The Best and Worst Things to Show on Office TVs

An office is a place where people are supposed to get work done, so you might be wondering why an office would install TVs in an office. Well, there are a number of reasons.

First, office TVs need not display entertainment content, but rather informational and inspirational content. Second, many businesses are starting to realize that the hours between 9am and 5pm need not only be filled with work and that there can be some benefits from providing spaces for employees to relax between lengths of hard work.

In this article, we go over the best and worst things that you can show on your office TVs so that you can take advantage of these tools for enhancing the employee experience and improving productivity.

The Best Things to Show on Office TVs

1. Inspirational Quotes

It's no secret that many people struggle to stay motivated while at work. There are many established ways to increase workplace motivation, such as bonuses, positive affirmations from managers, and other rewards, but workplace televisions open up a seemingly insignificant but ultimately effective way of providing daily motivation to employees.

One of the best things to display on office TVs is daily inspirational quotes. Unlike posters and signs, television content can be updated frequently and easily to keep the quotes fresh.

If people just see the same quote every day, it will ultimately lose its effect. But if there is a fresh motivational quote or multiple quotes each day, this kind of content can even be something that employees look forward to when they come to work.

It is really a simple task, but daily inspirational quotes on office TVs are a great way to improve the employee experience and increase productivity.

2. Important Deadlines

Another great thing to display on workplace televisions to keep employees on track and organized is to display important work deadlines.

These deadlines need not be just for one particular section of employees, though this can be beneficial as well, but can also show important deadlines for multiple departments of the business, so employees can see how their work fits into the greater strategy and goals pursued by the business as a whole.

Instead of employees knowing next to nothing about what the other departments are working on, they can instead feel that they are part of a connected organization that is greater than themselves and is working for specific goals.

Moreover, having deadlines displayed on highly visible TV screens can have a great effect on productivity and time management. Certainly, it is the role of the manager to keep employees informed about what they are supposed to be doing, but a lot of the time management and organization rests upon the employee’s shoulders.

Thus, having a reminder of certain deadlines can help employees organize their time and encourage them to be productive to meet their work goals.

3. Employee Communications

With the rise in the popularity of digital signage solutions, businesses from all types of sectors are realizing that communicating with employees through the visual medium of digital screens can be highly efficient and effective.

In fact, digital signage has the potential to revolutionize employee communications, and in many businesses it already has. Now, we mentioned digital signage, so we should at least give a quick primer on what we mean by that term so that you can understand the full potential of this technology.

Digital signage refers to the use of digital signage solutions to display visual and, sometimes, auditory, content from screens. Digital signage solutions typically include digital signage hardware, such as media players, and digital signage software, with which you can engage in content creation, content management, playlist curation, and content scheduling.

The types of content that you can display with high-end digital signage solutions like Loop TV include images, text, graphs, videos, animations, and much more. Now, it should be clear how office televisions equipped with digital signage functionality can be highly effective for employee communications.

For one, digital signage employee communications allow you to communicate with large numbers of people at the push of a button. Of course, email has traditionally been used for these purposes, but employees are far less likely to check messages as quickly or thoroughly as they will information on highly visible TV screens.

Moreover, the various types of content that you can use for digital signage means that information can be conveyed in innovative and creative ways, ultimately increasing attention to information and information comprehension among employees.

A simple example should suffice to show the potential usefulness of this technology. Imagine trying to explain recent business analytics through email. Now imagine that you can instantaneously display a graph with the information, along with a few clarifying comments on a digital screen. In many cases, the second option would be much preferable to the first.

Ultimately, effective communication with employees is something that every business should strive for. Well-informed employees will generally work better, work more productively, and feel happier doing work because they will clearly know what is expected of them.

Using office TVs paired with digital signage solutions for employee communications is a huge step in achieving these goals.

4. Employee Birthdays

It's always a good idea to make sure that employees feel like their employers care about them.

There are of course many different ways that employers can show employees that they are invested in their well-being and happiness, and digital signage offers the opportunity for one such example that is easy but will be much appreciated by employees.

On your office TVs, you can display a happy birthday message when it is an employee's birthday. This will be a great idea to display on multiple TVs or screens in the digital signage network, so that many people will see the birthday message and more people will wish the birthday-person a happy birthday, making them feel important and cared for.

