Happy, passionate and engaged employees are the foundation of any business. Not only are they more productive than disengaged or even average employees, but the quality of the work they’re able to accomplish is also far higher. Because of this, employee engagement is always a priority for managers in all industry. If you want to increase your efforts in this space as we move into the New Year and beyond, there are a number of key reasons why video is the opportunity that you’ve been looking for.
1. The Power of Video-Based Employee Training Programs
Employee training and education are cornerstones of your employee engagement efforts. If you want people to be able to effectively do their jobs, you need to make sure you’re giving them the tools they need to do so – and that includes the knowledge that helps them perform.
To that end, video-based employee training programs are an effective way to accomplish all of these goals, allowing you to provide, share and even manage knowledge in a meaningful way. Not only is video a naturally more effective learning tool than text alone, but with the right OTT service you can even keep track of which employees are watching which videos and allow them access to this content anywhere, from any device, at any time.
2. Professional Development is Tied to Employee Engagement
Along the same lines, we have the topic of professional development – something that most employees under the age of 25 rate as their most important driver in terms of engagement. Your employees don’t just want you to help them do their jobs better. They also expect you to help advance their skills and career opportunities within their chosen field. Finely crafted training and educational content delivered via video are one of the easiest, most engaging and most cost-effective ways to address these needs in your employees.
3. The Format is As Malleable as It is Powerful
Likewise, video is also a format that is naturally customizable – it can be anything your employees need it to be at any moment. Unlike sending people to an in-person lecture or even an educational seminar, video lets people learn at their own pace. They can continue their education on the commute to and from work and continue it when they get home via a VOD platform. They can stop, pause and restart a video as they see fit. You’re still providing all essential information, but you’re offering it on their terms – something that other formats just can’t accomplish.
4. Employee Engagement is a Two-Way Street
Another significant opportunity offered by video is the fact that you can finally act on all of the feedback that your employees are giving you. Video is easy to create and even easier to distribute, allowing you to craft lessons and resources around what your employees are actually looking for. That’s hard to do in more rigid, “one size fits all” educational formats like books or even long-form digital documents like white papers.
The fact that you’re listening to employees in this way sends a message that they’re valued, which only increases engagement across the board.
5. Employee-Generated Videos Are the Future
Continuing on with the idea of employee engagement being a two-way street, video as a medium also allows you the opportunity to not just let you help employees, but to let them help each other, too.
Employee-generated video content is a perfect chance to supplement your own efforts in a way that brings people together across an organization. People can collectively troubleshoot problems, share their stories or let people celebrate their successes – all in a way that lets people shine both as individuals and as the larger unit that they’re a part of.
6. Videos Are More Likely to Turn Employees Into Passionate Advocates
Finally, it’s important to understand that the key to employee engagement always begins with creating the type of company that people feel proud to work for in the first place. If you’re running the type of business that people are eager to tell their friends and family members about, they will and their engagement will rise as a result. If you’re not, they won’t. It doesn’t have to be much more complicated than that.
Remember that videos, in general, are shared at a rate of about 1200% more than other types of content. People love video, both with regards to what it brings to them and because of how it lets them express themselves. When you make video a part of your larger employee engagement efforts, you’re making sure that those gains don’t exist in a vacuum. You make it easier for engaged employees to share their enthusiasm with other people, particularly online. You don’t just have a group of people who are happy to show up to work every day – you’ve got a loyal army of advocates who want to do whatever it takes to help broadcast your message far and wide.
At that point, the enthusiasm of even a single person can create a snowball effect in the best possible way. It begins to feed itself and strengthen over time and, before you know it, you’re driving the types of productivity results that can sustain your business into the next decade. Employee advocates are now trusted two times more than your average CEO. If you want to create those advocates, video is how you do it.
