45% of US employees work remotely at least some of the time.
There are a ton of advantages to this arrangement, both for employees and the companies they work for. But there are disadvantages, too, many of which revolve around communication.
54% of remote workers feel disconnected from their companies. These feelings of disconnection often lead to low team morale, subpar work, and an underlying resentment.
Guess what unhappy workers do: they leave.
This is a problem, because employee turnover is expensive. According to Gallup, the cost of replacing an individual employee ranges from 50 to 200% of their annual salary.
The question is, why do remote employees feel disconnected from their companies? And what can those companies do to fix the problem?
As it turns out, the answer to this problem can be solved, at least in part, through one of the biggest internal comms trends of 2022: video.
Video might be the most important internal comms trend of 2022
One of the reasons remote employees feel disconnected is because most companies use text-heavy messages to communicate with them. Internal emails, Slack messages, and company intranet posts are usually filled with long blocks of words, word, and more words.
Text-heavy comms are useful in certain contexts. But they do a poor job of giving people a sense of human connection, which is especially important for distributed employees.
It’s hard to stay motivated, remain aware of what’s going on in the larger organization, and keep yourself aligned with the bigger picture when you spend all day alone, physically distant from your colleagues.
Remote employees need more.
The key to engaging your distributed teams is to humanize your communications with them. Companies with distributed teams are increasingly turning to video as a way to engage — and ultimately retain — remote employees.
Here are just a few of the things employees have to say about video as an internal communication trend for 2022:
- 93% of internal comms pros surveyed by Melcrum believe video is an important tool.
- 59% of executives would rather watch a message on video than read it in text.
- 72% of people surveyed by Hubspot say they prefer learning new information through video.
Video has made its way into internal comms. And the trend is here to stay. So how exactly does something as simple as video improve remote employee engagement?
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How video improves remote employee engagement
Your employees will succeed when they feel connected to your company. Connection is easier to foster when video is integrated into your internal comms. Here are six reasons it works.
1. Video is asynchronous comms with an in-person feel
Asynchronous communication is communication that does not happen in real-time.
It might seem counterintuitive, but in many cases, asynchronous communication is more engaging than synchronous communication because people can consume asynchronous messages when they want to. This allows them to approach each message with a clear and level head.
Of course, text-based messages delivered through email and Slack are asynchronous, too.
But by adding a video to these comms, and keeping the text short-and-sweet, you’re able to keep a certain level of that synchronous, in-person vibe while still letting people approach the message on their own time.
Async messages can reduce the length and frequency of many Zoom meetings, too.
If you’ve ever scanned the Zoom grid and seen the zoned-out faces, you know how important this is. Zoom fatigue is real. Reducing the length and frequency of video meetings by moving information-sharing to video is no small thing.
It can have profound effects on morale, productivity, and engagement.
2. Video humanizes communication
As we mentioned earlier, most text-heavy comms like email newsletters, Slack messages and the like fall flat because they lack the human element remote workers need to feel connected to their companies.
Replacing much of the heavy text in these comms with a short, lively video helps solve this problem.
You, your leadership team, and other people within the company can step in front of a camera and literally humanize business communications. Doing so engages remote workers on a deeper level and makes it easier for them to connect.
You can accomplish these same things by stepping in front of a microphone as well. A video voiceover is another easy way to connect with people on a more human level.
3. Video is more engaging and memorable than text
60% of people would rather watch a video than read text. Why? Because video is a more engaging medium. It’s a heck of a lot more memorable, too.
Studies show that the average person remembers 95% of a message they watch in a video, compared to just 10% of a message they read in text.
There’s a simple explanation for this: video combines visual and audio elements to evoke visceral emotions in viewers. Our brains respond to — and remember — these multi-sensory cues far more than static text.
This is especially important for remote workers, who have more distractions to deal with on a daily basis. (Think screaming kids, household chores, and ever-tempting Netflix accounts.)
Video is a powerful tool for cutting through the noise that surrounds your distributed workforce. A short, two-minute message can cover a surprisingly large amount of information, grab their attention, and engage them in a way a long email can’t.
4. Video compliments your existing tools
We’re not telling you to ditch your traditional comms channels. We’re telling you to add short-form videos to them.
Your email newsletter will jump off recipients’ screens when it features a video update, increasing the likelihood that remote workers will open future emails.
You can shorten your Zoom meetings (or even eliminate some of them altogether) by taking a break from long-winded information-sharing to show a short video. Summarize a report, or share the must-know info for the week ahead in a 2-3 minute video.
It will take up far less meeting time, in a far more engaging way.
And your event invitation messages will be more effective when they contain a video clip of the featured speaker. These kinds of messages can really help drive attendance.
One of the best things about video is that you can add it to your current communication channels, boosting engagement and connection without entirely reinventing the wheel.
5. Video is more inclusive
If you want your remote workers to feel connected to your company, you need to represent them in your communications. People feel more valued when they are seen, heard, and appreciated. Representation is a subtle, but highly effective, way to achieve this.
Video allows you to accomplish this in a more authentic way than other forms of asynchronous communication. Instead of talking about how your organization prioritizes diversity, you can show your commitment by using visuals that support this message.
Video-making tools like Biteable Teams include animated scenes libraries with diverse characters that represent a wide range of backgrounds and ethnicities.
Better yet, many of the characters in these scenes can be edited to reflect your distributed workforce. Easily change the hair color and skin tone of the animated characters so they most accurately reflect your team.
Learn more: How to include diversity in your internal comms video.
Video allows for voiceovers and other forms of audio, too. This is important for accessibility, especially if your company employs visually impaired individuals.
Inclusivity is important. Prioritize it with video communication.
6. Video is more actionable
You want your people to consume your messages. But if that’s all they ever do, you have a problem. You need them to take action, too.
You may want people to fill out an employee survey, or watch a training video, or RSVP to an event. Or do a number of other important things. To get them to take action, you need to give them a clear call-to-action (CTA).
True, you can do this with almost every communication medium. But video CTAs are more likely to inspire action. This is because, as we talked about earlier, videos are highly engaging and more inclusive than other forms of communication.
When your viewers are excited to receive your messages and feel properly represented in them, they’ll be more open to clicking a link or performing a specific task. Participation of this kind only increases feelings of connectedness.
Engage your remote workforce with Biteable Teams
It’s your job to engage your distributed workforce and make sure they feel connected to your company. That’s a tall order. Many of the traditional communication channels you’re used to make it difficult to accomplish this — mostly because they don’t allow for human connection.
Video is different.
By creating short-form, asynchronous videos, you can connect with your distributed workforce in real and authentic ways, engage them on a deeper level, prioritize your company’s diversity initiatives, and encourage people to take immediate action.
Fortunately, these kinds of videos are easy to create with a tool like Biteable.
With Biteable Teams, anyone can make professional-quality videos in minutes, not hours. A user-friendly platform, plus hundreds of brandable video templates and scenes takes the guesswork out of video creation.
A simple, yet powerful suite of tools lets you record footage of yourself or your team from within the platform, add voice-over to your videos, include a trackable CTA button, and more. Do it all with the click of a button.
You’ll make your first internal comms video before they can say, “where’s this month’s newsletter?”.