In just two years, the modern-day workplace has changed forever.
The traditional office setting still exists, but its use has diminished. Instead, people are increasingly choosing to work from home – a trend that was initially imposed in response to a pandemic, but one that appears to have stuck as businesses pivoted from fully in-person to fully remote. Now, we seem to have arrived at something in between the two – hybrid. A catch-all term most organizations are still learning to define as they grapple with the latest trends and employee demands.
What is clear is the growing number of people who want the option of being able to work from home. Even if it is just a day or two a week, the expectation is there. And that requires both a willingness and a flexibility from a company, as well as investment in the required technology and tools to make it happen.
One of the biggest hybrid hurdles organizations face is keeping their people connected, especially if they are working from home for prolonged periods of time. Ensuring they feel like they belong and are part of something bigger than the rigid confines of their home office set-up – is crucial to avoiding isolation and burnout.
Here are five ways video is being used to keep hybrid workforces informed, connected, and engaged.
- On-boarding new starters
No matter who you’re hiring, regardless of their seniority or experience, a “first day” is nerve-wracking. In fact, the first few weeks at any new company can be daunting.
Now throw in the hybrid factor – and the reality that for many new starters, seeing your office in-person or meeting colleagues face-to-face is not part of the equation. It is easy to see why video is integral to the virtual on-boarding experience.
Not only can video speed up the process, but it can also personalize it. Give your new starter an insightful virtual tour of the company’s headquarters and include a pre-recorded message from their manager, or the CEO. This is an opportunity for HR teams to present a company’s culture – show what it is they stand for, their values and their ethos. Include testimonies from current – or former – employees about why they love working for the company and invite leadership to record videos introducing the company’s mission and vision.
A senior executive at a leading US apparel company talked about this during a recent Meet the Boss roundtable event with GDS Group. “People join because they have a connection to our brands, or our values,” she shared.
“These were easy, in-person activation moments. But since we moved to a heavily remote environment, with some people hired in fully remote positions, how do we make those things we defined as the “employee experience” tangible? The business has continued, and has done well, but we need to figure out how we do the work.” - Group activities
It doesn’t have to be all about work, though. For a lot of people who are based at home, simply having an opportunity to connect with colleagues, even virtually, is welcomed.
Think lunch and learns, social catchups or one-to-ones. All can be done over a video platform call at a time that suits everyone. “I’ve worked out of my home for the past 17 years and it’s exhausting because everyone is doing it now,” the Senior Director of a Florida-based software company told leaders at another recent Meet the Boss virtual roundtable.
“You face a screen and see a lot of faces. But our team took an approach of not just looking at the work we do but getting to know each other. We did this through events like standing conversations – talking about our lives and our careers.”
“We talked through some work hacks, we shared vacation and family photos. That’s been very effective.” - Quality over quantity
One thing that threatens to destabilize the harmonious nature of hybrid working, however, is the removal of traditional boundaries between our personal and professional lives. For those working from home, “switching off” has become a major issue – as has the proliferation of digital communications and channels.
It’s not simply a case of having to manage an email inbox or calendar, anymore. There are instant chat messages to reply to, video calls to attend, and virtual summits to watch. Knowing which channel to use isn’t easy, and it’s having an impact.
A recent study by digital transformation leaders Adaptavist found the “always-on” nature of modern-day digital communications – and the sheer diversity of platforms – were the greatest sources of stress and frustration for hybrid workers. Just over a quarter of home-workers (26%) described switching off from work as their greatest challenge, with 60% admitting they don’t turn off their device notifications after officially finishing for the day.
This, in turn, is leading to burnout. But for some business leaders, the solution lies in the way performance is measured.
“Instead of measuring how much time you put in, look at the metrics of your organization,” the Head of Business Transformation at a global professional services firm said during a recent Meet the Boss event.
“Quality over quantity – focus on that. Reduce meetings and documents.” - Synchronous versus asynchronous
Synchronous videos like video platform calls are unavoidable in the future with remote work.
But spending too much time in video conference meetings takes valuable time away from ideation and actual productive working hours. This is what leads to burnout. Companies, especially those operating a hybrid model, must strike a balance between synchronous and asynchronous video messaging in order to prevent this fatigue.
“To combat meeting overload, business leaders should document how they work and define what types of communications should be used,” a Senior Executive at a well-known video messaging platform told Meet the Boss during a recent event.
“When employees communicate, we should encourage them to replace meetings with short video messages. They can record what’s on their screen and if you want input, rather than scheduling a meeting, you can record a video and send it back…They can then watch it and respond when it’s appropriate.”
According to a study by Demand Metric, the adoption of video conferencing as a means of communication between workers grew by a staggering 400% during the pandemic. But perhaps what’s more telling is the 50% rise in business professionals who are now routinely sending video messages to colleagues offline.
The main reasons given by those embracing asynchronous video recordings were:
•It offers greater convenience than live video conferencing
•It felt more personal than email and chat
•It reduced the overall number of meetings
•It helped mitigate against video fatigue - Save time (and money)
Not only is video easy to record and easy to consume, but it’s also a huge time saver—especially if you use speed controls to watch at a faster playback (like 1.5x). It’s almost always quicker to record a short video than to share the same information via text-based email. Plus, studies have shown viewers retain up to 95% of a message when they watch it in video-format compared to just 10% when reading it in text – like an email.
But aside from saving on time, using video can actually save organizations money (time is money, after all). Research by Techsmith has shown using visually-rich internal communication – like video – can save the average employee around six minutes a day. That may not sound like a lot, but six minutes per day equates to over half an hour per week, which is 25 hours per year. What are those 25 hours per year worth to you and your organization?
Why video matters – the numbers:
- In Vidyard’s annual State of Virtual Selling Report, 70% of sales professionals said video email performs better than text-based email.
- A minute of video is worth 1.8 million words, according to a Forrester Research report by Dr. James McQuivey titled How Video Will Take Over The World.
- Viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text, according to insivia.
- According to Forbes, 59% of executives would rather watch video than read text.
The pandemic changed our definition of work, and if an organization wants to be prepared for whatever comes next, video will be key. Most employees are already enjoying the benefits of remote working in terms of their career satisfaction and overall productivity. Done right, video can support both of these areas – as well as boosting employee retention and engagement. It’s a convenient, easy-to-use, cost-saving tool that serves many functions across the enterprise, from sales to HR. And even as the future of work continues to rock with each wave of uncertainty, you and your colleagues (whether they’re sat next to you in an office or working hundreds of miles away at home) will be ready to sail on.
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