In the second installment of a series on on executive Q&A videos, I shared Chip Cruze’s tips for making a video and posting it on the company intranet. For this post, I asked Cruze to give his perspective as communications planner on the benefits of executive Q&A videos.

When deciding if executive Q&A videos are right for your company, consider these facts:

• After a small, one-time investment (Flip UltraHD Video Camera – Black, 8 GB, 2 Hours (3rd Generation) NEWEST MODEL and Flip Video Tripod), the videos cost nothing but the time it takes to make and post them.

• The videos “cultivate a culture of communication” where “everyone feels welcome to ask” and “every question is fair game.”

• The videos can go further to creating an “open door” culture than an actual open door. Many executives and managers say they have an open door policy and they mean it. But it’s hard for many employees to walk through that door. “The majority people just aren’t going to walk into the CEO’s office and ask for a minute,” Cruze reasons. It’s much easier to submit a question for a video Q&A.

• Most videos should take only 5-10 minutes to make (you don’t want them to be too long). It would take most of us exponentially longer to type up, proof, and polish a companywide email or memo with the same amount of information.

Technology for HR: Videos aren’t the only way to use your intranet as an employee engagement tool. Research more options for getting the most out of your intranet online.

In the final post of the series on executive Q&A videos, I’ll talk to some of our company’s executives who participated in Cruze’s videos to get their perspectives.

– Celeste Blackburn

Want to start harnessing the power of your intranet to drive employee engagement, post your handbook, communicate with employees in an emergency, and more? The Technology for HR manual guides you through making the most of your company’s intranet.

In a previous post, I wrote about video Q&As with the C suite from my perspective as an employee just having watched series of said videos. I liked how they were done, giving employees to ask the hard questions anonymously and at the same time showing us that it was our department heads and president answering our questions (instead of rubber stamping an e-mail written by someone else).

For the second installment of the series into executive Q&A videos, I went to Chip Cruze, the executive producer of the series and our internal communications planner, for the inside scoop on making a video and what to do with the finished product. Here are his tips:

• It doesn’t have to be expensive or elaborate.  Cruze shoots with a flip camera on a tripod set up on the interviewee’s desk.

• No reshoots! If at all possible, you want these answers to be unrehearsed. The more polished the answers become, the less genuine they will seem. If the video will feature more than one question, do everything in one take. Don’t splice anything together. “You don’t want to look slick,” Cruze says.

• Even though you want the videos to be “intentionally unscripted,” you can let the executives see the questions beforehand. They just have to promise not to rehearse in front of the bathroom mirror. It’s important to ensure the right people get the right questions.  Send out a list of all the questions and let the executives decide which ones best suit their expertise.

• Don’t be afraid to get a little personal. In their first videos, have the executives start with a little bit of biographical information. Cover the basics like name and a description of the work they do with the company. Then, have them offer up a little bit about themselves outside of work. It will help employees see them as more than the suit in the corner office.

• Post the videos on the company’s intranet. Depending on how you set security for your intranet, this offers an employees-only access option. Also, Cruze points out, “Everybody that is going to be here hasn’t always been here, but they should still have access to these answers and the personal side of these executives.” Posting the videos on your intranet creates an online library that you can use to familiarize new employees with your management team and employees can reference and watch  again if a question comes up.

Technology for HR: Research more options for using your intranet for employee engagement online.

Tune in net week when I investigate the benefits of executive Q&A videos from a communications planer’s perspective.

– Celeste Blackburn

Want to start harnessing the power of your intranet to drive employee engagement, post your handbook, communicate with employees in an emergency, and more? The Technology for HR manual guides you through making the most of your company’s intranet.

Recently, I was talking to Michael Burchell of the Great Place to Work Institute about programs that drive engagement and trust, and he mentioned Google’s TGIF (yes, that TGIF) program. Every Friday, Google executives take part in a live Q&A, and employees all over the world can participate online.

If you would like to do something similar at your company but can’t pull together a live Q&A every week, consider taking the idea to your intranet. Our company recently started a similar program, and I think it’s been very effective. Employees send their questions to the coordinator, who then incorporates those questions into video interviews with the appropriate members of the C suite (the president answers the questions about raises while the COO addresses concerns about reorganizing in the IT department), which he then posts on our intranet.

As an employee, the two things I like most about the intranet videos are: read more…

I know I need health insurance. I know the matching contributions my employer makes to my 401(k) are like free money and will pay off down the road. Despite those more practical benefits, without a doubt being able to telecommute from home is my favorite.

My office mates when I work from home.

