Employer branding and employee retention through info film

In the discussion with the cultural advisors of noventum, it became clear quickly that the comprehensive documentation of the Culture Audit is not the correct medium to promote curiosity and an approving behaviour within the company. The whole had to be processed into a “somewhat easier to digest” form. The head of HR of NetCologne, Christoph Görlich, and the Head of Personnel Development, Ingo Deluweit, agreed with the cultural advisors of noventum to document the Culture Audit in a video clip and present the latter to all employees. This clip of a few minutes’ length was not intended to present the full package of employer services but rather provide an authentic overview and awaken interest in finding out further details of the employer brand.

The noventum team around Uwe Rotermund received the order to create a script, formulate the texts, film, cut, direct and manage the whole production. This job had to be completed within a period of less than two weeks so that the clip could still be distributed prior to the large employee survey. As a Great Place to WORK® Ambassador and employer branding expert that recently was awarded the Marketing Prize, the task was precisely cut for the noventum company, especially given that the Münster-based experts for business culture in recent years gained experience in the creation of video clips. The HR department of NetCologne was closely integrated into the project and hired, furthermore, various female and male colleagues as speakers for the film.

Reaching in-house employees with a video on workplace culture: ‘Film’, the recipe for success

The noventum team, which for some time has already included a professional videographer, and the committed team from the HR department of NetCologne went to work. The central idea was clear: the 9 areas of activity in which NetCologne has changed something specifically and therewith changed the culture as a whole were to be presented exemplarily and emphasised with quotes and comments from employees of NetCologne. In its implementation, the concept of the video clip for illustrating the employer services documented in the Culture Audit then looked as follows:

After a brief introductory statement by the Head of HR, Christoph Görlich, who emphasised the significance of a systematic approach to cultural development, the 9 aforementioned areas of culture are covered in 2–3 sentences, each, in the context of NetCologne. While this is taking place, film sequences from the world of NetCologne are displayed which provide additional information about the respective area of culture. The extra something are then the original soundbites which employees from all areas of business at all levels of the hierarchy had been asked for.

Within one day, the noventum consultants were allowed to carry out interviews with people not used to speaking in front of the camera who had exactly one day to mentally prepare themselves. The employees were not specified any texts. They were merely confronted with one question, e.g. “How do you experience the area of culture ‘Caring’ at NetCologne”, to which they responded in their own language with their very personal examples. noventum video director Jan Helmchen had the important task of alleviating the camera-shyness of all interview partners and creating a relaxed atmosphere even after the 8^th take. With their great commitment, both the video director and the interview partners effected a highly successful job. In the end, everybody was excited about the results.

Filming, cutting, adding a soundtrack, animating: Film professional with a strategy needed

After a highly challenging, but at the same time also extraordinarily fun summerly day of shooting, the film professional Julian Meißner was then in demand since all the many snippets had to be combined into a small overall piece of art that triggered a very positive reaction in both the ordering HR department as well as in the employees. He brought the hard and structured work of the Personnel and Organisational Development Department at NetCologne across with ease and made it experiential. This strengthens the employer attractiveness subjectively perceived by the employees and increases the connection to the company as well as the motivation. As an additional benefit, the video clip will in the future also be integrated into the careers page of NetCologne and therewith become a long-term part of the employer branding which is an interesting tool also for potential job applicants.

In Summary

Especially in large organisations, employees often only know bits and pieces of what is being done for them at their own company, e.g. in management. The reasons for this are varied and the lack of information then becomes apparent in surveys such as those of the GREAT PLACE to WORK® competition. Sometimes small measures, such as a video, help to get things moving and to get a discussion among colleagues going. There are no limits to the imagination and, depending on the actor/sender, many different activities can promote communication and bring forward a positive change of the values of the own company.

The noventum cultural advisors are already looking forward to the next special challenge. Next time the task may well be to plan the implementation of a play, a song or a board game…