8 Strategies for Increasing Employee Productivity with Workplace Digital Signage

1. Build safety awareness. 
Avoiding accidents and keeping workers safe is essential to productivity. Digital signage offers an easy way to keep safety visual. Target your safety content to fit the audience: proper PPE and lockout/tag out on the plant floor, forklift safety and balanced loads in the warehouse and ergonomic tips and avoiding slips, trips and falls for office workers. Extend your safety message to life outside of work by providing helpful information that will keep workers and their families safe.

2. Share progress and results.
It has long been proven that “that which is measured improves”. Use digital signage to post KPIs that will keep everyone informed and drive specific behavior. While overall metrics such as sales goals are important for all to know, use screens in the plant to show production stats, in the warehouse to display supply chain data and in the call center to display call metrics. Use simple data visualization tools to make it clear, colorful and easy to understand

3. Keep everyone informed.
Alert, well-rested workers are less likely to make mistakes or have accidents. Provide helpful tips on exercise, stress reduction and healthy eating. If you run workshops or lunch-and-learns, use digital signage to promote these events. Let employees know where they can seek help for smoking cessation, addiction or depression. 

4. Recognize people and performance.
Personal and team recognition are universal motivators. Many companies have in-house initiatives around safety, but they do not promote them effectively. Increase participation and drive results by using workplace digital signage to showcase the program and recognize the winners. Bring special projects out in the open. Recognize teams for their involvement and let everyone know why it mattered to the company’s performance. Celebrate new customers and share stories of how you won their business.

5. Show the big picture.
Disengaged workers are less productive. Understanding the context of their job – why it is important, where it fits in, what impact it has on the company as a whole, gives them a greater sense of their contribution. This is particularly important among millennials. They don’t just want to be told what to do. It’s really important for them to know how they fit in to the big picture.

6. Create competition and have some fun.
Gamification in the workplace has helped to drive results by increasing competition, motivating employees and adding some fun in the process.  What are you looking to improve? Appointments in the call center, hazard reporting, and participation in a wellness challenge? Use your digital signage screens to announce the rules of the game, the goal, the time frame and the rewards. Create competition by posting rankings. Recognize top performers. Celebrate final wins and tell how it has impacted the company’s productivity. 

7. Ask for feedback.
Employees are naturally more engaged and invested when they have a voice. Soliciting feedback is also an important part of measuring employee productivity.  Use digital signage screens to announce and promote surveys. Post the results and show ongoing evidence of changes that have been made as a result of employees’ suggestions ̶  including recognizing individuals for a great contribution. Don’t wait for the annual employee survey. Do ongoing spot surveys that could be about anything from ideas on eliminating waste or saving time, where to have the employee party or what to name a new product. Add a QR code that employees can scan with their phones to complete a short survey or send an email. 

8. Create community.
When employees feel isolated or disconnected it affects morale and productivity. This is particularly common with 3rd and 4th shift workers or those in satellite offices. Use your screens to spotlight individuals or teams. Use short video clips or PowerPoints with candid shots to share what they do and what they like to do when they are not working. Don’t forget to showcase new hires. 

Don’t underestimate the power of visual communication to help drive productivity in your workforce. By implementing these best practices, you will reinforce and bring to life a culture of productivity with a workforce that is engaged, informed and motivated.

October 2015 - newsletter

How near miss reporting decreases actual injuries

In the last five years the New Zealand construction industry has taken steps to significantly improve health and safety performance.

The construction industry has directed emphasis towards creating a culture within the industry that expects, understands and actively participates in health and safety.

This includes research that aims to see the positive effects the Stronger Christchurch Infrastructure Rebuild Team (SCIRT) has had on the health and safety performance within New Zealand’s construction industry.

It was found that an increase in reported near misses decreased the number of actual incidents. And it has been internationally recognised that as near miss reporting increases the number of injuries decreases.

