maximizing employee engagement with video€¦ · it appears that many communicators have strong...

Maximizing Employee Engagement with Video

A MELCRUM AND KONTIKI, INC. REPORT

Contents

Introduction ...................................................................................................................1

Employee Engagement and Video ........................................................................................2

Benefits of Video .............................................................................................................3

Video Readiness ..............................................................................................................4

Future of Video ................................................................................................................6

MAXIMIZING EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT WITH VIDEO

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopy and

recording, without the prior written permission of the publishers. Such written permission must also be obtained before

any part of this publication is stored in a retrieval system of any nature. All data, data tables, graphs and ratios are

intellectual property of Melcrum Limited and Kontiki, Inc., and are not for public citation or distribution.

Introduction

Over 400 internal communicators participated in Melcrum and Kontiki, Inc.’s joint survey conducted in January 2012.

The communicators responded from all over the world with North America at 34.2%, U.K. 21.5%, Europe 19.8%, Asia-

Pacific 19.6%, Middle East/Africa 2.6% and Rest of the world at 2.4%. The majority of the sectors were somewhat evenly

distributed except Financial Services at 20%, Government/Public administration 10.8% and Technology products and

services 8.7%. The result of their efforts, offered in this report, will provide insights into the trends, benefits and success

criteria for enhancing your employee engagement and/or employee portal initiatives through video communications.

Senior executives everywhere are struggling to align and motivate their employees behind their vision, provide the

essentials for organizational empowerment and drive the necessary change to stay ahead of the competition.

A key challenge with employee communication is the lack of direct access. The days of face to face employee engagement

are long gone. Business globalization, mergers and acquisitions, regionally distributed workforces, generational differences

and the ever growing numbers of home workers are causing internal communicators to focus as much on the medium as

they are on the message. How do you reach and engage a distributed, diverse workforce with the same level of trust and

engagement accomplished with face to face communications?

It appears that many communicators have strong support from their senior executives to develop company-wide employee

engagement programs and are using a single, company-wide portal (91%) as a key piece of their strategy with Microsoft

SharePoint being the de facto standard (47.7%). Additionally, almost two thirds (63.3%) are using video in their portal for

employee engagement (67.2%) and CEO/senior executive communications (55.1%).

Through the use of video, communicators are finding strong business and portal initiative benefits. Video “must-have”

portal features are well understood, yet many of them do not have what is needed to achieve their ultimate goal.

The use of video as a key form of communication is gaining momentum and by adding video, incremental success is being

achieved with improved employee engagement and “personally” connecting senior executives with employees. In 2012,

68.9% of survey respondents will create 25% or more new video content over last year and, with another strong sign of

adoption, the majority (60.2%) will add employee generated video programs.

In this report, you will find charts and commentary illustrating key findings from the survey on the

following topics:

• Employeeengagementandvideo

• Benefitsofvideo

• Videoreadiness

• Futureofvideo

We believe the survey findings provide essential data on developing trends, challenges and priorities for internal

communicators focusing on employee engagement programs emphasizing company-wide portals. Ultimately, the survey

results underscore the premise that successful employee engagement = video + quality content + quality delivery +

executive support.


PAGE 1

Employee Engagement and Video

Almost two thirds (63.3%) of communicators identified employee engagement as their primary driver for adding video

to their portal. Video is the only communication medium that delivers similar engagement qualities as a face to face

experience, but addresses its lack of scalability. A quality video captures verbal and non-verbal messages, guarantees

authenticity and can be experienced

anywhere at any time. These traits

are particularly valuable for employee

engagement (67.2%), CEO/executive

communications (55.1%) and business

critical communications, all of which

typically target every employee.

With the growing importance of

employee engagement initiatives, it

should not come as a surprise that the

majority of communicators consider

video a priority and that 60.3% create

videos and/or live broadcasts at least

on a monthly basis.

Executive mandate

Employee engagment initiative

Extend learning anddevelopment program

Employee demand

Other (please specify)

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

What is your primary driver for using video in your employee portal?

Percentage (%)

Employee engagement

CEO/executive communication

Most importantImportantLeast important

HR communication

Training

Best practices

“How to...”

