Most employers would tell you that retaining talent in the workplace is as critical (and as difficult) as recruiting the best talent in the first place. Even when times are tight and lots of people are out of work, having to find, hire, and train to replace a valued employee costs much more than most people would think. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) estimates replacing a salaried employee costs an average of six to nine months’ salary, and according to the Wall Street Journal, some experts say as much as twice an employee’s annual earnings.
In industries like retail, frequent turnover makes this even more expensive, with studies showing it can cost up to $4,300 to replace an hourly employee. While that may sound less expensive than for salaried positions, turnover rates in retail can peak as high as 160% according to SHRM. Not only does this cost retailers in terms of the direct expense to hire and train new employees, there is the potential negative impact on the customer experience whenever a significant portion of the staff is less tenured.
Why do employees look for greener pastures? Whether salaried or hourly, workers want better opportunities for higher pay, upward mobility, new challenges, and career development. They also want to feel like they are appreciated and more than just cogs in a faceless, uncaring corporate machine. If an employer can’t deliver these, their employees disengage.
Engaged employees tend to be happier and thus longer-term employees. But given that Gallup reports 65% of employee are actively disengaged in their jobs, there are a lot of unhappy workers out there.
Despite this daunting numbers, it is possible to provide employees what they need and encourage them to stay. Office digital signage solutions can play a role in boosting employee engagement and retention by…
- Providing engaging, highly available training and career development
In corporate America, 78 percent of employee learning and training still use traditional instructor-led classroom programs. Given the operational costs related to these programs, many employees are lucky to get an onboarding orientation, much less on-going training and career development. And for non-desk employees—those without an assigned desk or company computer—online and computer-based training are largely inaccessible and impractical.
Digital signage provides a channel for delivering almost any type training to any employee—even those without access to a dedicated desk or computer. For example, for a great customer experience, shoppers want associates that are more knowledgeable about your products than themselves. So, why not use digital signage to deliver timely product training for new and updated offerings. Employees feel better about their ability to serve their customers, customers are satisfied, and the company gains additional brand loyalty.
In addition, companies can upgrade the typical onboarding and deliver weekly tips, diversity training, benefit plans reviews, or any other on-going training courses that are needed. Digital signage can offer informative, interactive, and engaging experiences with video and digital screens almost anywhere, in a more engaging fashion than classrooms or static online courses—no scheduling, facilities, instructors or disruptive travel required.
- Providing a visible channel to recognize achievements/contributions/personal milestones
A simple “thank you” can do wonders for an employee’s attitude and engagement level. Company’s often rely on managers to provide recognition when their employees go the extra mile, but managers often have no easy-to-use channel for making such “kudos” public. The same is true for marking birthdays, anniversaries, and other personal milestones, which makes workers feel appreciated.
Office digital signage provides managers a simple way to publicly recognize individuals or teams without having to coordinate emails, newsletters, posters or other such channels. Plus, they can publish a hearty congratulations for a special occasion, putting an employee’s “name in lights” on displays visible to exactly the right audience. It’s an easy way to give employees a sense of pride and accomplishment, knowing that they are highly valued both for their contributions and as an individual.
- Conveying culture, values, and corporate citizenship with your brand story
Employees work for a paycheck, yes, but most want to feel like they are part of an organization that makes a positive impact on their world. An effective way to do this is by brand storytelling: voicing your company culture and values and by showing you “walk the walk.” While brand storytelling is often used to engage customers, it is even more important for your employees to see, feel, and live this story, if they are to serve the interests of your customers and the company itself.
Digital signage lets you reinforce the messages of company culture and values, not only telling your employees what the company stands for but also showing them. For example, you can demonstrate the company’s values in action with engaging multimedia and interactive content about your involvement and support for your local community. This firmly ingrains this culture in your employees in a way no static employee handbook ever could.
- Providing transparency to give employees a stake in sticking around
Being transparent means giving your employees not only enough information to do a good job every day, but also to instill a sense of purpose and pride to contribute to the company’s success. That means sharing the company’s values, goals, challenges, and performance in the marketplace, as well as openness about its successes and failures. Without such information, employees feel powerless, become less engaged, and actively seek other opportunities where they feel they can make a difference.
With office digital signage, companies have a convenient, visible channel for delivering the information needed for a transparent workplace and empowered employees. Digital signage can be placed almost anywhere, reaching employees wherever they are. From corporate messages to team performance scorecards, digital signage content can be updated as frequently as needed, so that employees always have the information they need. The result is a well-informed and more engaged workforce that understands the business and wants to stick around to make it better.
Retention is just one benefit of digital signage in corporate communications
High turnover hurts more than the bottom line. It hurts morale which in turn can lead to even higher churn. Further, it damages the customer experience when knowledgeable, experienced employees must be replaced with newer, less-informed associates. Corporate digital signage solutions can help break this cycle with accessible, highly available content that engages your employees and gives them the information, training, and transparency they crave. With higher employee engagement and satisfaction, they may even decide to make a long-term career out of it.
We'd love to share our new eBook that explains how to use office digital signage to provide “anytime anywhere” content to boost engagement by improving corporate communications with employees. Download it now!
