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Why and How Can Internal Video Help You Boost Employee Morale?

For most office-based employees, “work” no longer represents a physical location. In fact, 84% of people who worked remotely during the pandemic said they intended to mix home and office-based work when the lockdown ended. Now, with hybrid and remote work models defining so much of modern work life, employers are rightfully concerned that employees are feeling increasingly disconnected and disengaged. This is why many are turning to technology like internal video to help improve employee communications.

For some time now, savvy HR and marketing professionals have recognized the importance of video communication. And they’re onto something. For example, research says employees are 75% more likely to watch a video than read an email. People have discovered the convenience and effectiveness of video. And they’re not going back.

How Can Internal Video Improve Employee Experience?

This post-pandemic era promises greater scheduling flexibility, improved work/life balance, and happier employees. But it is also introducing a variety of challenges for employers to address.

For example, it’s harder to reach and engage people who work on a remote or hybrid schedule. When left unchecked over time, this distance can erode connections with managers, colleagues, and company culture. Without access to clear, consistent communication and recognition from managers, employees are at risk of feeling increasingly undervalued, disillusioned, and unmotivated to work.

If the pandemic taught us anything about the future of work, it’s that organizations must evolve so people stay connected, even when they’re not at the office. Over the past three years, video has played an important role in filling that gap, connecting leaders and teams through video conferencing, webinars, online learning, and study resources.

Every great company wants to create a positive employee experience and a strong company culture. And one of the most effective ways to achieve this is through enhanced communication. So, in today’s digital world, what better way to ensure that team members stay connected and informed than through internal video?

Benefits of Internal Video

There are multiple reasons why it makes sense to leverage internal video to boost staff morale. For example:

1. Video is highly effective

Whether it’s a company update or new sales strategy, internal video is the best communication format available. But it can be even more effective when combined with the power of email. Email is a great tool — and it’s clearly the most dominant business communication tool. But you can achieve much more by incorporating video.

For instance, instead of writing a hefty block of static text to communicate an important employee update via email, try writing a brief introductory one-liner and embedding a video into the message.

Video is much more engaging than written copy. That’s because people absorb video content more quickly and effectively. You can also convey much more with video than a text-based message. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then as Dr. James McQuivey puts it, a single minute of video is worth about 1.8 million words.

2. Video can illustrate complex information in a simple way

The success of a business is measured by more than just revenue and profit. It’s also about communication. Without effective internal communication, important information can get lost in translation and employees can become frustrated. This is where videos can help to transmit information in a simple, clear, and digestible way.

Studies show that videos can improve a person’s ability to remember concepts and details. In fact, when people watch a video message, they retain 95% of the message, compared with only 10% if they read the same message in written form.

3. Video helps employers connect with employees

Communication is a two-way street. It’s not enough to simply pass information along to team members. Particularly when working remotely, it’s important that staff actively develop trusted working relationships, and feel they are working together toward the same goals.

By sending regular video updates, you can bridge the gap between your onsite team and those who work remotely at least part of the time. When employees feel more connected with each other and your organization, they’ll be in a frame of mind to collaborate and perform well.

When Internal Video Can Help You Improve Company Culture

For internal corporate videos that will improve your company culture and boost morale, you’ll want to build a library of video templates. This can help you jumpstart new content production, and simplify updates whenever they’re required. Here are some recommended types of internal video to help you improve employee morale:

1. Make onboarding easier for new employees

A proper new-hire orientation is a highly effective way to help people feel welcomed and valued. In fact, thoughtful onboarding is proven to help people become more excited about their role, which in turn reduces turnover.

But onboarding can be overwhelming. New hires are typically required to absorb huge amounts of information from Day One. Traditionally, this process involves serious paperwork and in-person training.

This is one reason why induction through video training is gaining popularity. Pre-recorded videos are an efficient, effective way to present orientation information in a reusable format that significantly reduces the need for one-on-one training. By watching and learning at their own pace, employees can quickly get a sense of your company’s culture and what’s expected of them. 

2. CEO messages

In larger companies, employees — particularly newer or more junior staff — have minimal contact with the CEO. This limits opportunities to develop workforce trust and loyalty. However, by broadcasting internal video messages, a CEO can communicate about the organization’s ongoing objectives and challenges in a personal and convincing way.

