Taking Your Corporate Communications to A Remote Workforce

Reaching an organization’s entire workforce is a challenge. Email boxes are full, break room posters are dated, not all employee have a desk, and many of them may work from remote locations.

The International Data Corporation forecasts that mobile workers will account for 72% of the workforce by 2020. Some challenges that arise in communicating with a remote workforce are:

• Missing information makes them feel left out. If everyone in the office knows about a change, event, or a new hire, but the remote workers don’t hear about it, they will begin to feel like outsiders. This can affect morale and lead to disengagement, poor job performance, and possible turnover.
• Lax communication can impede their job performance. Missing out on important initiatives and failing to hear about their expected roles in key planning sessions can decrease a remote employee’s productivity. Webcam meetings and frequent emails helps combat this, but there may still be disconnects.
• Infrequent communication can damage the company’s culture. Remote employees who feel isolated don’t benefit from the company’s culture, and they don’t contribute to it, either. Events that in-office staff take for granted, like company lunches, birthday and anniversary celebrations, and last minute team-building events, are usually missed by remote employees. Managers must find ways to engage them so they are integrated into the culture.

Incorporating digital signage into your employee communications increases the chance that your entire workforce is receiving the information you need them to know. For example, digital signage goes way beyond displays on a wall with basic HR announcements. As technology has evolved, so have the vehicles for digital signage. Mobile devices have enhanced digital signage and the ability to deliver essential information to every employee in real-time. It can be as simple as launching a digital signage app on their mobile phone or tablet.

Organizational communication is integral to driving progress and reaching goals. This must extend to your remote workforce. The good news is that digital signage software can assist in sharing information with out-of-office team members.

Are you looking for ways to reach remote workers with your corporate communications?

As with any employee communication, the main point is for the intended party to receive it, read it, absorb it, and remember it. A good digital signage strategy should include desktop players and mobile devices so no employee, regardless of where they are working, misses important corporate messages. Employees who work from home, travel, provide field services, and drive trucks are no longer the last to know about an announcement, policy change, or big company news. They can be connected to your corporate communications as closely as in-office staff with digital signage.

• Desktop digital signage. Deploying content to a desktop needs to be a key component of a digital signage corporate communication strategy. This solution is great to share information with employees who work from home occasionally and the employees who are fully remote. Receiving targeted company messages this way instead of email, which employees are a bit “numb” to, creates a lower chance of it being skipped over. Being delivered in real-time directly where the employee is sitting helps increase the person’s participation and buy-in to the message being shared.

If circumstances warrant, and a desktop isn’t enough of a target, digital signage can also be used through….

• Mobile devices. Members of the workforce may be remote, but that doesn’t mean they’re always at their desk. Sales people, truck drivers, builders, service people who provide home visits, and many other jobs require employees to be on the go. In these situations, desktop digital signage communication wouldn’t be the best idea. However, people are constantly checking their mobile phones. Utilizing a mobile platform to convey corporate messages will keep all employees engaged and informed. With the “ding” of their mobile device, your announcement is received and read as soon as it comes across.

Once leadership begins incorporating digital signage into their communication channels with their remote team members, they will undoubtedly see a variety of positive results in their relationships, team productivity, and overall company goals.

• Remote staff feel they are a part of the corporate structure and engaged with the daily culture of the company. This is critical to help maintain job satisfaction and high morale for remote employees who may otherwise feel forgotten and dis-engaged.
• Important corporate and HR messages are not missed. Deadline-oriented information such as healthcare sign ups, job opportunities, and regulation change announcements that are critical for all employees to know about aren’t languishing in the employee’s inbox or on his voicemail. With digital signage, remote employees are just as dialed in as the people who come into the office every day.
• Safety protocols stay top-of-mind. In every industry, safety in the workplace is a top priority. Reminders of safety rules and expectations that could be forgotten by remote staff stay front-and-center in their heads with the help of consistent reminders via digital signage software.
• Emergency alerts. Weather issues and other important alerts may be missed by remote staff without digital signage. This creates potential dangerous situations that could cause harm to them. Digital signage messages can alleviate this potential problem.
• Key Performance Indicator (KPI) data and other information can be targeted to specific staff. Creating a cohesive workforce that is focused on the company’s wellbeing is critical to every organization. These messages can be sent out to each individual department, or company-wide. By sharing KPIs with everyone, including the remote staff, leaders keep employees on the same page. This benefits the company by helping their efforts move in the direction to achieve short and long-range goals.

Engaging your remote employees with accurate information is a challenge that can be easily solved by finding the right tools and using them in the most efficient way. A true-business class digital signage system will allow you to bring your entire workforce together and increase productive communication channels. Remote employee will be engaged with the corporate culture, real-time information makes their jobs easier, and they will be inspired to reach company goals.