Why video is the killer app for creating compelling employee experiences

Serge van Dam

Video is eating the world. It’s as true for companies as it is for consumers — and yes, this includes yours.

Typical key outcomes include:

The activities required to achieve these objectives are your usual mix of HR practices:

They can ALL be improved by using video!

Imagine video job descriptions, starring the employing manager and team. Wouldn’t that give candidates a much better idea of the business culture, and the personalities of the people they’d be working with?

Imagine explaining a stock option scheme via an interactive video, rather than a 60 page regulatory document. Wouldn’t participation increase if people don’t have to work so hard to understand what’s involved?

Why is video the killer app? Here’s eight compelling reasons (there are more!):

By its very nature video needs more human involvement than other forms of media. It literally puts faces to names, bringing the human back to human resources.

Video brings its own context. You don’t need a 40-page strategic plan to provide background for viewers. Video provides context in seconds, as part of the content.

On average, video is 3x more engaging than other media: it gets three times more watches, comments, shares.

Modern video platforms will provide your HR team with data about who watched what and when. You can also find out which parts they viewed more than once (or skipped!) so you can iterate and improve quickly.

Video doesn’t have to be just faces on camera. You can include infographics, documents, interactivity… use video to aggregate the media and content you already have, and make it more engaging.

It is far easier to showcase your tone, brand and personality in video than any other medium. If authenticity matters to you and your employee experience, video is an easy choice.

Ultimately, HR activities require employees to do something: review performance, choose a compensation plan or complete a reference check the right way. Video accelerates paths to action.

So you want to use video for EX transformation. Getting started is easier than it might seem.

My advice:

2) Hire a ‘video dude’ for your HR department, even if it’s just on a temporary basis. Once you have one of these capable experts on board, you will be amazed how easy and speedy it can be to get things done.

3) Experiment across the employee experience spectrum. Your ‘sweet spot’ for video may be training and development, or it may be job descriptions or internal communications. Try a few video experiments out and see what works for your own company.

When it comes to transforming the employee experience, video is the killer app! What are you waiting for?

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