Employee motivation is the cornerstone of a successful business. Happy employees can catapult your company to new heights.
But what happens when employee morale is at an all-time low? According to Gallup’s State of the Workplace 2023 Report, which collects data on the “collective voice of the global employee” every year, the UK is one of the least engaged workforces in Europe. It ranks 33 out of 38 countries. On top of that, 90% of all UK employees are unhappy at work.
To improve employee morale, employers must take a strategic approach. Corporate digital signage displays are one of the most effective tools in your arsenal. When you invest in these versatile, visual digital displays, the only limit is your imagination.
You can use interactive digital screens for polls, display real-time updates on important deadlines, and upload more lighthearted content like employee-generated social media content.
Why Is It Important to Boost Employee Motivation?
Employee morale, or employee motivation, is one of the most elusive parts of running a successful business. It centres around the employee’s attitude and their level of commitment to the business and its overall goals.
You will be forgiven for thinking that there are bigger fish to fry. Sales numbers, supply chains, and recruitment rank among the top problems that companies face. Surprisingly, most people forget that employees are the backbone of their organisation.
When employees feel unmotivated, your company suffers. Around 34% of UK employees would prefer to be unemployed than unhappy, and the average UK employee is willing to take a 10.5% pay cut in exchange for above-average happiness.
On the other end of the spectrum, positive changes have a positive impact on mental health and productivity. One study found that better working conditions show “sizable improvements in anxiety, self-confidence, concentration, and social dysfunction.” Employee morale has a much broader impact than you might imagine.
How to Improve Employee Morale With Digital Signage
So, how can employers improve employee morale with digital signage?
There are a few theories about how to improve employee morale, including Frederick Herzberg’s two-factor theory. According to Herzberg, a pioneer of motivation theory, there are two dimensions to employee satisfaction.
The first dimension is hygiene issues, which are inherent dissatisfiers. Salary, interpersonal relations, working conditions, company and administrative policies, and supervision all fall under the umbrella of hygiene. The second dimension is motivators, which are inherently satisfying. They include work itself, recognition, achievement, responsibility, and advancement.
Let’s look at how employers can use digital signage to improve employee motivation through Herzberg’s motivators.
Celebrate Employees and Their Achievements
Even without Herzberg’s theory, employee recognition is a no-brainer. According to Quantum Workplace, Employees are 2.7 times more likely to be highly engaged if they believe they will be recognised for their contribution to the workforce.
Employee of the Month rewards and newsletters are a good start, but they can miss the mark. Given the fact that 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visual, it is worth investing in visual internal communication tools.
Digital signage is a great alternative. Video walls allow you to create attention-grabbing content that applauds individual employees or entire teams. By pairing bold graphics with short, snappy achievements and accolades, you can shower your employees with words of affirmation and increase employee engagement.
Prioritise Positive Messaging
One study split over 3,000 employees into two groups. The first watched a short video featuring the CEO, who spoke about positive and uplifting news. The second group did not watch the video. The results showed that employees in the first group were 18% more optimistic than the control group. On top of that, employees in the first group were 32.4% less anxious.
Digital signage can revolutionise your internal communications strategy. You can load digital signage kiosks with motivational quotes, a series of positive news stories, or even internal successes. These sorts of positive messages empower employees, which creates far better productivity outcomes.
If you want to take a more data-driven approach, you can use live data TV dashboards. Business owners place these dashboards at strategic points in their offices to share positive data from Q1, display sales figures each day, or show employees how their company stacks up against the competition.
Share Employee-Generated Content
Employee motivation is just another part of human motivation. What motivates humans more than a sense of community?
The Global Culture Report for 2023 found that 72% of respondents think it is important for them to feel like part of a community at work. When employees have a sense of belonging at work, there is 40% greater employee satisfaction, 40% greater job satisfaction, 43% more retention, and 38% less burnout.
To improve employee morale, companies need to create a real sense of belonging and community. Employee-generated content is a great way to do this. It takes advantage of the effectiveness of visual communication and, when you upload it to digital signage solutions, you give employees a physical reminder of the importance of community.
Here are a couple of ideas for employee-generated content.
- Ask employees to review your products and explain their favourite aspects. E.g., A beauty company might ask employees to review the new shampoo and conditioner range.
- Challenge employees to create a viral video using your products and upload it to social media. E.g., A pet company could give their employees prototypes to test with their pooches.
You can use digital signage software to share employee-generated content.
Interactive Digital Signage Solutions are a great option. True to the name, interactive signage invites employees to engage with the already community-led content, creating an even greater sense of unity. You can ask employees to choose their favourite viral video in an interactive poll.
Community-centric tasks, competitions, and rewards also give employees a sense of responsibility. As Herzberg notes, responsibility is one of the main components of staying motivated at work.
Promote Training and Development Opportunities
Offering development opportunities is one of the lesser-known ways to improve employee morale with digital signage, but it is no less important.
A 2016 report by Gallup found that 87% of millennials say that learning and development opportunities in the workplace are extremely important, while 59% of millennials say that having opportunities to learn and grow is extremely important when deciding whether to apply for a job. Millennials make up the largest portion of workers in the UK, making them an important source of information for conscientious business owners.
Ultimately, employees are the biggest asset in your business. Training and development courses, online training, and conferences have a positive impact on your bottom line. And by using digital signage to spread the message, you can ensure that employees are aware of all the advancement opportunities on their doorstep.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is the Purpose of Digital Signage?
Digital signage displays are all about communication. They convey targeted information, entertainment, marketing, and more.
You might be more familiar with commercial digital signage displays. Digital posters on the London Underground, digital billboards on the motorway, and digital signage displays in shop windows are the norm. You can find digital signage for manufacturing, finance, technology, and any other industry in the UK.
Now, office digital signage solutions are becoming increasingly common among internal teams. They take a streamlined approach to communication, something that is essential for busy modern teams.
What Does Improved Employee Morale Mean?
In essence, improved employee morale is a boost in productivity, communication, and the overall employee experience.
When employee morale decreases, employers have to deal with far more sick days, mental health issues, and missed deadlines. When employee morale increases, companies flourish.
How Employers Can Boost Morale in the Workplace
So, how do you improve employee morale and job satisfaction?
Workplace morale has never been more important, especially in the post-COVID era. It is intrinsically linked to motivation which, as we mentioned before, relates to recognition, achievement, responsibility, and advancement.
There are a few tried and tested ways of improving morale, but none of them are quite as eye-catching as digital signs.
Modern business owners all over the UK improve employee morale with digital signage. It is a streamlined, easy-to-use solution that supports internal communication. You can use digital signs to spread company information, encourage interactive feedback, and applaud successes within internal teams.
