Why Schroders won the Best Use of Employee Generated Content
by Helen Dunne
on 04/02/2021
Schroders picked up the trophy for Best Use of Employee Generated Content at the CovidComms Awards
Schroders
prides itself on its people-first culture and the internal comms team was
determined this should not be impacted when its 5,100-strong workforce, located
across 37 countries, were forced to work remotely as a result of Covid-19.
The team
strove to deliver the inclusive culture to which Schroder’s people were
accustomed while providing moral support during uncertain times, that
demonstrated an understanding of the other things going on in their lives and
that there had been a blending of home life and office life.
But it
also wanted to create a campaign that encapsulated that sense of belonging and
pride while engaging people from across the regions.
The
solution was to use employee-generated content to introduce everybody’s new
‘working’ environments and address the challenges that colleagues faced in a
fun and inclusive way.
However,
employee-generated content was also a new concept for the fund management group
which, as a regulated financial services organisation, has always adopted a
more formal approach to communications.
When the internal communications team asked colleagues for photographs of their working environments, it was overwhelmed by how keen people were to share their stories.
This
prompted a Not remotely our usual set up video, a montage of photos set
to music, ranging from unusual working arrangements to new working
‘colleagues’, such as children and pets – which highlighted the international
nature of the business.
For
example, British colleagues shared images of cats, dogs and, in one
case, taxidermy, while their Bermuda-based contemporary was shown petting
his African grey parrot!
The
three-minute Day in the Life video included a montage of short films,
offering a taste of different colleagues’ lifestyles around the world from the
moment they woke up at 7.30am, when they shared their morning ablutions and
breakfast routines, to starting work, taking exercise, engaging in group calls
to logging off and relaxing, with family dinners, hobbies and other activities
until 11pm.
Fast cuts
brought a feeling of momentum which emphasised that Schroders was still
functioning and, indeed, as productive and connected as ever.
So much
content was shared with the internal communications team that it was able to
create two additional videos.
Our new
co-workers features
a montage of Schroders’ colleagues interacting with their children, pets and
house plants while New skills is one-minute of fun activities, such
as baking, cooking, growing vegetables, yoga and woodwork, that they have
embraced during lockdown.
Historically,
internal videos on Schroders’ intranet attract, on average, about 500 views and
eight comments, but each of this quartet attracted at least 1,200 views with a Day
in the Life viewed in excess of 2,300 times. And each video attracted an
average of 22 comments.