Why is a birthday video as important as a CEO statement?

We really hope you haven't experienced this type of conversation yet. Unfortunately, it is still a reality in most companies with poor corporate culture. In the same companies, which are also very likely to have a high turnover rate of employee turnover. In this blog, we address an important topic for corporate communication: the lack of empathy and appreciation in communication and how to fix it.

And it all starts with a birthday video.

Bye bye intranet chats, hello birthday videos!

At cofenster, we live a hybrid working model. That means the team often isn't even working in the same time zone. This also means that when it's someone's birthday, we can't always celebrate together. But we believe that another year of life must be celebrated on this planet. Conversely, a simple “Happy Birthday” message in the internal communication channel is not enough for us. We treat our employees' milestones, such as a birthday, in the same way we celebrate our company's successes. It's about making every situation something very special with a video that will be remembered.

Why is a birthday video as important as a C-level company update?

Every day, we're bombarded with dozens of notifications, tasks to complete, and meetings to attend. Apart from the direct effects of the flood of information on our stress levels, working in a company where internal communication channels only talk about monthly sales can also affect our mental health. When everything revolves around work and there is no room for casual (digital) conversation with colleagues, companies have dissatisfied or even burnt out employees. Disengagement is a risk for every company, regardless of industry. Investigations have revealedthat dissatisfied employees are 2.8 times more likely to leave their company and switch to a company with a better culture.

It is the responsibility of every HR and corporate communications department to make employees feel seen and heard, and to offer them spaces and formats in which they can interact with their colleagues regardless of their hierarchical level. The benefits of a positive corporate culture are obvious: more employee satisfaction, higher employee loyalty and stronger sales figures. And believe it or not, a healthy corporate culture can start with sending a personal video to a colleague.

A birthday video, congratulations for new parents, a thank you, a promotion congratulations... A heartfelt video boosts the viewer's serotonin levels because you can see faces and emotions. You feel happy and connected to people, even through a display. That is what we mean when we talk about the power of video: the power of empathy.

How do we create our birthday videos?

We're a team of around 50 people at Cofenster, but even if we were 100 or 500, it's easier than you think. You can collect all of the team's videos via a single project link. Everyone records their birthday message and uploads the video there. There are no rules! When everyone is done recording, one person takes care of the editing, i.e. they edit the scenes, if necessary, select a design template and a nice song and press “Render”: The video is automatically cut. Now you have a personalized birthday video that will put a smile on the birthday girl's face.

Kim's response to her birthday video

She never misses an opportunity to spread a good mood! Below you'll find more reactions from our team members, our Cofenstis, after they've received their birthday videos.

Let's build a great company culture!

We would like to invite you to send your colleague an authentic video of the entire team instead of a congratulatory message via the intranet or a mention in the weekly meeting. Once you've seen the response from employees, there's no turning back. You'll never want to send just a congratulatory message again.

Don't forget:

The successes of a company are only as important as the personal celebrations of those who belong to it.Empathic communication moves people.People move companies.