A simple happy birthday is certainly sufficient, but a way to make this idea even more powerful is if each birthday announcement is accompanied by a personalized method, showing that the managers and employees have really put thought into making the birthday-person feel special that day.

5. Breakroom Entertainment

As we briefly discussed earlier, there are many businesses that are realizing that certain periods of relaxation during the workday can actually increase productivity of workers overall. One of the best places for relaxation is the breakroom.

In some companies, there will also be alternative spaces with a number of activities for employees to engage in while they are taking a break (such as ping pong) for example. Still, when it comes to spaces for relaxation, the television can play a large role.

While it is not recommended that you play movies or narrative based television shows on TVs in relaxation spaces, it can be a good idea to put on light entertainment like cooking shows or nature documentaries, content that will be interesting to workers without getting them so invested in what is displayed on the screens that they are distracted when they return to work.

6. Health Tips

Numerous research has shown that sitting down in a chair for long stretches of time, as often happens in many office environments, is detrimental to people’s health and long-term longevity.

However, there are many little things that people can do while they are working in the office to help mitigate the damaging effects of long periods of sedentary activity. Thus, one of the best things that offices can show on their televisions are health tips for employees. These could include getting up to walk a few steps every 25-45 minutes or simply a reminder that employees stay hydrated.

By displaying health tips on your digital screens, you will show that management really does care about the health of employees, and employees will greatly appreciate the care being shown by the management, as well as the information being shown so that they can maintain their health at work.

7. Exercise Content

While we discussed entertainment content in break rooms, some offices are really taking the emphasis on employee health to a new level. Many offices now have designated areas for employees to work out before work, during breaks, or after work.

In these spaces, it would be great to provide instructional and inspirational exercise content on the TVs in the space, so that employees can make the most of their exercise time, stay healthy, and feel productive.

The Worst Things to Show on Office TVs

1. Political Content

It is no secret that the political landscape in the United States is highly polarized and contentious. For this reason, it is generally best to keep politics outside of the office. If you are playing political content on your office TVs, this may lead to major disagreements and tension between employees.

Moreover, employees that do not agree with what is being said on the TVs will likely associate these views with those views held by management, and this will leave them feeling alienated and unhappy with their work environment.

Now, while many talk shows are explicitly political, it can sometimes be hard to discern whether certain news broadcasts will be interpreted as political. However, this really should not matter much. It's best to avoid playing both explicit political content and potentially political news broadcasts in the office.

Both would only serve to distract workers. Relaxing content like cooking shows and nature documentaries are very different from political or news content because employees won’t be thinking about what they have watched while they attempt to get back into the flow of work.

2. Movies and Narrative Television Shows

It seems obvious why movies and narrative TV shows would not be a good choice to play in the workspaces of the office. Just imagine how distracting that would be! But it may seem less obvious why these types of media are not a good choice for breakrooms or designated relaxation areas.

The fact is that even in break rooms or relaxation areas, this kind of media is too distracting, and in particular, too engrossing. People will start a movie during break, and they will not want to return to work, and when they do return to work, they will likely be thinking about the movie.

The same that has been said about movies applies to narrative TV shows which can be just as distracting and engrossing as movies. In general, it is simply best to avoid these types of media, especially when there are so many better options, as we have outlined above.

3. Explicit Content

Even though an office is typically filled with adults, this does not mean that it is a space where explicit content is appropriate. Moreover, what people consider explicit can differ greatly from person to person. For this reason it is always best to err on the safe side so no employees feel offended while they are in their workplace, which should be a safe space.

4. Religious Content

It is generally best to display religious content in offices. There are certainly some exceptions, such as businesses that expressly serve religious purposes or have built religion into their public image and the fabric of the business.

Still, for most businesses, it can be deemed offensive to display religious content. For one, the people in the office might have different religions or might not be religious at all.

By highlighting religious content, you always run the risk of alienating a certain subset of your employees, and for that reason, it is best avoided.

Using TVs to Optimize the Workplace

While many people associate TVs with entertainment, and thus, do not consider putting TVs in offices, we hope that this article has shown that TVs can play important roles in workspaces, ultimately motivating employees, improving communication, and providing light entertainment in designated relaxation spaces.

One of the best options that businesses have to gain all the functionality to display much of the content that we have discussed above is to go with a digital signage solution like that offered by Loop TV.

Loop TV’s digital signage solution will give you access to tons of content, as well as all the tools you could need for producing your own great content.