Now is the Best Time to Focus on Employee Experiences

The first customers for a company's products and services are its employees. They do not have to buy the company's products and services to be customers; however, they must "buy in" to what the organization is doing. To be an effective employee, it helps to be in alignment with the workplace culture.

Employee burnout comes from workers being under heavy stress in a toxic work environment, with no opportunity for career growth. When people get no joy from their work and dread each workday, they are highly motivated to quit.

The "Great Resignation" occurred due to the pandemic when millions of workers quit. Many of these workers were baby boomers nearing retirement. They left their jobs and did not return even after the pandemic became more manageable, and lockdowns were discontinued.

Human Resource (HR) departments have a major challenge in onboarding new employees and keeping the current valued employees from seeking better jobs elsewhere. Unemployment rates in the United States are nearing historical lows.

The top reasons for quitting a job or for a recruit turning down a job offer include:

• The company culture is a bad fit.
• Pay is not competitive.
• The benefits are not a good match.
• There is no path to career advancement.

The pandemic forced companies to take a hard look at the job requirements and incorporate new work modalities to accommodate more remote workers. Now, some bosses want everyone to return to the office to work like before. Nevertheless, there is considerable resistance to returning to the old style of wasting time commuting to the office to sit in front of a screen to do your work.

Hybrid work models that allow some flexibility to work remotely and have some in-person requirements are becoming the norm in many industry sectors.

All employees' experiences during their work day and their level of work/life balance create the employee experience (EX). Companies that focus on creating a positive EX tend to have reduced employee turnover and more satisfied employees. Managing the EX to handle the chaos caused by workers being in different locations and working at other times is one way that organizations may shape their future and create a work environment where employees are more productive.

Suppose you are in charge of employee retention and your company is making a concerted effort to create a better work environment. How do you best inform employees of the positive changes? Communication of messages must be consistent, compliant with regulations, and have a high level of employee engagement. Digital signage is an effective tool to help manage employee experiences.

The digital signage experience should be an omnichannel effort that allows multiple contact points. These contacts may be through digital displays on monitors, mobile devices, online work portals, emails, SMS text messaging, instant messaging, forum systems, video streaming, and multimedia presentations.

The digital signage experience is an internally-focused publishing system of content designed for employees to help keep them informed, engaged, and stay motivated. The communication modality should be high quality with balanced messages that are interesting and not redundant. Style and aesthetics are important, and so is using a consistent brand across all channels.

Monitor employee engagement to determine the effectiveness of communication. You want to ensure employees understand the message and test the retention level for important concepts. Feedback should be encouraged.

Digital signage points to other systems that are part of the employee experience. By promoting these internal systems, companies make the digital signage experience compelling and interesting.

• Anonymous Suggestions and Complaints: Employees need to have a place to vent and make suggestions without worrying about recriminations.
• Employee Surveys: If you want to know how employees feel about the workplace, it helps to ask them. Make surveys short and accumulate data over time.
• Moderated Internal Social Media: Social media platforms like Slack, Workplace, Discord, or Microsoft Teams are effective ways to communicate with staff. Promoting these platforms and current posts made on them through digital signage is an excellent way to disseminate information to all employees.
• Employee Recognition: Recognizing employees for birthdays, work anniversaries, and achievements is a morale booster. Promote the key employees of the month using digital signage and tell everyone why they did such a good job. Not only does this show that the company appreciates hard work, but it also encourages others to follow a good example.

• Interactive Games: These games may be intellectually stimulating and create more employee interaction.
• Company Trivia: It is fun to learn the company's history when presented as a game of trivia.
• Live TV News: The break room can have a live news feed.
• Sports: Updates on sports games is another popular way to entertain employees in the break room.

• In-House Job Openings: Hiring from within is an effective way to demonstrate the company understands that employees need a path for career development to maintain interest in staying with the company for the long term.
• Training: On-the-job training programs and e-learning classes are essential in developing a better-educated workforce.

• Explanations: Benefits programs are complicated and need to be updated frequently. Promote highlights of positive changes with "Did you know __?" These presentations on digital signage describe a feature of some benefit.
• How To's: These instructions teach employees how to access benefits and how they work.

• Safety Protocols: Promoting safety protocols shows that a company cares about its workers.
• Emergency Procedures: Reminders of emergency procedures help employees know what to do and stay calm in an emergency.
• Emergency Alerts: Emergency alerts take over all the screens of the digital signage system with a breaking news message and instructions.
• Weather Alerts: Weather alerts appear on all screens when severe weather is expected.
• Calendar: Digital signage promotes the company calendar with holidays, events, and other dates of importance.

The items in this category answer commonly-asked questions and provide employee guidance.

• Best Practices: The best practices are the desired way to do things.
• Tips: Tips that are employee-centric help workers rise to their full potential.
• Do's and Don'ts: Summaries of the rules of employee conduct make good reminders to present on digital signage.

These are just a few examples of using an automated digital signage system. When the digital signage experience integrates seamlessly with the employee experiences, the result is improved employee engagement and greater job satisfaction.