It can be difficult to achieve this same direct connection with text-based email. That’s because a memo or letter can be written by anybody. Also, many people are better at in-person communication than in writing. A video demonstrates executive leadership qualities in real time, and shows how much your leaders value the opportunity to speak directly with employees about issues that matter to them.

3. Company updates

One thing is for certain — everything changes. But this doesn’t mean people are always comfortable with change. If employees are left in the dark about organizational change, it can damage staff morale as well as productivity. Timely, clear, transparent communication can minimize anxiety about business change. This is why well-crafted internal video content can help.

Internal video can be used not only to discuss the details of any organizational change, but also help employees understand the beneficial impact expected from these changes. Video gives organizations more control over the type of messages you’re sharing, as well as the pace and timing. This can minimize rumors, cut down on speculation, and give employees a forum where they can address common concerns.

4. Training and education

Training employees can be time-intensive. It can take days or weeks to address all the  requirements of a role, and how to perform effectively in that context. But new learning tools make it easy to develop and deliver internal video content for job training, how-to tutorials, skills development, compliance, and more.

Video media is particularly valuable for continuous learning, because it lets people learn at their own pace, without disrupting day-to-day responsibilities. Whenever an employee has a break in their work schedule, they can simply click on a relevant training video and resume watching from wherever they left off in their previous session. It’s a highly convenient option.

What’s more, video can help employers standardize training content and learning experiences in ways that one-on-one or even group training cannot.

5. Team and morale building

Video is a highly personal form of communication. After watching a video, people are more likely to feel a connection with the speaker. By creating this type of personal relationship with employees, they’re likely to feel part of the same team.

To rejuvenate employee connections, create some fun and exciting video updates about what’s happening day-to-day across your company. Did you recently bring on a new client? Did you just close a huge deal? Are sales up from last quarter? Has a team just completed an ambitious new project?

These are things employees want to hear about. Everyone wants to feel they contribute to their company’s success. Seeing these accomplishments highlighted in video honors the moment and reminds employees how important they are to your organization’s achievements.

Final Notes on the Power of Internal Video

Communication is the backbone of any company’s culture. And video media is a highly personal way to reach out to employees, build connections, and strengthen cultural bonds.

Employee-focused videos keep everyone in the know. They offer understanding about rules and standards, shared values, accomplishments and business progress. Now that video communication has become a highly accessible medium for all of us, it’s worth investing time and energy to embed video messaging into every aspect of the employee experience.

Photo Evgeni Tcherkasski

Corporate Communications During A Crisis

It seems like the world is constantly changing day to day as we learn more about the global pandemic we’re facing with COVID-19. None of us know for sure what’s going to happen a week from now, or even a few days from now. But if you have employees depending on you, it’s important to stay in constant communication with them, even when you don’t have all the answers. Your employees want to know you’re in this with them, and at a time when you can’t exactly meet with them, communicating by video is likely the safest bet. But what’s the best way to do that, and how can you ensure your video is addressing the right points and not getting interrupted by technical difficulties, such as poor streaming quality? 

These four tips include the best strategies for employing corporate communications via video during a crisis: 

Communicate Early and Often 

You might not have all the answers right now, but that doesn’t mean you should delay communicating with your employees. In fact, if you waited until you knew everything there is to know about COVID-19 or other crises you might face, your corporate communications would be nonexistent. Your employees don’t expect you to have all the answers; they just want to be clued in on what you know. And considering that Gartner found that more people are listening to brands and corporations than politicians these days, it’s important that you get out your message as soon as possible. Your employees are waiting to hear from you. 

So as soon as you’re aware of the next steps your company is taking, communicate your plans to your team. Try to provide any updates by video every couple of days. And if you’re still working on solutions, let your employees know so they have some idea of what might happen. You might even want to let them provide their input on your decisions through a live video meeting that allows the whole company to watch and offer feedback at the same time. Just be sure you have the technology in place to handle this, to ensure your video streams smoothly without crashing any networks.  

Focus on the Facts

No matter how often you communicate with employees, be sure to stick to the facts that will affect them. This means you shouldn’t try to speculate on what may or may not happen. You don’t want to give unfounded or inaccurate information, and you definitely don’t want to cause panic among your employees, so avoid any doom and gloom talk. 

