Hey, HR! Here Are 5 Ways to Use Video for Your Comms

HR folks get tasked with a lot. As someone in Human Resources, you have to communicate a ton of different information to various people. You have to onboard, recruit, and train employees. You need to check in with managers about their reports and monitor retention. And now that more work is happening remotely, it presents yet another challenge for HR to deal with.

Whew! It’s clear you have to connect with many folks in a bunch of ways. So, how can you communicate effectively with all of these people, across departments and around the world? You guessed it: Video!

Research has shown that one minute of video equals about 1.8 million written words and that people process visuals faster than text — that means video can exponentially increase the rate at which viewers understand and retain information about your topic. That’s exactly what you want as an HR professional, right?

Here are five ways to use video for your HR communications.

Add video to job postings to attract candidates

Job seekers see so many job postings in their searches. To attract more candidates, you need to make your job posting stand out and showcase your brand’s personality — like we did with one of our recent videos, in which we showcased our new workspace, our hybrid work culture, and the spirit of working at Wistia!

Videos like this give your potential employees a visual sneak peek into the company they could be working for and convey more info, faster, than text can.

In your recruitment video, share information like:

• A quick overview of what your company does
• What it’s like to work for your company
• Company culture (work/life balance, benefits, etc)
• An employee testimonial

Let’s take a look at a recruitment video for Bluecore, a retail marketing technology company. The video’s focus is on employees and how they make an impact on the company’s overall success.

The video starts out with a current employee saying, “Bluecore is the twistiest, turniest, best ride you will ever take in your career.” That’s a strong statement, and we immediately want to know more! We then hear from other current employees who talk about their journeys and what’s generally expected of Bluecore team members. For job seekers, a video like this is likely to make a much bigger impression than reading words in a post.

After you’ve created your own recruitment video, share it in a job posting on the Careers page of your website, your company’s LinkedIn page, and online job boards, like Indeed or Monster. Most job boards support video, so you can share your recruitment video wherever you post your open jobs.

Engage new hires right away with a “next steps” video

So your future new employee has accepted the position — hooray! Now there’s a bit of time between when they accepted and when they’ll start — sometimes a month or more.

With this much downtime, your new employees may be confused about what happens next or feel disengaged with the lack of communication. They might be wondering, “Okay, I got hired …  now what?”

Answer that question for them — and keep their excitement high — with a “next steps” video.

Your “next steps” videos could include:

• A warm congratulations for landing the job
• What they need to do next (including any forms they need to fill out)
• Their official start date
• What they can expect during their first few days of onboarding

These videos should be personalized and sent as one-offs after the employee accepts your offer. When they open the email, they’ll be happy to see your face and be welcomed to the company.

Highlight what makes your company great in a welcome video

Create a welcome video so new employees gain a strong understanding of your company’s mission and values. Your welcome video is an opportunity for newbies to hear current employees speak passionately about the company and its purpose; this gives people a foundational awareness of your culture as they navigate their first few weeks at work.

Here are several key components to include in your welcome video:

• Why your company was started — in other words, what drives your brand?
• Your mission and vision statements
• An overview of the culture and work environment

Remember to have fun and be creative! Atlassian’s video “Welcome to Atlassian” is a great introduction to the company. In the video, they show new employees what an average office space looks like (including remote offices!). We also hear from current employees who address the challenges they’ve faced during the Covid pandemic.

Overall, the welcome video, with its sweet background music and inside look at how the company operates, is much more compelling than reading a wall of text.

Make onboarding videos that excite new employees

You’ll need to onboard your new employees — but it doesn’t have to be a drawn-out process full of forms and rule books. Instead, use videos to help you hold people’s attention as you get your new employees up-to-speed about their job and what’s expected of them.

Here are a few ideas for onboarding videos you could create for new employees:

• Work behavior guidelines: Cover basic guidelines around how new employees should conduct themselves on the job.
• Recommend a daily work structure: Share a suggested daily schedule example so employees have an idea of how to manage their time every day; this is especially pertinent in remote settings!
• What happens after onboarding: Include a video that explains what new employees can expect after onboarding is done, whether it’s setting up a one-on-one meeting with their supervisor or tackling their first task.

Create a video library so everyone has access to all videos. Organize your onboarding videos by department or job type, with a folder of videos for general company or employee information.

Turn training modules into videos

While training manuals are great, you can really help new hires hit the ground running by investing the time and resources to create training videos that convey the same information. Like we said earlier, this also has the benefit of boosting viewer retention, which means these folks are more likely to remember the info they need while they’re learning how to do their jobs.

Creating standardized training videos also ensures that everyone receives the same baseline training and provides all new hires the same foundation from which to grow within your company. That’s a win-win all around!

Here are a few ideas for training modules you can turn into videos. And don’t fret! As the HR manager, you don’t have to host all of these videos — call on your internal subject matter experts to create training videos in the areas they know best!

• Product and services training: Let employees learn at their own paces by providing on-demand videos covering in-depth information on your products or services. These videos can be great to help people get up to speed on what your business offers and ensure the same information is available to everyone.
• Technical skills: Technical skills are helpful when completing specific work tasks. The technical skills you train employees on will depend on your industry. For instance, if you’re in marketing, your technical skill training videos may include info on social media strategy, SEO, and working inside your content management platforms.
• Workflow processes and collaboration: Technical skills can help employees use specific tools, but don’t forget to look at the big picture. How can you show people the ways your teams collaborate within different systems? What are the common workflows and processes you can effectively demo using video? Folks can reference these when they have future questions, saving everyone time and quickly getting people on the same page.

As you create more and more training videos, you’ll need a way to organize them. Categorize your training videos by skill or growth path, so your employees can easily access them for their own learning and development needs.

Ready to create engaging HR video content? Wistia’s got some tips to help!

We totally get it — you’re in HR, not marketing. But we hope we’ve shown you that videos can make a big impression on your potential job applicants, new hires, and current workforce. And it really doesn’t take a lot to get started!

We promise that you can create engaging HR videos right away with tools you probably already have on hand. Here are some tips to get you going:

First, write a script or outline. We always write scripts for our videos. A good outline does a couple of important things: It gives your production team a guide as they’re actually creating the video, and it allows your on-camera talent to practice their performance beforehand and feel more confident when it’s actually show time.

Create guidelines for remote participants. It’s likely at this point that you’re collecting videos from different people around the country — or even the world! To ensure the final product feels cohesive, provide guidelines so that all the videos you receive are formatted the same way. For example, if people will be using their iPhones to shoot the video, tell them whether to film portrait or landscape, and ask everyone to film in front of a similar background. This will prepare you for remote video production success and make your job a lot easier.

Use the tools you already have. You may not have a full-blown video production studio — and that’s more than okay! You can shoot attention-grabbing videos with something as accessible as your phone. We also recommend checking out our screen and webcam recording feature. It’s built right into Wistia, which means you can record and edit videos in a snap.

Wistia has a ton of free production advice to help you produce video content you’re proud of and become more comfortable with the tools you have. Make an impact on your team — and your business — by adding videos to your HR processes.

We’re here to help you every step of the way! Check out our collection of production resources to learn more.