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Not sure

What are the primary use cases for video?

Percentage (%)


PAGE 2

Benefits of Video

We are all ultimately measured on the business impact of our efforts and employee communication is no different.

There are several business benefits achieved when adding video to your employee portal. The most important is creating

a personal connection with executives (50.4%). As noted previously, CEO/executive communication is an excellent use

case for video. A leader needs to be believed before he or she can inspire, motivate and communicate. When trust and

engagement with every employee is a “must have”, only a live video broadcast or video on demand can provide both the

requisite trust and engagement and personal scalability for your executives.

Other notable business benefits of video include: increased employee engagement (49.8%), improved retention of content

and messaging (37.8%), increased alignment with company objectives (37.5%) and improved culture/working environment

(36.6%), all of which translate to more aligned, informed and content employees.

If you are

planning and/or

executing an employee

portal program, then

video has to be a

serious consideration.

By adding video, you

will increase your

success rate by

improving the

effectiveness of

your employee

communications

(59.1%), increasing

employee engagement

(55.9%) and increasing

the number of

employee visits to

your portal (40.9%).

Created a personal connectionwith executives

Improved culture/working environment

Improved productivity

Improved retention ofcontent/messaging

Increased aligment withcompany objectives

Most impactSome impactLeast impact

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Increased revenues

Increased customer satisfaction

Increased collaborationamong employees

Increased employee engagement

Have not added video

What has been the biggest impact to the business when adding video to your employee portal?

Percentage (%)


PAGE 3

Video Readiness

When adding video communication to your employee portal, you first need to assess your most important success factors

for early adoption. Begin with your corporate-wide communication program, as it is typically the highest priority and the

most challenging use case. Every employee needs access to video which is considered the most important factor for

adoption at 68.3%. In considering how to address this need, note that your corporate network was most likely not

designed to distribute video files (i.e. network infrastructure issues), so your IT team will have to choose a video delivery

solution, if one is not already in place. Employees will use desktop computers, laptops, tablets and/or smart phones to

access video content. Your video delivery solution must take into account your required devices and video formats.

Establishing your portal as the primary destination for employee communication requires curating content to make sure it

is current and fresh in order to keep employees coming back and this is especially true for video (62.9%). A great video

presentation means being able to watch without starts/stops and jittering. This is as important as the message itself. A high

quality viewing experience is a critical adoption requirement (62.4%) and is determined by your video distribution system.

Video production effort is also highlighted as an adoption challenge (29.9%). There are certain videos where high

production value is required, but there are many use cases where it is not. Employee generated videos to capture subject

matter expertise is a

good example where

a decent image and

sound quality are more

than enough to engage

the viewer. However,

you should identify

the quantity of high-

production videos

required to properly

assess required

resources.

Analytics

Employee access regardles oflocation or device

Employee participation throughemployee generated content

Establish video as a primary vehiclefor critical communications

Keep content current and fresh


0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

High quality viewing experience (immediate start time, no bu�ering

and hi-res images

Promotion of capabilities

Organization leaders participation

Subject matter expertssharing knowledge

Social media features

Search

What is most important to early adoption of a video communication portal program?

Percentage (%)


PAGE 4

Once adoption barriers are understood and addressed, video-enabling your portal with the right capabilities should be

next on your list. Ease of use (74.6%), reaching every employee (54.7%) with a high quality viewing experience (62.2%),

analytics (47.5%) and supporting IT requirements with security and control (54.5%), no network impact (53.8%), and easy

integration (68.1%) were identified as “must-have” video portal capabilities.

The last piece of the readiness “puzzle” is viewing the content. Delivery quality (59.2%) and access (58.3%) combined

with promotion (58.5%), subject matter (56%) and length (54.1%) are “must-haves” to ensure a video is viewed and

considered a success.

Analytics

Easily integrates into my existingemployee portal

Ease of use

Live video event streaming

Must be a feature set included bymy portal vendor

No impact to the corporate network


0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Quality viewing experience (immediate start time, no bu�ering

and hi-res images

Reaching every employee with highquality video regardless of location/device

Search capabilities

Social media features

Security and control

What are your “must have” capabilities when video-enabling your employee portal?

