Video Wake Up Call for Human Capital Management

PeopleFluent’s announcement last week of their new video-based talent suite is a good wake up call for Human Capital Management (HCM) providers. Video is the most powerful form of digital communication and it should be used pervasively to engage and retain employees, train and cultivate skills, develop new leaders, and offer a dynamic tool for recruiting the best talent. These are top issues that keep HCM leaders up at night ( SilkRoad, 2014).

There is no question that as a driver of immediate knowledge, information or call to action, video is an indispensable tool due to its unique ability to convey a visual and interactive message about company culture, leadership, product training and management certification. One company we recently interviewed stated they were on the verge of ripping out their Learning Management System (LMS) before they incorporated video. LMS usage was low, and the business just wasn't seeing an ROI. After integrating video, adoption increased significantly, and they were soon able to prove that the LMS is delivering significant increases in staff productivity. Needless to say, there's no more talk of ripping it out.

Video has the power to make human capital management an engaging journey that begins with recruiting, continues with employee on-boarding, and progresses through product and management training. When a video is delivered just-in-time and in-context, the cost-savings, knowledge retention, and learning improvements can be significant for not just an individual, but for a company as well.

Let’s look at some key drivers as to why video should be integrated by HCM providers:

Video use in the Digital Workplace. Companies of all sizes are already streamlining onboarding into a series of short videos. vs. relying on paper-based manuals, as video has been shown to increase employee retention and reduce turnover. This makes sense as many employees spend a great deal of time in front of computers. Even if they don’t interact with a computer or are not computer savvy, the vast majority of employees already interact with video on their smartphones or PDAs on a daily basis. Since video is an accepted way to entertain, why not use it as a tool to on-board, train and educate in the workplace? Besides, reducing employee orientation means a company saves money and achieves faster time to productivity for a new employee.

Millennials Require Video. According to a recent Cisco Survey, Millennials, individuals born between 1980 and 2000, make up 1 of every 3 employees today. By 2025, they will be 75% of the global workforce. This technically savvy group has grown up with video and they expect it to be an integral part of their recruitment, on-boarding and training. The survey goes on to state that a Millennial may turn down a job offer if video is not used as a part of the day-to-day operations.

The Rise of e-Learning. Beyond even how-to-tutorials, video offers the perfect medium for training of all kinds- product, compliance, safety, etc. Recent studies show that two-thirds of employees would prefer video based to classroom training. Video training can be scheduled or offered on demand. For remote employees, video can even be shared and accessed through email. Video viewing can be tracked so you know it was opened and watched. Interactive quizzes or questions can even be added and tracked to further validate an employee’s knowledge retention. For more advanced training, employees could be presented with video clips that ask, “what is wrong with this scene?” Powerful analytics can track if an employee answers correctly the first time or whether they need to rewind and replay too often, indicating help is needed.

Video based training has been proven to reduce costs and increase employee productivity. Microsoft saved an estimated $13.9M annually. Many companies are following this trend. Aside from cost, the bigger value is how much better employees retain knowledge and quickly become more productive. You certainly can’t guarantee that from a classroom or manual, today.

Video has come of age and Aragon Research’s prediction of a Pervasive Video Era has finally arrived. Human capital management providers have an opportunity to create the biggest value and impact for their customers. Why make a customer go elsewhere to use video? That decreases the productivity gains provided by your HCM software product. So, make it simple, integrate video directly into your Human Capital Management applications immediately!