No Email? No Problem. Why Digital Signage is Perfect for Deskless Workers

You really have to wonder if some companies place less value on their deskless and non-wired employees than their office-based and connected colleagues.

How else can this unacceptable statistic be explained: deskless/non-wired employees—traditionally considered unreachable or difficult to reach—are not only in the top 10 barriers to success in Gallagher’s State of the Sector 2024 report, but it jumped three places since last year.

Yes, the situation is getting worse, not better, even though there’s a powerful and proven solution for people who don’t have access to traditional communication channels like email or mobile: digital signage.

Whether non-wired,deskless employees work on factory floors, warehouses, retail outlets, hotels, casinos, or airports, modern digital signage is an immensely flexible way of keeping them connected, informed, productive, and engaged.

And we’re not talking about a small minority of the world’s workforce here. Quite the contrary: around 80% of workers globally, 2.8 billion people, are deskless.

That’s not to say that every company is missing the opportunity to reach and connect with their deskless employees. Poppulo’s digital signage platform is a critical communication tool for companies ranging from Daimler to the Hilton Group, Delta Air, the US wholesaler Ferguson, and more.

It’s no surprise that leading organizations are turning to digital signage, a fact that Gallagher’s recent report also underlines. When comparing the results from the last two years, it’s clear that perceptions around digital signage are shifting, with a 6% increase in usage and a 24%increase in the perceived effectiveness over last year.

And that’s solely related to the usage of digital signage for employee communications—it doesn’t even touch on the many other applications the technology powers for global businesses.

Key Digital Signage Applications for Employee Communications

• Enabling Real-Time Updates: Digital signage delivers instant alerts and information that can be prominently displayed where deskless workers are located, increasing the likelihood of message absorption.
• Driving Productivity: Displaying performance metrics, goals, and targets in real-time can motivate employees to meet objectives and drive productivity. A 2018 survey by Emergence Capital showed productivity was the No. 1 reason companies invested in deskless technology.
• Promoting Safety: Anything to do with employee safety is critically important. Signage is very effective for communicating safety procedures, emergency protocols, and hazard alerts to prioritize compliance and employee safety and reduce recordable incidents.
• Providing Training and Onboarding: Training materials and onboarding resources can be delivered directly to the workplace, facilitating continuous learning and development for deskless workers.
• Amplifying Company Culture: Digital Signage is ideal for giving high visibility to company values, mission statements, and success stories to reinforce organizational culture and inspire employee alignment.
• Highlighting Events and Programs: Signage is an effective way to promote upcoming events, highlight past events, and promote wellness and other programs or initiatives.
• Showcasing Employee Recognition: Enabling peers and managers to highlight individuals who exceed expectations—on digital signage located in common areas—can help engage employees and reduce churn.

As these examples highlight, digital signage could easily be described as a peerless technology for employee communications across most industries and sectors—because they are all industry-agnostic.

We haven’t even touched on the more industry-specific applications yet. If you’re interested in finding out about the most prevalent digital signage applications in your industry, we’d love to hear from you—we’re here to help.

Digital signage can also complement other communication challenges by integrating with existing channels such as mobile applications and employee portals. Organizations can ensure consistent and cohesive communication strategies tailored to diverse employee demographics and preferences by synchronizing messaging across multiple platforms.

So, getting back to where we started, why is the problem of reaching deskless and non-wired employees becoming a bigger problem for internal communicators than it should be when the solution is so obvious and so beneficial to companies?

The answer may lie in another statistic from Gallagher’s State of the Sector 2024 report: in the top 5 barriers to success sits, yet again, “internal technology/channels not fit for purpose.”

Simply put, companies are failing to adequately invest in communication technologies that enable better connection with their employees, even though employee experience, workplace experience, and customer experience are completely interlinked and interdependent.

And communication is the oil that ensures all moving parts work smoothly together for the benefit of the company, its people, and its customers.

Given that deskless and non-wired employees can feel out of the communications loop due to circumstances beyond their control, this can worsen feelings of disconnection from the organization, impacting engagement and increasing churn.

Companies who are content to allow this situation to continue should consider the high cost they’re paying for this ill-advised strategy.

They should also consider the proven benefits digital signage can bring to their so-called “unreachable” employees—and the financial bottom line. The technology presents a compelling solution for reaching and engaging non-wired, deskless workers, unlocking a myriad of benefits ranging from enhanced visibility and real-time updates to improved engagement and productivity.

By embracing this highly innovative technology and leveraging its full potential, organizations can cultivate a more connected, informed workforce empowered for success in the digital age—regardless of how many deskless employees they have.