Percentage (%)


PAGE 5

Future of Video

With such a strong emphasis on employee engagement, the power of video to accelerate those programs and the resulting

business benefits, video growth will continue to accelerate. In this year alone, two-thirds (68.9%) of the organizations

represented in the survey will grow their video use by at least 25% or more.

Another strong indication for video growth is the expanded adoption of video. Survey results are clear in showing that

executive involvement and related business benefits are a critical first step in your video communication program.

However, it appears that the logical next step upon this foundational success is to directly involve the employees. 60.2%

of the communicators are executing employee generated content initiatives this year, followed by self-service live video

broadcast (21.8%) and video on mobile (18.0%).

When employees become involved, the quantity of video will begin to increase. It is important to provide corporate guidelines

for producing quick, low cost, effective videos, along with company policies on do’s and don’ts. Establishing a workflow to

ensure a well managed transition for your culture is essential, as are implementing social and search capabilities. These

capabilities will provide valuable insights into video effectiveness and acceptance, while providing efficiency in finding

relevant content.

Finally, it’s critical

to identify a video

delivery infrastructure

solution that can meet

all of your enterprise

video needs for both

live and on demand,

while ensuring every

employee receives a

high quality video

experience and can

scale as your needs

grow.

Video is quickly

becoming a critical

element of every

communicator’s

portfolio and we hope

you find this report

useful in your ongoing

efforts.

Added momentum to the initiative

Improved e�ectiveness ofemployee communications

Increased employee engagement

Increased number of employee visits

Increased employee satisfactionscores for value of portal

Most impactSome impactLeast impact

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

Increase in time spent on portal

Increased usage byremote employees

Increased numbers ofemployees participating

Too early to tell

Have not added video

No known bene�tfrom adding video

What has been the biggest bene�t to your portal initiative by adding video?

Percentage (%)


PAGE 6

About Melcrum

Melcrum, a privately held research and training business, is the leading authority on best practice, emerging trends and

strategy in internal communication.

Melcrum advises internal communication leaders at 69% of the Global Fortune 100 largest organisations and 84% of the

FTSE 100. Through independent research and executive education, Melcrum helps internal communicators achieve the

rewards and recognition they deserve.

With global networks and offices in the UK, US and Australia, Melcrum researchers and editors spend their time meeting and

talking to practitioners to find out where the best work gets done. Melcrum makes these tools, techniques, and case studies

available to its members through publications, research, events, forums and websites.

About Kontiki, Inc.

Powered by innovative technology, Kontiki pioneered the enterprise video platform and enterprise content delivery network

markets, providing superior cloud-based content delivery across the enterprise. Kontiki’s video solutions enable consumer-

grade video engagement with enterprise-grade control over video delivery for the world’s largest companies, including

American Airlines, Wells Fargo, Nationwide and Nestle, serving nearly 1.5 million users worldwide. Kontiki offers

organizations the unique ability to globally deliver video on demand or live broadcasts to 100% of their employees,

regardless of location, and to the full range of today’s business devices, including smart phones and tablets, without

congesting networks or compromising video quality.


EMEAMelcrum Ltd.2nd Floor Apex Yard29 Long LaneLondon, SE1 4PLUKTEL: +44 (0) 20 7357 8888FAX: +44 (0) 20 3174 1128EMAIL: [email protected]

USAMelcrum Publishing1108 K St, NWThird FloorWashington, DC 20005USATEL: 866 MELCRUM (Toll free in US) or202 393 8960FAX: 202 330 5859EMAIL: [email protected]

ASIA PACIFICMelcrum Ltd.Suite 1003, Level 101 Castlereagh StreetSydney, NSW 2000AustraliaTEL: +61 (0) 2 9222 2810FAX: +61 (0) 2 9222 2820EMAIL: [email protected]

Visit www.melcrum.com for more information.

CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS1001 W. Maude Ave.Sunnyvale, CA 94085TEL: 888-317-9283 FAX: 408-215-6401 EMAIL: [email protected]

EMEATEL: +44 (0)800 242 5602

Visit www.Kontiki.com for more information.

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