Digital signs keep Eli Lilly employees in the loop

Is it time to abandon old-fashioned ways of communicating within your company?

Digital signs and billboards with colorful advertisements pop up along freeways and in restaurants, elevators and stores. But in office lunchrooms, breakrooms and lobbies?

Eli Lilly and Company uses digital signage in the form of TV screens (affectionately called LillyTV) that feature, not advertisements, but company news in the places their employees linger. While waiting for coffee, the elevator or an ATM, employees turn to LillyTV for the latest headlines, pictures and videos of company news and local or international events.

Not only is LillyTV an instant way to distribute company news, it reaches employees who don’t sit in front of a computer.

“In manufacturing, people don’t have their own computer, they don’t sit at a desk often, so they don’t see the company Web site, e-mails or newsletters,” says Chris Bias, senior internal communications associate. “But [now] they can get the information too, because it’s in their break room.”

What’s more, a survey taken last year showed 64 percent of employees watched the screens at least once per day.