A recent report from BlueJeans found that 51% of employees said they would prefer to work for a company that embraced live video as a way to communicate and 73% believe the hiring of new staff could be transformed with video.

This is an example of how business culture is changing. If the last business communications revolution was about the written word and email, the next one is about video and live interactions. It’s not that hard for employees to imagine a working day where every meeting, phone call or email becomes a live video chat in their office, home or from a train.

It’s becoming increasingly important for organisations to implement video communication technologies as this will help them attract the best and brightest employees and make the hiring process as seamless as possible.

Times are changing

Most businesses claim to be forward-thinking. So it’s important that they have the technology in place to help attract the innovative people they want in their organisation.

As consumer communication devices continue to develop at an astonishing rate, employees are now expecting to have access to the same technology tool sets at work. In this day and age, employees are most happy when using the latest communication and collaboration tools available, as it makes their day-to-day working lives easier and more productive. 

BlueJeans’ Love Live Video research found that 85% of employees use video as part of their everyday lives, but only 28% of are proactively encouraged to use video at work to communicate. This shows the huge disconnect between the way employees want to work and what they are actually receiving from employers.

Reacting to this demand and using video to improve the worker experience will help attract the type of talent that innovative business want and need.

The demand for flexibility

Developments in cloud technology have enabled companies to offer greater flexibility and now employees are demanding more of this. This is reflective of the fast moving lifestyles we now live and cloud technology has been a key facilitator in ensuring employees begin to work smarter.

Video conferencing as well as tools such as Google docs enable workers to stay connected on mobile devices and enable real-time collaboration as if we were based in a physical office. It means we can be more intelligent about driving productivity and work when there is work to be done. Introducing video conferencing will help employers offer these kind of initiatives and make the workplace more appealing to potential employees.

Making hiring easier

The benefits of video conferencing technology do not stop there. Once the right kind of employees have been identified to an organisation, it also helps in the hiring process. It provides benefits to both the employee and the HR team, creating a good and seamless working environment long before a recruitment decision has even been made.

For potential employees, it can save both time and money as they can interview for a position without needing to travel to the head office. They can fit interviews around their own working schedule. One challenge associated with applying for a new role is that workers need to book the time off from their existing jobs or be interviewed at an unsociable hour. If the HR team and the potential employer can connect by video, this can take place at a more convenient time and from the comfort of both their homes.

There is an additional benefit for the HR team, who can cut down on admin time by using video. A recruitment specialist can fit in a lot more interviews in a shorter space of time by taking advantage of video technologies.

Over the past few years there has been a noticeable shift in business culture, where companies now tend to have a more casual atmosphere and working style. They need to build on this transition to help attract and forge relationships with new employees in a different way through live video. In a time where video is used constantly in our personal lives, it’s important that businesses keep up with these changes or risk losing touch with exactly how the workforce of today wants to operate.