Effective internal communication plays a crucial role in fostering employee engagement. As businesses increasingly adopt video content to convey their messages, the importance of ensuring accessibility and inclusivity cannot be overstated.
Here are six key reasons why captioning and subtitling video internal communications can significantly increase employee engagement while efficiently allowing you to hit your diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) goals.
1. Improve employee retention by hitting company DEI goals
Prioritising diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within your organisation not only drives better business performance but also improves employee retention. A significant majority of the workforce (78%) considers it important to work for an inclusive company. To achieve your DEI targets, it is crucial to improve accessibility in your online settings, and an effective way to do this is by adding captions to your video communications.
By incorporating captions, you immediately enhance the viewing experience for diverse employees with different language requirements, especially important for companies with global offices. This inclusivity fosters a sense of belonging and ensures that everyone can understand and engage with your message.
Captions benefit employees who are deaf or hard of hearing, numbering over 350 million worldwide, by providing equal access to your communications. Subtitling your content also caters to individuals with learning disabilities or who identify as neurodivergent, allowing them to engage with the content in their preferred learning style—reading, watching, listening, or a combination.
Aligning your DEI goals with initiatives that enhance accessibility, such as captioning video content, sends a powerful message that your company values and prioritises inclusivity. With features such as Automation by CaptionHub, you can caption your video content and make it available in multiple languages with minimal effort and at lightning fast speeds to achieve your DEI goals quickly and efficiently.
2. Ensure compliance with local accessibility laws
Captions are of utmost importance when it comes to compliance with local accessibility laws. Numerous jurisdictions have established regulations that mandate accessibility measures for online content, particularly videos. Organisations that add captions to their video content showcase their commitment to accessibility and inclusivity, ensuring they align with legal requirements. Laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the United States and the European Accessibility Act in Europe exist globally to emphasise the significance of prioritising accessibility. Failure to comply with these laws can have serious consequences, as demonstrated by the 2013 case of FedEx, where they were sued by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for violating the ADA. FedEx's failure to provide ASL interpreters and closed captioning for employee training videos resulted in a settlement of $3.3 million and a requirement to provide ASL interpretation and closed captions.
By implementing captions as part of their compliance efforts, companies not only fulfil their legal obligations but also create a more inclusive and accessible environment for all users.
3. Boost internal video communication engagement rates by allowing for flexibility
Video completion rates are a vital metric for assessing engagement. A joint study from Verizon and Publicis Media found that up to 80% of viewers are more likely to finish a video with subtitles. Captions and subtitles provide visual cues that captivate viewers' attention and facilitate better understanding of the video content.
Employees rely heavily on their smartphones to stay connected and consume content on the go. Whether they are watching a quarterly update during their commute, in-between meetings, or while waiting to pick up their children, one thing is clear: sound-dependent content can be a major barrier to engagement. This is where captions come to the rescue, enabling employees to consume your messages in any setting.
By providing captions for your video content, you remove the reliance on sound and open up opportunities for employees to engage with your content wherever they are. Whether they're in a noisy environment or simply prefer to watch videos silently, captions ensure that your messages are accessible and comprehensible. This increased flexibility significantly boosts the chances of employees following through and actively engaging with your valuable content.
4. Increase success of your training and development programs
According to the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, captions have been found to improve brand recall, verbal memory, and behavioral intent. When internal communications are captioned, research shows that captions help these viewers remember and retain facts, understand complex topics, and even build vocabulary.
Captioning also works to accommodate diverse learning styles and language preferences, creating an inclusive learning environment for your trainings. Subtitles highlight important words and concepts, aiding comprehension for individuals with learning disabilities and difficulties with speech or auditory elements. Captions enable employees to watch, listen, and read simultaneously allowing them to maintain focus and therefore enhancing learning outcomes. Offering captioned content empowers employees to choose their preferred learning style: reading, listening, or both.
For global companies, subtitles can allow employees to understand key training concepts in their native language, promoting retention of these concepts and fostering connection with your organisation.
5. Build stronger teams in the remote work era by fostering trust and connection
With the increase in remote work, organisations face the challenge of effectively communicating with employees located in different locations. Video has emerged as a key tool in bridging this gap, providing a visual connection that fosters engagement and collaboration.
Research conducted on behalf of Cisco Systems highlights the significance of non-verbal cues in building trust with senior management and creating a sense of shared identity among team members. However, relying solely on visual cues can be challenging. This is where captioning video internal communications becomes essential. By incorporating captions, companies can capture and convey vital non-verbal cues, ensuring that employees fully understand the nuances of the message, even from a distance.
By embracing captioning in video internal communications, organisations can overcome the limitations of remote work and create an inclusive environment where employees thrive, build meaningful connections, and foster a sense of trust and shared identity within their teams.
6. Reach the diverse age range within your workforce more effectively
Engaging effectively with specific generations of employees can present a challenge for many companies. As the workforce evolves, organisations must find innovative ways to capture the attention and involvement of all demographics. Fortunately, recent studies have shed light on a quick win solution: captioning content. In fact, a YouGov study revealed that 61% of viewers aged 18-25 actively choose to watch videos with subtitles. This compelling statistic underscores the immense value of captioning in captivating the interest and engagement of your new generation of employees. By embracing captioning as a simple yet powerful strategy, companies can swiftly enhance their ability to connect with and inspire this vital segment of the workforce.
CaptionHub as the quick win solution to help your company boost employee engagement
Ultimately incorporating multimedia subtitling into internal communications offers significant advantages for employee engagement and accessibility. By adding captions to videos, organisations can improve employee retention, comply with accessibility laws, enhance engagement, optimise training programs, build stronger remote teams, and effectively reach younger employees.
CaptionHub is the top solution for organisations looking to enhance their multimedia subtitling processes. With its advanced automation capabilities, seamless collaboration features, and support for multiple languages, CaptionHub streamlines the captioning workflow, saving you unlimited time and resources. Its easy integration with various video platforms and content management systems ensures a smooth transition and effortless implementation.
By leveraging CaptionHub's powerful features, we help hundreds of organisations efficiently caption their video content, ensure accessibility and inclusivity, and effectively engage their employees across different locations and language preferences.
Book a quick demo with our team to see how CaptionHub can help you start boosting your internal communications.