We’re all familiar with the recruitment video, the two-minute masterpiece buried deeply on a “Careers” page somewhere on your website right now, but a lot of HR pros have yet to realize that recruitment videos are just the start of how video can be used to effectively recruit, train, and, if lucky, inspire workers. 

Your Employees are Your Top Brand Ambassadors

The first thing to remember when you set out to create an HR-focused video is that your employees are always (at least they should be) your top brand ambassadors, and because HR isn’t usually dealing with the kinds of budgets marketers have access to, being creative with the budget you do have can be key to your success. Your teams can help on both fronts, providing an authentic, ‘behind the curtain’ look at your company that speaks directly to the concerns of employees.

The role of HR has evolved over time. From acting primarily as the recruiting arm of an organization, modern HR has evolved to become a much deeper role, covering not only recruitment but also ultimately ensuring the investment a company makes in its employees is a good one.

According to survey company 6Q, “human resources professionals are the lifeblood of the company because their job is to ensure that the business gets the most out of its employees. In other words, the human resource department needs to provide a high return on the business’s investment in its people.”

That’s a pretty big load to carry, and HR professionals need to have tools in place to help them shoulder it. Video works to these ends by providing scale, consistency, and connection.

3 Ways HR Teams Can Utilize Video

1. Communicate at Scale with Video for HR

The ability to communicate at scale is one of video’s superpowers, giving your HR team the ability to reach ALL employees at the same time, no matter where they’re located. What might have taken weeks to roll out in the past can now happen in minutes with a well-timed email and a video link, or a video shared as one across various company meetings. That’s pretty powerful, providing the next best thing to having your HR or other leadership members in the room with your teams.

2. Deliver Consistent Messaging for Distributed Teams

Communication is one of the key responsibilities of Human Resources, whether that’s communicating to employees, between employees, or to upper management. Your communications, therefore, need to include consistent messaging to all parties, regardless of their location.

Video communications reduce the risk of miscommunication or misinformation due to a classic game of “telephone”. With video, you can ensure all audiences are receiving the same, consistent messages. Smart companies put a lot of work into their communications strategy. It would be a shame to see all of that work go to waste due to a miscommunication between leadership and teams on the ground.

3. Create Real, Authentic Connection Across the Organization

Depending on the size of your organization, your teams may never have the opportunity to form connections with or even meet your executive team members. Video, when done well, can be an effective way to create connections across your business, whether the video comes from your leadership team or between teams themselves.

Enlisting your employees to take part in HR video has another benefit too, giving you an unexpected opportunity to encourage them to shine, too. By featuring your people and allowing them space to talk, in their own authentic way, about their workplace and their experiences provides you with an opportunity to (a) make people feel special and appreciated, and (b) ask them to reflect on the work they commit their time and energy to in a meaningful way.

Take some time to ask employees who are involved in your HR videos insightful questions that not only provide intel for new recruits but also help your current staff self-reflect:

• Did someone at work inspire them to persevere or have an impact at work?
• Are they themselves setting an example that is inspiring?
• Do they embody a movement or seek to overcome a challenge that’s happening at work?

These may seem like abstract concepts but the truth is, these kinds of questions are at the heart of everything that HR does. What’s framed as explaining and training on things like benefits, best practices, and organizational initiatives is really getting to the bottom of these questions. And video provides an excellent medium to capture these ideas in an authentic and informative way.

What role do you see video taking in your organization? How can you use it to recruit, train, communicate, and inspire?