Employee video communications have become a useful tool for many HR departments across multiple industries.
A 2015 Glassdoor survey indicated that 4 out of 5 employees actually want benefits or perks more than a pay raise. Those benefits include paid sick days, 401k plans, health insurance, and employee training programs. If 80% of employees want benefits that badly, they must be enrolling in company benefits programs whenever possible, right?
Wrong. Employees may say they want benefits more than anything else but their enrollment rates tell a much different story. A March 2017 Bureau of Labor Statistics study actually finds that while 70% of civilian workers had access to benefits, only 52% of them actually enrolled.
If 80% of employees want benefits more than a pay raise, but only 52% of them actually enroll when those benefits are offered, where are we going wrong? What can we do to improve employee benefits enrollment? How can we fix this?
The answer is surprisingly simple: change how we communicate about benefits.
It’s no secret that a lot of traditional company communication methods are outdated or dull. Posters in the break room often go ignored and employee newsletters unopened. When traditional communication methods fail, it’s time to move forward and start investing in improving employee video communications.
Video as a form of media provides some of the best ROI of any communication method when it’s time to get results. Video content is engaging, shareable, trackable, and completely customizable. Read on for a breakdown of how employee video communications is being used to improve employee benefits enrollment and how your company can do the same.
Video Is Engaging
We are living in the digital age, and it’s time for HR to catch up. It’s no longer enough to present company information. If you want employees to take action you’re going to need to keep them genuinely interested with employee video communications.
Why is video so much more engaging than other forms of media? It’s a way to make a human connection and explain a complex concept in an easy-to-understand way. Videos can use music or images to trigger emotion which makes your information stick longer and seem more important. Finally, putting your employee benefits programs into video form allows for a personal connection. Being able to look into the eyes of their HR rep who honestly cares that they get the great benefits your company has to offer beats a standard poster any day.
Video Is Easily Shareable
One of the biggest considerations for an employee when choosing whether or not to enroll in benefits programs is their families. Spouses have a lot of influence over whether or not your employee decides that your company’s health insurance or retirement program is a good call for them.
Imagine your employee trying to explain why your company’s health insurance is a good investment. If all they have to show their spouse is words on a page, that will be a much tougher sell than a comprehensive, in-depth, and entertaining video that really lets them connect to why they need your company’s benefits.
Video Is Trackable
When a company relies on posters or physical memos to share information, there is no way to tell how many people have seen it without a time-consuming survey. For a company that wants to figure out exactly where they’re going wrong with employee benefits enrollment, this lack of information is crippling.
Fortunately, using smart employee video communications offers a ton of useful feedback for HR professionals. You can look through the data for key insights like:
• What pages employees are clicking on
• If employees are sharing content with family or coworkers
• Which links employees are signing up from
• How many views your video is getting
• How long employees look at different pages before leaving
Video Is Customizable
A great new trend is for a company to set up an entire ‘digital postcard’ that supplements their employee video communications content. These postcards let companies customize the impact their message makes with information, logos, other links, and references the employee can look into for further information. A digital postcard is more than just a newsletter on steroids; it’s an entirely new way of looking at employee communication.
We did a test campaign of 200 of these digital postcards and the results were amazing:
• 875,873 employees received digital postcards, which had a
• 76% employee engagement rate.
• There was a 139% video viewing rate (1.4 videos viewed), a
• 147% response rate (1.5 actions taken), and
• Employees spent an average of 3 minutes and 20 seconds spent interacting with the content.
Investing in employee video communications isn’t just a good idea, it’s absolutely crucial if you want to see your employee benefits enrollment skyrocket. Share this on social media, and tell us how you improved your employee benefits enrollment!