When near misses are viewed as opportunities for improvement it creates a proactive health and safety environment.

sourced from University of Christchurch SCIRT poster

Digital signage is a great way to raise awareness of reported near misses.

Several of our customers use the screens to notify staff of near misses.

Using templates we have designed specifically for this purpose, they regularly update screen content to show recent near miss situations.

This content can be used to both reinforce good behaviours and educate staff on correct work procedures and processes.

Talk to us about how digital signage can improve your safety communications with employees and contractors.

 

Safety incidents can impact executive remuneration

As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald on September 23, 2015

“A major factor in the 43 per cent pay cut BHP Billiton chief executive Andrew Mackenzie copped in 2015 was the company's record on worker fatalities, which cost him 20 per cent of his short-term bonus.

The incidents occurred across of range of operations, including Worsley in West Australia, Manganese in South Africa, Queensland Coal, Olympic Dam in South Australia and Escondida in Chile.  

… it is appropriate that boards place enormous pressure on management to exercise maximum care on the welfare of staff. In 2016 the proportion of BHP management's pay related to HSEC will move up from 20 per cent to 25 per cent.”

In organisations of all sizes it can be a challenge to implement and deliver a consistent program of safety and culture change to the whole workforce. Digital Signage is a communication channel that can increase the reach of safety and culture change messages to help businesses improve their safety performance.

September 2015 newsletter

Digital Signage in the Workplace

Determining ROO for Digital Signage

Anonymous Video Analytics

August 2015 newsletter

Research Study proves value of work place digital signage.

Earlier this year Your Work Place commissioned a study of the effectiveness of our digital signage solution at a couple of customer sites in NZ with a respected 3rd party independent research company (Research First). The objective of the study was to evaluate the business benefits of digital signage and key criteria impacting performance. While the data set was small and the results therefore indicative only, some key findings were:

• The signage has the potential to positively change awareness and behaviour
• The pre and post installation interviews with workers show that the screens have the potential to impact awareness and knowledge of health and safety regulations and to impact this positively.
• The messaging needs to be carefully considered
• The impact of the digital signage on workers’ awareness of health and safety regulations was uneven. Change of awareness and behaviour was more likely to occur where the messaging on the screens was clear and specific and the signage was visually appealing and eye-catching.

CONTENT PLANS

With the research study confirming the importance of the quality of the content in maximising the benefits of the solution, and our experience with the challenges existing customers face keeping the content both fresh/relevant and visually appealing, Your Work Place have now incorporated content creation plans into our offering. Customers can choose between a variety of plans based on the volume of content, frequency of changes, and type of content they would like our assistance to create.

Furthermore, by creating content for our clients Your Work Place is building a library of topics and formats that customers can leverage off to easily and quickly determine their specific content requirements. Plus we have a large and growing list of stock images that customers can take advantage of for the design of their content.

NZ Team gets a boost

We are very please to announce a new member of our sales team. Angela Hobday has joined the Your Work Place Team and will act as the commercial sales manager in New Zealand.

Angela can be reached at ange@yourworkplace.co.nz or 027 494 4195

Engaging a multinational workforce with Digital Signage.

New Zealand Light Leathers (NZLL) is a Canterbury based Tannery that supplies some of the worlds leading fashion houses.

NZLL recently employed Your Work Place to provide a solution to better engage their multinational workforce.

Workers of all nationalities will have the ability to stay up to date with company initiatives and key safety drivers while having their routine breaks. They also have the opportunity to stay up to date with news, weather and sport locally and nationally.

From one location, information can be entered and displayed; from what they are seeing on the shop floor, what direction the company is heading, to what their employees like to do on their days off.

All of this is through a visually appealing medium, where site specific information is displayed maintaining a fresh and appealing approach to further demonstrate that New Zealand Light Leathers cares about their employees.

Nobody's reading your notice board

Industry publication from Europe re published:

For that matter, nobody's reading those occasional emails, either.

