Millennials make up one-third of the workforce, but it’s a very fluid, constantly changing one-third: They’re perfectly comfortable leaving a job after six months.
For employees who’ve spent decades of their lives at the same company, it’s difficult to imagine feeling secure (financially and mentally) enough to leave an organization before even hitting the one-year mark.
Before you clench your fist, it’s not because millennials are lazy or angry at the corporate machine. In fact, it’s kind of the opposite: Millennials want to make an impact and rise in the ranks, and they’ll unabashedly move on if they feel like their efforts are going without notice.
Dull, thankless jobs are no longer inescapable, and millennials are seeking a supportive environment where they can flourish. The number one reason millennials quit their jobs is because they don’t like the company culture.
Across the board, all types of industries are beginning to realize that they can’t afford this hyper-quick turnover rate. The cost of recruiting and hiring is exponential, and productivity suffers severely during the interim period before a new hire is made.
Once someone does fill the role, employees have to devote significant time and energy to training. You know you want to hang on to the employees you worked so hard (and paid so much) to recruit. So how do you do it?
Preventing employee apathy and building up morale are wide-ranging initiatives, but digital signage makes both goals simultaneously achievable.
Communication has to start from the inside. That’s why so many businesses are turning to digital signage to power their internal communication efforts. In fact, more than half of the corporate world has deployed digital signage to open the communication pathways in their work spaces.
Connected employees are well worth the effort. The McKinsey Global Institute found that when employees feel mentally stimulated and engaged, productivity improves by 20-25% in organizations, and the potential for revenue comes to a staggering $1.3 trillion per year.
There are different types of turnover, both voluntary and involuntary. Employee burnout, and consequential high turnover rates, are a real and present threat to a business’s vitality.
Only 13% of employees worldwide feel engaged at work. What causes it? An alarming percentage of the workforce feels undervalued, restless, and agitated at their jobs. The whole scenario motivates them to look elsewhere for a more positive environment.
It’s also important to point out that that it’s not the human resources department’s responsibility to reduce burnout among employees. Sure, they’ll be the ones hosting the exit interviews, but they can’t help when an employee leaves.
Here are the best ways managers can prevent burnout and retain employees:
A few decades back, people spent their entire lives in thankless jobs because they felt like there was no other option. Feeling “fulfilled” was a luxury enjoyed by few working class people. Fulfillment was for the weekend.
That’s no longer the case: Employees don’t want to spend the bulk of their lives slaving away just for a paycheck. All jobs have purpose, and many struggle to find that sense of larger meaning.
In one of our recent Business Impact Workshops, a VP at Angiodynamics shared they use digital signage to show employees how the medical devices they produce are used to save real lives.
This promotes a sense of greater purpose and a feeling of personal accomplishment. (If you don’t have time to watch the episode, you can read about the impact this communication has had on employees, here.)
Whether your industry is tech, agriculture, education, hospitality -- your employees are doing something that betters society in some way. Make sure they know it! Acknowledge and celebrate the fruits of their labor.
Digital signage makes it easy to visually salute a job well done. It can also serve as a representation of goal progress for long-term projects that are still in the works: Even if a task isn’t completely done, there are milestones along the way that deserve to be noted.
Encourage employees to get involved in this process. They can submit their own “kudos” for coworkers, which can then be programmed to display on-screen. This promotes a supportive environment and a sense of community.
After onboarding, new hires are rarely trained again. Once they get a grip on their basic responsibilities, they can become complacent, which can accelerate super premature burnout.
In other words, don’t let them get bored. There are many ways to help them continue developing and expanding their skills without yet promoting them to new positions or changing up the company’s hierarchy.
Digital campaigns can provide detailed tutorials for training staff about a new product or how to improve service. Broadcasting videos on internal signage keeps employees engaged while helping them develop a deeper relationship with the brand. 72% of internal communication teams are planning to increase the use of video when communicating with employees.
The monotony of a typical work day can become depressing. Stale digital content just adds to the repetition. Our assessment: If it’s new, it will resonate. Thankfully, with our platform, creating new content isn’t a time-suck.
Weather reports, sports scores, breaking news, and other public information can automatically push straight to the screens.
When those messages are broadcast through the office, employees won’t be tempted to check their phones (which can quickly become a rabbit hole of unproductivity).
And, when news content is intermixed with company information, staff are more likely to actually read and register HR’s campaign about benefit changes.
Companies can also embrace social media through digital signage, bringing dated offices into the modern age. That’s especially crucial when you’re working with millennial clients, many of whom live and breathe innovation in tech.