Instead, offer accurate information that directly affects your employees, such as what you’re doing to protect them, or which day your offices will be closing if that’s the plan. You should also steer them toward the websites of reputable resources, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) or the CDC. You want your employees to not only be properly informed, but also know where to go if they want to research further. 

Be Authentic and Engaging 

According to Recruiter, 33% of employees said a lack of open, honest communication has the most negative impact on employee morale. Experts tend to agree that the most trusted type of communication is face to face. This way, your audience can see your nonverbal cues and study your facial expressions to determine if you’re being genuine while you deliver your message. And that is very important for corporate communications during a crisis. Of course, in-person meetings are out while COVID-19 is a major concern, which is why video is your best option if you want face-to-face communication with your employees. 

The good news is that video is extremely engaging, and superior engagement is important when you’re communicating with an audience during a crisis. Consider the fact that the average video viewer remembers 95% of the message he or she just watched, but only 10% of the message he or she just read. Plus, employees are 75% more likely to watch a video than read an email, blog post, or other documents. So you have a better chance of getting your message across with a video when you want to reach your employees. As long as you and your team are authentic and empathetic during the video, engagement shouldn’t be an issue. 

Analyze Your Video Engagement 

You already know your engagement will be higher when you communicate via video. But exactly how much engagement did you get with your latest video, and how did it compare to the video you created before that? Is there a way to improve your video communications before you release another one? You’ll get answers to these questions when you start using analytics for all your corporate videos. 

Basically, you need to know how many people watched your video, how many people stopped watching halfway through, what the streaming quality was like, and more. Knowing these metrics can pinpoint how to improve the next video you release to employees. And considering that you need to be communicating often during a crisis, it’s helpful to get the metrics right away and quickly apply the insights to your next video. 

The easiest way to analyze your videos is by using an analytics service. This service should offer a range of statistics on your videos, like aggregated event metrics that can tell you details that include viewer participation, viewing time, quality of experience, network impact, streaming performance, and more. Analytics can also give you ranking lists, text and map-based filtering, and network visualizations that tell you how live streaming video has impacted your network. 

When you have the right corporate communications strategy in place during a crisis, you have the power to reassure your employees during tough times. This can keep company-wide panic to a minimum and ensure your employees can put their trust in your business. Video communications will help you inform and engage your employees, but your videos have to be of good quality to be effective. And video analytics will tell you if they are — or if you need to change a few details in order to better reach and reassure your team. 

#WorkTrends Recap: Lights. Camera. Action. = Video Power

Have you noticed how popular video has become? It just keeps growing in popularity! Do you use video in your workplace? Well, if you want to know about video, this is the topic for you. Today, I hosted a special guest who knows a lot about the value that video brings to so many aspects of our business world.

On this week’s #WorkTrends show I was joined by guest Chris Savage, the CEO and co-founder of Wistia, a very popular video marketing and analytics platform.

Chris talked to us about how using video as a call-to-action via various forms of communications increases response rates and helps (in a huge way) to achieve recruiting, marketing, and sales goals. That’s pretty impressive, right?

Chris also shared some powerful tips with the TalentCulture community:

  • Video is an excellent tactic for explaining things. Be you and share what you know. It’s very effective and builds credibility to have experts on screen
  • Videos are the perfect vehicle for storytelling! Video works incredibly well to communicate complex messages
  • The Three“Must-Dos”of video are: Explain a solution linearly to automate, build a connection with the audience, and get on camera.

Did you miss the show? You can listen to the #WorkTrends podcast on our BlogTalk Radio channel here: http://bit.ly/2et24zw

You can also check out the highlights of the conversation from our Storify here:

Didn’t make it to this week’s #WorkTrends show? Don’t worry. You can tune in and participate in the podcast and chat with us every Wednesday from 1-2pm ET (10-11am PT). Next week, on Nov 2, I will be joined by Jessica Miller-Merrell, VP of Talent Strategies at Advanced Group and founder of Blogging4Jobs.com.