Or the quickly-scribbled reminders on the whiteboard in the lounge. Yet those haphazard attempts at corporate communication aren't uncommon. In a fast-paced work environment, companies find it difficult to maintain strong communication amongst employees. There's always something new to report, and there's no way to get that information out instantaneously. At least without digital signage.

It seems pretty obvious, right?

A digital platform allows you to constantly distribute accurate, useful information to each and every member of your team. More exciting and advanced than traditional fliers and emails — let's not even touch on the whiteboard — digital signage demands attention, meaning your message will be received, not ignored.

On average, an employee receives 304 business emails per week. Lost within that overstuffed inbox important internal emails simply cannot get the attention they need. Trying to sift through emails is exhausting and a waste of employee time: In fact, 10 IQ points are lost while constantly fielding emails, which is the same effect as losing and entire night of sleep.[2] That guy's going to have some trouble focusing today.

Constantly struggling to convey the latest meeting and event times, as well as their dates and locations?

Relay that information on your digital screens, alerting employees and allowing them to organize their schedules accordingly. No longer will employees be uninformed about where to be and when, juggling layers of information jumbled up within dozens of emails.

Digital signage also serves as a motivational tool for employees to stay on-task.

Display the latest sales numbers and approaching deadlines to remind everyone of their responsibilities as well as the company's overarching goals. Recognize employees who have gone above and beyond by reporting their achievements, announce upcoming events and milestones, and share media coverage.

Internal digital signage is targeted specifically for your employees.

Broadcast it in lounges or breakrooms, hallways, conference areas, cafeterias — any place that employees typically visit at least once a day. External signage, such as media displayed in office lobbies can act as a PR tool. Visitors can view content customized for public consumption, such as image-enhancing company news, employee and company achievements and messages from business executives.

Incorporating digital signage into your office space carries across-the-board benefits. Improve company-wide communication, increase employee morale and motivation and share relevant, engaging information with visitors to promote positive company PR.

Allow digital signage to revolutionize how your company communicates.

FLETCHER CONSTRUCTION MAKES IT VISUAL

Looking for a better way to communicate with staff and sub contractors Fletcher construction will install Your Work Place screens onto its sites around the Christchurch rebuild.

Screens will be placed in portocom buildings and other Fletcher offices around Christchurch to send uniform visual messages. Content to the sites is easily updated over the internet as as simple as sending an email.

The screens will also display news and sport stories to make the screens engaging to staff and contractors at smoko an lunch.

WORK SAFE NEW ZEALAND PARTNER WITH YOUR WORK PLACE

As Work Safe New Zealand builds its network of inspectors and staff across the country it is also looking to technology to reinforce good work place practices. In an initiative alongside Your Work Place, Work Safe NZ will send regular messages to a network of screens to reinforce the messages it is sending the New Zealand Work Place

RISK MANGAMENT GROUP PARTNERS WITH YOUR WORK PLACE

Leading safety consulting group RMG have teamed up with Your Work Place to introduce digital signage to New Zealand Work Places.

RMG director Tony Brownett said: We love the idea of this medium. We can make recommendations to our clients as to safety improvements in their business but getting the message through is not always easy. The screens give us that regular daily contact with staff. If we identify a risk or even an opportunity for productivity improvement we can get that message across multiple locations within seconds.

Your Work Place Director Andrew McIntosh said: Teaming up with a market leader like RMG was a natural fit for us. RMG are experts at identifying risk, we provide the communication link to get the message heard. We are pretty excited about this relationship and are looking forward to working with RMG.

ABOUT RISK MANAGEMENT GROUP

Risk Management Group is a multi-disciplinary team of consultants providing an integrated and innovative approach to meet the demands of our clients. Broadly, our skill is providing services and strategies that help businesses protect their interests and manage their assets with particular emphasis on issues around DRUGS, ALCOHOL and DISHONESTY!

TO LEARN MORE GO TO - http://www.riskgroup.co.nz

BOOSTING PRODUCTIVITY THROUGH VISUAL COMMUNICATION

Looking to improve productivity in your team. First your team need accurate up to date information on how they are doing. The Your Work Place Solution is being used by some of its clients to report on productivity and performance.

