interactive DOOH to enable employees to post messages directly to social media. An example, a high performing employee felicitated for an achievement can simply click on a social media icon and post a readymade tweet or update Facebook status.

If you can come up with content that can go viral, then do it. Memes, infographics, videos, and humor will do the trick. Such content, because it encourages sharing, promotes participation.

When appreciating an individual or team, be as specific as possible. Congratulate and praise for an event or achievement. Generic praise does not quite have the same effect.

Digital signage is an opportunity to establish and promote transparency. Because the content is for everyone to read, employees can assess if the approbation and other messages are fair and free from any bias. Employees love to work in a company where people are rewarded in an unbiased manner. This tells employees that their work will be recognized.

Add sincere congratulatory messages with announcements of rewards, if any, to signage displaying performance metrics, approaching deadlines, and even mess menus. The rewards can be customized mugs, printed tees, cash, gift cards, a longer lunch break…anything. You can get creative. Encourage performance by announcing free professional training for the team that succeeds in a task. Use the digital signage to display a leaderboard.

A culture of rewarding performance is an opportunity to learn more about employees – their likes and preferences. You can tailor rewards to suit their likes. For example, a gift card for books would be ideal for one employee while a table for two at a restaurant may be appreciated by another. Digital signage can serve to announce the awards. Sponsor gym memberships, a trek, or a book sale.

If seven members from a team of ten enjoy visiting an amusement park, then offer a day out for the team as a reward.

Digital signage serves as an effective tool to prevent employee burnout and keep them fresh. It prolongs their valuable work life for the company. Help employees strike a work and life balance through digital signage.