December 3, 2019
By Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen Conference Chair, Streaming Media and CMO, id3as
Online Video News

72% of Employees Skim or Skip Training Videos, Says Kaltura Report

More and more organizations are using video to train their employees, but are those employees actually watching them? Not necessarily, according to "The State of Video in the Enterprise," a new report from Kaltura that analyzes how companies are using video as well as how their employees are reacting to it.

First, the good news. According to the report, which is based on a survey of more than 1,200 people from companies with more than 500 employees, 91% of employees have received at least some training via video, and 90% have watched a video to learn a specific skill. What's more, 69% of survey respondents say they would prefer to learn how to do a particular task via a video rather than a written guide or manual.

Interestingly, when those numbers are broken down by age demographic, they remain relatively consistent. Almost 89% of Baby Boomers (and older) have watched videos to learn a skill, while the rates for Gen X, Millennials, and Gen Z are all between between 90% and 92%. When it comes to preference, the difference is more pronounced, but still clear: 70% of Baby Boomers and older prefer to learn via video, while (surprisingly) only 62% of Gen Zers feel the same way.

Kaltura recommends that organizations consider making "micro-learning" videos available to all employees and investing further in "just-in-time" learning. "It doesn't have to be formal," the report says. "The emphasis should be on practical skills employees actually need."

Now, the bad news. More than 66% of employees say they sometimes skim through videos, watch them without sound, or listen to them while doing something else, and more than 6% say they "never actually pay attention" to work-related training videos. Here, the generational breakdown shows significant differences, with more than 44% of Baby Boomers and older saying they "always" pay attention to videos, but between 23% and 25% of Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen Xers saying they do the same.

So what's the answer? Make videos interactive. Survey respondents across age groups said they preferred videos that use hotspots that link to additional materials, include quizzes, or even offer branching choices that let viewers control the direction the video content and storyline take.

Across the board, survey respondents said that video usage is increasing at their organizations. Almost 32% said they have created video content for work; unsurprisingly, when broken down by age, Baby Boomers and older workers have had the least experience creating videos (just over 22%), while Millennials have had the most (just over 36%). Only 28.71% of Gen Z respondents said they'd created video, something the report attributes to them not being far enough along in their careers to be in a place where they are sharing knowledge with other employees.

The report indicates that employees of all age groups would benefit from having more access to video creation tools: More than half say they have access to webcams and mobile phones for creating videos, but when it comes to tools for video editing, captioning, and adding interactivity, the number drops significantly. And a third of survey respondents said they have no access to video creation tools of any kind (see graph below).

To download the entire report, click here (registration required).

Kaltura State of Enterprise Tools Chart