Your Work Place GM Gavin Lipschitz said: We often set up automatic feeds from our clients data bases. This allows us to display pick rates, on time performance statistics, almost anything. We're finding staff really like it. It's an immediate form of recognition and clever employers have even used it to set up competitions across various locations within their business.

PAUL SWALE JOINS THE YOUR WORK PLACE TEAM

NEW ZEALAND YOUR WORK PLACE SALES DIRECTOR - PAUL SWALE

Paul Swale has eighteen years experience in health, safety, security, crisis and aviation management.

He has worked globally for Barrick Gold, remotely with Newcrest Mining, before having previously consulted to Mincor, Byrnecut and Aditya Birla in Australia, and in the Middle East with Control Risks.

He comes from a Military and Police background, has an Advanced Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety, is a Security Management Systems Lead Auditor, and a trainer in all facets of Emergency Response and Rescue (including Underground Mine Rescue). He holds an Aerodrome operators qualification and maintains the International Ship and Port Security (ISPS) qualification.

Paul has come to us with a pragmatic approach to work place safety and security, he states “this has been a great opportunity to utilize technology to change the way we communicate, not only in health and safety but in all facets of business. I really believe in this product and everyday come up with new ideas for businesses to communicate to their employees, stakeholders and clients” 

NEW ZEALAND HERALD PARTNERS WITH YOUR WORK PLACE TO SUPPLY NEWS AND WEATHER

Always on the look out for ways to enhance its product offering Your Work Place has partnered with the New Zealand Herald in New Zealand to display the latest news, sport and weather on the work place screens.

Your Work Place Director  Andrew McIntosh said: This is a great enhancement to our product offering, already we are finding staff commenting on it. It just makes the messaging more attractive, it's flexible but most clients alternate their company message with a news message.

A worker at a recent installation said: It actually makes me look. I look to see the sport and then get the company message, it much better than the old notice boards that none of us read.

YOUR WORK PLACE EXPAND TO NEW ZEALAND

THE NEW YOUR PLACE NZ AUCKLAND TEAM

Due to its popularity in Australia and the U.S not to mention the fact the companies founder and MD is a Kiwi, Your Work Place has opened offices in New Zealand.

Managing Director Andrew McIntosh commented: New Zealand is seeing a lot of change around work place laws and management and directors are looking for better ways to communicate with staff. We set up here in May 2013 and have been not only surprised by the interest but really pleased. Employers and management seem to like the idea of this form of the communication and almost every organization we speak to is having problems getting the message out. For us its simply about giving our clients an easy to use, cost effective communication tool. I think the fact its visual an gets seen no matter what is what is really making this popular.

STAFF PROFILES GET SOME ATTENTION!

The old head and shoulder, this is Bob staff profile photo doesn't seem to quite cut the mustard anymore. Digital Signage provider Your Work Place is making those old staff profiles a little sexier.

Your Work Place Director Andrew McIntosh said: People were largely embarrassed by those older style images, they almost look like criminal mugshots. We wanted to make the staff proud of the images of themselves and have worked with our clients and the staff to make the staff profiles a lot more interesting. We suggest that staff send us a photo of themselves not at work but outside of work. These images often get conversation going between staff and certainly get them looking at the screens which the employers love as the profiles appear amongst company messages. I guess they are "show off" pics. Catching big fish shots are popular as are all sorts of outdoor adventures. Its a chance for staff to show their work mates they are more than just their job and has helped to boost work place moral.

EXPANDED PHOTO LIBRARY

Your Work Place has expanded it photos library to cover more industries and more situations. From stretching exercises to forklift operations, road safety to food presentation the library is huge in-fact Your Work Place has access to over 2,000 photos that can be easily used in their templates making content updates a breeze.

Your Work says: If we don't have an image you are after we will get it for you. Why not put them to the test.