As the world becomes mobile (and global), the definition of “what makes a workplace?” is changing. Organizations have embraced the distributed workforce with over half of professionals surveyed by Gallup working always (33%) or sometimes (25%) away from the office.
With more people working remotely and abroad, businesses need to adapt how they communicate with their teams, regardless of their location. But how? More and more, we’re seeing that when companies leverage internal comms video, communication as a whole becomes more effective.
So if you’re thinking of dabbling in a virtual training, or looking to live stream a town hall to thousands of employees around the world, now is the time.
In this article, we’ll share five important reasons you should consider using video as a communication tool.
1. Effectively train and onboard teams
A distributed workforce comes with challenges. A recent report compiled by Vimeo and GlobalWebIndex found 35% of HR professionals face significant hurdles with training and onboarding employees virtually.
This can have a serious impact on employees. To make sure they don’t miss out on crucial education and mentoring, consider virtual training and onboarding practices.
For example, Axalta uses virtual training to skill up their workforce. The key to a successful virtual training plan? Great content.
Steve Hamaday, Virtual Training Manager at Axalta, experienced this first hand when his team began implementing live virtual trainings.
2. Engage a global workforce
Scaling corporate communications can be difficult for even the biggest brands. Thankfully, a hunger for innovation coupled with the right video communication tool can turn a workforce with thousands of employees into a strong, centralized community.
For example, Rite Aid rewrote their corporate playbook by pivoting from in-person meetings to virtual town halls. The result? The ability to reach more associates and a desire to run more live events.
3. Close the communication gap
The data shows a sharp disconnect between senior leadership and employees in how they perceive the effectiveness— and the frequency— of their communications. Specifically, 54% of execs say that they stream major company updates at least weekly while only 20% of employees agree.
To bridge the gap, executives should consider increasing communications across all channels. Just keep in mind that creating or doubling down on an internal comms video strategy is only as effective as the content of the communication itself. Leadership teams should lean into authenticity and transparency to help get their message across.
Authenticity combined with video technology can have real impact on the future. Employees at video-forward companies were over 70% more likely to say their company was ready to face the future of work.
For more executive comms strategies and tips, check out our Workplace Communications Workshop with leaders at Outreach, Meetup, Care.com, and Vimeo.
4. Drive efficiency with internal comms video
Work and collaboration have fundamentally changed in the last year. And with that, teams are on the hunt for tools to increase efficiency, streamline communications, and adapt to any workplace environment.
From our experience, we’ve discovered two impactful ways video can help with workplace efficiency.
The first driver is live streaming internal content. For example Deloitte leveraged a live streaming platform to enable seamless internal communication with their vast global network and better connect its teams.
“Before, we’d hear people say they weren’t getting important information in other ways — like in a PDF that was sent out, and just got glanced over in an email,” says Michael Weinstein, Video Studio Lead at Deloitte Global. “When it’s live, you really hear that person, you can communicate with them, and it humanizes them, as well.”
Learn more about how Deloitte uses live video for their corporate communications initiatives below:
The second efficiency driver is screen recording. When you add tools like Vimeo Record into team workflows, it can minimize the number of meetings and provide training opportunities, all while keeping projects moving.
5. Scale knowledge sharing opportunities
Knowledge sharing is important for workplace success. From training, mentoring, and onboarding, knowledge sharing is important for accelerating employee growth and happiness.
Hosting video recordings (like town halls and training) in a video library can provide new hires and legacy employees the needed tools to succeed at work.
Our comprehensive guide, The Essential Corporate Comms Toolkit, can help you make sense of how companies of all sizes leverage live video to create engaging meetings for every employee, no matter where they are.
Wrap up: redefine how we work with video
The distributed mindset calls for a change in how we work, communicate, and collaborate with teams. All-in-one video solutions can help provide secure and flexible communications to keep business moving.
As the definition of where we work changes, don’t get caught up in outdated forms of communications. Reimagine how to make teams successful and bring the tools and transparency that help them achieve their best work.
Originally published on June 12, 2019 and updated on April 7, 2021.