Many managers and supervisors fear that days spent “working” at home amount to no more than a free day spent lounging in fuzzy slippers and pjs while watching TV or doing chores around the house. They worry that if they can’t actually stop by employees’ desks to check in, the employees’ natural tendency to slack will win over the drudgery of work.

For the past year and a half, my boss has allowed me to spend at least one day of the week working remotely.Yes, as the typical stereotype goes, there are fuzzy slippers and pjs most of the time. But there are no soap operas, chores, or other time-wasting nonwork activities going on. In fact, I’d venture to say that my employer gets more actual “work” time out of me on days when I’m at home than when I’m in the office. Let me explain. read more…

A 2010 survey by the Conference Board found that only 45 percent of those surveyed said they’re satisfied with their jobs, down from 61.1 percent in 1987, the first year in which the survey was conducted. The youngest employees, those currently under age 25, expressed the highest level of dissatisfaction ever recorded by the survey for that age group.

“While one in 10 Americans is now unemployed, their working compatriots of all ages and incomes continue to grow increasingly unhappy,” said Lynn Franco, director of the Consumer Research Center of The Conference Board. “Through both economic boom and bust during the past two decades, our job satisfaction numbers have shown a consistent downward trend.”

Studies have shown time and time again that happy workers are more productive and less likely to abandon ship. You know that engagement and job satisfaction are essential elements of keeping turnover down and getting the most out of your employees. All that makes sense. But how do you find out if employees are really happy? If you ask them outright if they are happy or what could be improved, you are likely to get a lot of nervous smiles and vague answers like “Oh, it’s great here . . .” Hiring an outside company to come in and do an anonymous survey of your employees can be expensive. read more…

In the first installment of Paul Knoch’s three-part series on Facebook, the HR pro recounted how he came to a social networking crossroads, deciding in the end (like most of us) to choose Facebook over Myspace. We join Paul as he creates his account and watches the friends pile up.

My Facebook account was created under the name “CBCC HR.” My intent was to create a profile for my “persona” as my organization’s human resources manager. I wasn’t interested in joining these websites for my personal use, but I saw the value in creating a presence on social networks for my work persona. Like most people, I created my account quickly without reading through the lengthy agreements and guidelines. I was “CBCCHR,” and the world was a happy place.

Over time, I became increasingly excited about Facebook’s value for recruiting applicants, communicating with current employees, and generating interest in our organization. Current and former staff added me as a “friend” to their profiles, and soon I had more than 800 friends on Facebook. Most were either current or former staff. Soon, our guests began to add me so we created a Facebook page for our organization. We currently have 2,300 “fans.” read more…

In search of a unique recruitment tool, Deloitte invited members of its global workforce to make three-minute amateur films that answered the question: “What’s your Deloitte?” They ended up getting more than they bargained, delivering a jolt of employee engagement and morale across the organization.

Consider these numbers: Nearly 400 submissions were received and more than 2,000 employees participated in the film making process. In an internal survey after the festival, 33 percent of Deloitte employees indicated an improvement in their connection to the office.

Not bad for a three-minute film. A sampling of the top employee films can be found here.

Have you heard about ROWE, the latest work/life balance program? ROWE, which stands for Results-Only Work Environment, is gaining traction at companies like Gap, Best Buy, and others. In a ROWE program, employees “are measured by their results, not time spent in the office. As long as employees get their jobs done, when and where they do that is irrelevant.”

I can’t imagine a program like this existing 5, 10, or 15 years ago. It seems we have technology to thank for smart, cutting-edge programs such as ROWE. Whether we like it or not, technology is increasingly making the concept of the office or cubicle irrelevant.

Evidence that ROWE adopters may be on to something as workplace stress and burnout levels continue to rise.

Following up to the “Ban the BlackBerry” movement, India has given RIM, BlackBerry’s manufacturer, until August 31 to make all encrypted information available to the government or face a ban of its devices.

But wait, there’s more…Google and Skype may be next on India’s hit list. Government documents suggest that India may ask Skype and Google for greater access to its encrypted information, including encrypted e-mail and text messages.

Recently, Twitter announced a new feature that will make it easier for users to “tweet” their favorite online articles and web pages. That’s what we need; more stuff to read online. I don’t know about you, but are we reaching a breaking point with social media? One, in which the whole systems crashes because of information overload!!!???

What else is happening?

– Ralph Gaillard

Whether you are sitting down with IT to design your company’s first intranet or redesigning an intranet that has become unwieldy as sections and links have been added randomly over the years, you should pay careful attention to your homepage. After all, this is the page users will see first, and its usability could determine if your employees use your intranet to the fullest extent or give up on it after a couple of tries.

According to  founder and Managing Director of Step Two Designs James Robertson, there are seven key elements you should consider when designing your intranet homepage. They are:

read more…