Everyone’s probably now heard of using asynchronous video interviews to change the hiring process.  It’s known to be more efficient and time-saving at the top of the funnel than using real-time interviews to sift out prospective candidates.  And even large companies such as UBS and Hilton now use this innovative way of hiring.

But did you know that there is so much more potential with asynchronous videos that goes untapped?

What are Asynchronous Videos?

What most companies don’t think about and don’t realise is that asynchronous videos aren’t only useful for hiring.  They are useful for employer and employee connection as well.  If you think about voice messages on Whatsapp or emails, these are all examples of asynchronous communication.

In asynchronous communication, there is a transmission of data and information is not communicated in real time.  Asynchronous videos are similar in that the information it transmits is not in real time.

Why Should Employers Use Asynchronous Videos to Communicate?

1. Better Processed

Video content is more effective than if employees read content such as documents or blogs.  According to research, employees are 75% more likely to watch a video than they are to read traditional written content.  Not only that, but video content can also increase the processing speed of information as well.  According to Thermopylae Sciences + Technology, our brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text and 90% of information transmitted to the brain is visual.  And guess what.  More than 65% of people in this world are visual learners and would highly benefit from visual aids.

2. Higher Retention Rate

When you speed-read or skim text, sometimes your mind drifts off or you are unable to concentrate properly and have to re-read the same text that you just read.  This bad reading habit wastes time and does not help you when you’re trying to learn new information.  But when an employee engages with video content, they are more likely to retain 80% of the video content compared to 20% of written text.

3. More Engaging

When watching a video, you are able to see the body language and would catch the visual clues you probably couldn’t catch when reading text.  And being able to see all these nonverbal cues helps an employee pay more attention and be more interested in what is being said and how it is being said.  Nonverbal cues are important because it gives valuable information about a situation and could affect a decision that employees have to make.

4. Allows Flexibility

In today’s working environment where many companies are either remote or hybrid, it is more difficult to arrange meetings.  This is especially true if employees are in different geographical locations and in different time zones.  With asynchronous video communication, employees don’t have to be present at the same time and the information can still reach everyone wherever they are.

Employees have a specific time of day when they are most busy or most productive..   By stopping whatever they are doing to attend a meeting, it will lessen their efficiency by taking them out of their work flow.  Then after the meeting, they will have to spend time refocusing and getting back into the zone, which wastes unnecessary time.

5. Reduces Burnout

Many days, there is no way to hide from those mind-numbing back-to-back meetings.  Having multiple meetings, one after the other, increases the rates of burnout.  When employees are intaking so much information at once, it’s easy for them to lose focus and have an increase in stress levels.  Their productivity could also vastly decrease, making them less efficient at work.  Asynchronous videos are a great way to relieve employees of this issue.

How to Better Utilise Asynchronous Videos in Your Company

You might have already started implementing asynchronous videos in your company’s weekly routine or you might be looking to start.  Either way, here are some places where you can easily utilize video communication:

1. Work Instructions

Most managers probably either send an email or speak to you face-to-face when assigning tasks.  With an email, you could be missing out on the nonverbal clues, as mentioned before.  No matter how much we try to make them equal to one another, reading instructions and hearing the tone of someone’s voice and their expectations is simply different.  And with face-to-face instruction, sometimes there are key details you might have missed, and there’s no replay button for you to listen again.  With video instructions, you can go back and listen at your own pace.

2. Company Updates

A pre-recorded company update from the CEO is a great example of internal communication using asynchronous video.  Although employees cannot ask questions, again, they will be able to play, pause, and re-listen to sections of the video if they so choose.  After employees watch the pre-recorded update, the company should ensure that there are ways through which employees can ask questions.

Of course, not all company updates should be communicated asynchronously.  Remember Better.com’s CEO who fired 900 employees over a Zoom call and then was criticized all over the internet?  You do not want to be that person.

3. Walkthroughs and Tutorials

Mentors or managers are easily able to create comprehensive walkthroughs and video tutorials to help teams who are remote learn on their own time.  When a new idea or a process needs to be shared, it’s sometimes easier to use our voice and motions to get our excitement across to the rest of the team.  And remember to share the videos through multiple channels, whether it be through Slack, Whatsapp, email, etc. so that your employees have many ways to access the videos.

Interviewer.AI is a technology platform purposely built to support Recruiters and HR teams in finding top talent for their companies. Interviewer.AI is a state-of-the-art video recruiting software that uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) to screen in advance and shortlist the candidates that meet the criteria set. HR teams use the software to make the recruitment process more efficient and shorten the hiring cycle.  Learn more about how Interviewer.AI can help your business.

Increase your hiring team’s efficiency using a combination of resume scoring, skill assessment, and asynchronous video interviews. 

Hannah Ng is a Junior at Boston College studying Finance and Business Analytics.  She is currently an intern at Singapore for Interviewer.AI during the summer of 2022. 

Besides work, she is also very interested in hair styling and is responsible for her family’s hairstyles as a hobby.