Remember, the TalentCulture #WorkTrends conversation continues every day across several social media channels. Stay up-to-date by following our #WorkTrends Twitter stream; pop into our LinkedIn group to interact with other members; or check out our Google+ community. Engage with us any time on our social networks, or stay current with trending World of Work topics on our website or through our weekly email newsletter.

photo credit: elvisripley jobes 10.jpg via photopin (license)

"No Labels" Workforce: Sneak Peek Videos

(Editorial Note: Want to read the RECAP of this week’s events? See The Best-of-All-Ages Workplace #TChat Recap)

Age discrimination. Sometimes it’s very subtle. Sometimes it’s painfully obvious. Either way, it still can play a role in workplace culture. How can organizations move beyond the labels that hold back individuals, teams and corporate performance?

That’s our focus this week in the TalentCulture community. Our guests sat down for several minutes in Google+ Hangouts with me to discuss several key issues. Check it out:

One of our very own #TChat Ambassadors, Ashley Lauren Perez, defines key terms and offers advice for professionals who are considered part of “Generation Y”…

Next, Ashley’s boss, John Wilson, Founder and CEO WilsonHCG.com briefly explains why labels don’t make sense in the world of work…

It promises to be a fascinating week! The more voices who join the conversation, the better.

So join us at #TChat events this week, where we’ll take a closer look at labels in the workplace, and how to build cultures that value diversity in all of its forms:

NOTE: If you don’t see the G+ Hangout videos above in this post, you can watch them on YouTube:

“No Labels” Workforce: Sneak Peek Videos

(Editorial Note: Want to read the RECAP of this week’s events? See The Best-of-All-Ages Workplace #TChat Recap)

Age discrimination. Sometimes it’s very subtle. Sometimes it’s painfully obvious. Either way, it still can play a role in workplace culture. How can organizations move beyond the labels that hold back individuals, teams and corporate performance?

That’s our focus this week in the TalentCulture community. Our guests sat down for several minutes in Google+ Hangouts with me to discuss several key issues. Check it out:

One of our very own #TChat Ambassadors, Ashley Lauren Perez, defines key terms and offers advice for professionals who are considered part of “Generation Y”…

Next, Ashley’s boss, John Wilson, Founder and CEO WilsonHCG.com briefly explains why labels don’t make sense in the world of work…

It promises to be a fascinating week! The more voices who join the conversation, the better.

So join us at #TChat events this week, where we’ll take a closer look at labels in the workplace, and how to build cultures that value diversity in all of its forms:

NOTE: If you don’t see the G+ Hangout videos above in this post, you can watch them on YouTube:

Caught on Video — The Employee Lifecycle: #TChat Preview

Breaking news: Video is being used in the workplace for recruiting and talent management. It’s a technology that supports social collaboration and interaction, but do company leaders see it that way, too, or mostly as an aid to surveillance? Put differently, have attitudes progressed to view video as a two-way tool? And which leaders are using video to train employees who work from remote locations? After all, we are a global workforce.

The answer: Yes, all of the above, and a lot more. Video is bigger than Lolcats on YouTube; it’s a legitimate business tool. Companies that are using tele-presence technologies to support global team interaction and collaboration are also increasingly turning to video for HR support, and uses now range from interviews to managing remote teams and providing learning content for a decentralized workforce. Safety training is a big application, and other workplace learning opportunities have been in place for a while.

And what can we make of amateur user-generated video? The barrier to entry couldn’t be lower. Web cams are embedded in most mobile phones, tablets and laptops; it’s a technology that appeals far beyond Gen Y. Tell the truth: How many video Skype conversations have you had with your parents in the past year? Did you know Skype supported 32 million concurrent conversations recently?

Some of the most practical applications of video are for job seekers — e.g., video resumes. Check out ResumeTube and BrightTab, for instance. More applicants are putting these together, but it’s unclear to what extent video resumes will supplant, rather than supplement, the traditional resume. Actually, plenty of technology threatens resumes’ turf, but that is a conversation encompassing more than video. Suffice it to say that video resumes may edge out first-level phone screening over the short term. Furthermore, more companies are using video interviews; again, however, it’s unclear, when, if, and how quickly these will replace traditional interviews, or if video interviews will become the new first-level applicant screening tool.

Because video is a form of in-real-life (IRL) interaction, we believe the technology has potential to make the workplace more productive (as long as your Internet connection speeds are up to snuff). Nevertheless, the use of video may sometimes be inappropriate in the workplace — e.g., to convey employee sanctions, to negotiate get-well plans and short-term objectives, and to terminate employment.

