5 Ways to Use Video to Improve Employee Engagement

Read Time: 5 minutes

The past year threw a wrench into employee engagement, as most offices sent their workers home. Gone were the water cooler chats, office birthday celebrations, and morning hellos to cubicle mates. Gone, too, was the ability to have a spontaneous check-in with one’s manager, greet new employees, or bounce around ideas with teammates over lunch.

HR teams have had to hire and onboard employees remotely. Managers have had to find a way to keep their teams in the know without face-to-face. And company all-hands meetings have shifted to video calls. It’s been a strange time for many companies and team leaders, as they’ve had to find new ways to keep workers interested, productive, and connected. And as work went remote, so did employee engagement.

Now, the reverse is true. With offices starting to open back up, team leaders and HR managers have to find creative ways to improve employee engagement after a year spent at home.

In this article we’ll explore:

How remote work changed employee engagement
How to create engaging videos to boost your employees
Returning to the office: why employee engagement is more important than ever
5 employee engagement ideas that use video

How Remote Work Changed Employee Engagement

As interactions at work have shifted to video, managers and HR leaders have had to find creative ways to boost morale. Sending surprise gift baskets or flowers to employees at home. Organizing company-wide trivia games online. Hosting remote happy hours. Throwing virtual holiday parties. These are just some of the many ways companies have found to let their employees know they care about their well-being.

Another difficulty companies faced was helping employees feel connected. And without in-person meetings, many managers turned to video updates to let their teams know about new hires and new processes. The challenge? Learning to create engaging videos so employees weren’t just updated, but also energized.

How to Create Engaging Videos to Boost Your Employees

A simple way to create engaging videos is to use templates. With an online video editor, users can choose a video template that suits their needs. Then, they can customize with their own text, company logo, and brand colors. The result is a professional and impressive video that takes minutes to make – without having to master shooting and editing skills.

There are many ways to use video templates to increase remote employee engagement. Celebrating team accomplishments, onboarding new employees, or sharing a video newsletter all help keep employees connected to their teams and to the company while they’re working from home.

Returning to the Office: Why Employee Engagement is More Important Than Ever

As our world slowly (but surely!) starts to return to normal with the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine, offices are also beginning to open back up. Now, managers are being faced with a new challenge after a year of working from home. How do you boost morale when workers have gotten used to doing their job in their pajamas? How can you expect employees to return to their commute? Furthermore, how do you increase employee engagement if your employees have become disconnected from their work life?

In addition to a welcome back gift basket (which is always a nice touch), companies can use video to improve employee engagement and ensure a smooth transition back to the office. Below are 5 ideas that use video to improve employee engagement in the office.

5 Employee Engagement Ideas Using Video

1. Create a personalized welcome back video

Nothing shows your employees how happy you are to see them than a little personalized attention from the CEO. A short video is one way to show your appreciation and help employees get excited to be working in-person again. If this feels like a daunting task, it doesn’t have to be – even for large enterprises. A video template will allow you to easily welcome employees back to the office and tell them what you’ve missed about them.

2. Create a highlights reel of the past year

If your employees have been at home for a year, chances are they’ve missed a few company updates and milestones. This may especially be true for workers who were juggling childcare and remote school responsibilities on top of full-time jobs, causing them to fill in hours in the evenings or weekends. If your employees are feeling disconnected from the company’s accomplishments, it may be especially hard for them to get back into the swing of things from the office. Creating a video of company highlights and achievements can help employees get excited and feel connected.

3. Encourage employees to show off their accomplishments (and then help them spread the love)

One of the many things that’s been missing this past year is the ability to easily acknowledge a teammate’s accomplishments. Projects and milestones have often been shown just to one’s direct manager, without the congratulations or pat on the back that comes from finishing a project in-office. To increase employee engagement, encourage workers to create a video highlighting their top accomplishments of the year. Then, send those videos around to the entire staff, so everyone’s achievements are celebrated.

4. Introduce everyone who was hired during the pandemic

Starting a new job is hard. Starting a new job during a pandemic is even harder! Without a cubicle mate, welcome team lunch, or even the ability to bump into people by the office fridge, making new work friends can be next to impossible. This becomes even harder when everyone returns to the office, excited to finally see their old colleagues. To make new hires feel welcome and integrated – and to make sure legacy employees aren’t overwhelmed by new faces waiting to use the coffee machine – create a video that introduces all of the new hires from the Covid-19 era.

5. Make sure your workers know you’ve got their back

It’s possible a lot of employees are feeling anxious about returning to in-office work. Some of them may not be vaccinated. Others may worry about safety precautions. And yet, others may feel ambivalent about this sudden change. With all of this anxiety, it’s easy for employee engagement to drop. To help boost employee enthusiasm on their return to the office, make sure they know you’ve got their back. Create a video that acknowledges how hard transitions can be. Outline office safety guidelines, remind them of the cool things (like in-person team meetings and unlimited coffee) the office has to offer, and emphasize that your door is always open if they have concerns.

Give Your Employee Engagement a Boost with Powtoon

Transitioning back to the office is a challenge most companies are now facing. Make your employees’ transition a bit easier by using video to ensure employee engagement remains high.

Bio
Latest Posts

Hanna Abitbul

Hanna is Powtoon's Content Marketing Strategist. She joined Powtoon as a copywriter in 2019, after graduating from university with a specialized degree in marketing and business. She continues to inspire people to create incredible video content with blog posts, videos, guides, and more. Hanna's passions include reading, singing, and caring for animals (#proudvegan). Nothing makes her happier than waking up to her two black kitties who, contrary to popular belief, are good luck!