And look at it this way: There’s nothing like a real, signed letter to make a job offer sing. Video can’t do that.

Because “video in the workplace” is a large topic, and because there are still many open questions about workplace privacy rights and the application of this technology to the benefit of HR, it’s a perfect topic for this week’s TalentCulture #TChat.

Here are a few of the questions we’ll be discussing:

[listly id=”qF” theme=”light” layout=”full” numbered=”yes” image=”yes” items=”all”]

Please join us Wednesday night for #TChat. That’s Febraury 29 — don’t forget: Leap Year has given us an extra bit of February. Fire up Twitter at 7-8 pm ET (6-7 CT, 4-5 pm PT, or wherever you are) to join me and moderator Maren Hogan, as well as Sean Charles, Kyle Lagunas and the newest addition to our team, Brent Skinner. Usual #TChat mainstay Kevin Grossman is in Austin, Texas, this week to attend TLNT Transform, but even he might swoop in for a tweet or two. We won’t be using webcams, but we’ll be visualizing all of you. Talk to you (see you) Wednesday.

Workplace Messaging: Stepping into Mobile Collaboration

A few weeks ago, I was at SXSW (also known as Spring Break for Nerds) with three colleagues. We all had completely different schedules planned and completely different agendas, but had to come together once each day to film our daily episode of TechInterruption. If you’ve ever been to SXSW, you know that trying to attend panels and trying to meet up with people are mutually exclusive activities.

At the beginning of my stay in Austin, I was on the hunt for the hot breakout technology of 2011. But most of the hallway chatter was about transmedia (old news), the location-based services wars (which don’t actually exist) and gamification (which many folks were not high on).

The only redeeming “new tech” factor at SXSW this year was Group Messaging. Group Messaging essentially takes the online chartrooms of our AOL days and brings them to a streamlined mobile experience. Popular Group Messaging apps include GroupMe, Kik, Beluga and Fast Society, many of which integrate with SMS (which is just fancy talk for regular old texting).

The messages sent over these applications generally reach their destinations faster than texts. They also further indicate a shift to data plan-dependent mobile ecosystems. In other words, soon you’ll only need a mobile device (or table) and a data plan (with no voice or text plan from your wireless provider) to make calls over the web and to send text-based messages.

So my colleagues and I saved hours of texting and calling each other individually to coordinate meeting times by using Group Messaging technology. Collaboration 2.0 for the win. No, the technology is not sexy. It’s not ground-breaking. It’s old, proven and time-tested technology playing out in a new forum on mobile devices. What made it remarkable at SXSW and what will continue to make it remarkable moving forward is how people innovate by using the technology.

From a workplace perspective, Group Messaging will forever change remote collaboration on time-sensitive projects that require quick answers. Communities will use it to quickly connect people with local interests, thereby assisting serendipitous meet-ups. Students will use it in the classroom to provide backchannel commentary during lectures…and probably collaboratively cheat.

Group Messaging is here to stay in one form or another. As always, feel free to share thoughts and ideas.

Image VIA Andy Mihail

Taking Over the World With Social, Mobile & Video Rock Stars

Yes, we want to take over the world.  Our monster end-of-year #TChat show about how social, mobile and video as rock stars impact workplace culture and predictions for 2011 was a rousing success.

Over 1,500 smarty pants tweets in the hour alone.  A hat tip and a thank you to all of you who did.

Top Contributors included:

  1. @talentculture – 315
  2. @meghanmbiro – 147
  3. @KevinWGrossman – 120
  4. @LevyRecruits – 73
  5. @dawnrasmussen – 67
  6. @jillianwalker – 64
  7. @tedcoine – 57
  8. @DrJanice – 53
  9. @IanMondrow – 50
  10. @EmilieMeck – 47

We referenced social, mobile and video as “rock stars” — even though we meant they are figurative rock stars and wanted to discuss their impact on workplace culture.

But some of the discussion morphed to literal social media rock stars in organizations today, and that’s okay.  In fact, much of the conversation was about how companies could better perform by allowing social to permeate.

And video and mobile are the two dots they’re connected to with dotted lines to us all…

Companies that don’t allow social media are killing their brand ambassadors.

Amen to that.

Here were some of everyone’s 2011 Predictions:

  • Mobile/virtual workforce on the rise. Video conferencing and coworking are where it’s at in 2011.
  • Companies will wake up and develop more inclusive SM policies at work.
  • HR will have to ROCK in 2011 if it wants to remain relevant. It will and the gap between SM and practitioner will shrink.
  • I am expecting that Role-Based Assessment will rock and roll in 2011.
  • Google to buy FB. FB to be Google. Googling your employees now unravels their whole life & danger zone commences.
  • Closer joining up of social networks. less engagment in channels. More use of 3rd party apps.
  • Lines moving between trad. old school ‘work’ continue to get erased as more people stay connected.
  • Companies are going to go to their legal dpt to define ‘privacy’ as lines between work / play get blurred.
  • Increased buy-in & participation from corp. leaders to join the conversation (social media).
  • Traditional workplaces will continue to un-teether and ppl will have to find new creative ways to connect via SM. Hello cloud!
  • More tools will become available to consolidate our SM.
  • Global concerns about privacy will slow personal SMV growth as companies trip over themselves to push out more “relevant” content.
  • Companies incorporate multimedia interviews in their hiring strategy!
  • In 2011 LinkedIn will reveal more strategies that require people to purchase premium memberships.
  • SM for the team – coming soon, because first you have to measure networking quality!

Meghan added at the end:

“My 2010 prediction held true. Workplace Brands = An intricate collection of Personal Brands :-) So much more to talk about!”

So let’s do that next time on Tuesday, January 4, 2011, from 8-9 p.m. ET.  We’re going to continue workplace culture predictions for 2011 and talk more about what they mean!

#TChat wouldn’t be what it was without all of you, so thank you again!  Happiest of Holidays to you all!

Impact of Social, Mobile and Video on Workplace Culture: #TChat Preview

I remember way back in the fall of 2009 (yes, it feels that way), both at the HR Technology Conference and Onrec, that the three technology workplace culture rock stars of 2010 were going to be:

  • Social
  • Mobile
  • Video

And for the most part, they were.  Not in a mass adoption sense — it’s still too early even today for that.  But we definitely saw a lot of cool new applications and lots of talk about all three — from business leaders, HR and recruiting icons, HR technology suppliers and individual contributors.

But how did those rock stars affect everyday workplace culture in 2010?  For better or for worse?  Did they make us feel more interconnected and interdependent, or did they just continue to disrupt and destroy any semblance of productivity and growth we convinced ourselves we had?  Did they help better recruit and retain?  Grow the business?  Or not?

Last week on #TChat we talked about workplace culture and what makes them magnetic.  This week on Tuesday, 12/21, from 8-9 p.m. ET (5-6 p.m. PT) we’re going to talk about how social, mobile and video impacted culture in 2010.

And then we’re going to talk about what’s in store for workplace culture in 2011.  More of the same?  Or how about more c0working as well as dispersed virtual teams?

Learn more about what #TChat is here.  We hope to see you this Tuesday, December 21, from 8-9 p.m. ET (5-6 p.m. PT).  (Please note, we’ll be taking a #TChat holiday on 12/28, but will be back live on Tuesday, January 4, 2011.)

Crowdsourcing For Your Business Or Community

Crowdsourcing. It’s more than just a popular buzzword.

It’s a really useful community knowledge-sharing technique. Think of it as an open call for tasks, information or data collection – mostly through new media technology.

Often, a passionate, informed crowd can much more powerful in generating ideas or offering solutions  than an isolated individual, business or closed community.

Here’s How Crowdsourcing Works:

1) You identify and define a problem or a need.
2) You broadcast that need online and call for solutions.
3) An online crowd discovers that call and collectively contributes solutions.
4) You use the crowd’s suggestions to choose a way to fix your problem and reward the individuals who developed that suggestion.
5) In the end, you’ve fixed your problem and the passionate crowd gets that feel-good reward of helping someone out. Everybody wins.

 

Examples from the video:

NotchUp
Cambrian House

Another example of crowdsourcing at work:
Waze is a turn-by-turn navigation system that has been mapped and tagged entirely by its users. It’s a mobile application that aims to make driving a smoother and more social experience by giving users the power to inform other drives of speed traps, traffic delays, accidents and more all while their phones send geo-data to the waze network. Check it out at waze.com.

Image Credit: Pixabay