Employee retention is a really big deal. And if you lose someone valuable, the costs to replace that person can be considerable.

A recent article by Toggl broke down the numbers. It can cost as much as 25% of that employee’s salary to find a replacement, and that’s not to mention the lost time when they vacate the role. And when other factors are added in, well just take a look:

• HR Manager 30 hours effort – $7,700 

• 1-month job ad on Monster – $249 

• Basic background check – $50

• IT equipment – $600 

• Training courses – $400 

• Employee support 20 hours effort – $6,000 

• New employee signing bonus – $2,000 

Total – $16, 999

Sadly, in the majority of cases the employees who decide to leave do so because the company has not been proactive when it comes to ensuring their employees are happy, and the culture is a positive one. And yet simple, and very affordable, fixes can be put in place to not only make your employees feel valued, but also so happy that they tell other people about it. And UGC video is one way even the largest corporations can implement employee engagement strategies to solve the problem.

The bigger the company size, the more effective UGC becomes

In a mom ‘n’ pop operation, employee engagement is much easier to address. The simple reason for that is face time with people who make a difference. You’re seeing the bosses, you’re talking one-on-one with decision makers, and you can feel seen, heard, and appreciated.

But when you’re just one person in a company of many thousands of employees, with locations all around the world, it’s much harder to get that invaluable facetime, or connect with people not only around the world but in one large office building or location. It’s an issue that’s got even harder to crack with the rise of hybrid and remote workers, but global pharmaceutical giant Gilead has been at the leading edge of employee engagement strategies for years now.

What started during the pandemic became a blueprint for success

When Covid literally shut down the world, isolation hit people hard. Rachel Setton, Director, Change Management and Communications at Gilead for the HR organization at the time saw the opportunity to connect Gilead HR in an entertaining, authentic, and impactful way. Without the ability to engage through in person events and conversation, Setton was looking for ways for employees to share their experiences, accomplishments and teams independently, efficiently, and conveniently. And so she contacted Cinebody, knowing that User Generated Content (UGC) would be a fast, efficient and fun way to help engage employees at Gilead locations everywhere (including their kitchen tables and bedroom office setups).

“The beauty of Cinebody is most of the time it's a question and everyone gets to answer it in their own authentic way,” said Setton. “They get to showcase where they live, they get to showcase their home, they get to showcase their office, they get to showcase their teams in a really, really natural way. And again, that just always creates a sense of laughter. It creates a sense of humanity, and it makes people feel valued. It makes them feel like their work is valued and that the voices of an organization can be celebrated from anywhere and by anyone.”

Indeed, laughter is a key part of bringing people together, especially when those people being seen as real humans are the ones at the top of the tree. The directors and C-suite players who are so often dehumanized by being in positions of great power.

Those initial videos proved so popular that Gilead has continued to employ a UGC strategy long-term, tapping into the great people in their organization for fun insights, glimpses of real life and real families, and connecting with coworkers in a much more fun way than those glitchy Zoom calls. Please…no more Zoom calls this week!

You could say that Setton really started a wildfire of change and fellowship within Gilead, with HR and other specific groups who are taking advantage of a killer UGC strategy that is beloved by employees at every level.

“When it comes to employee engagement, we all have a role to play. Leaders and people who are just within the organization working on a day-to-day basis. We all have a responsibility to connect and to collaborate and to innovate together. Great ideas come from anybody. They come from everyone in an organization” continued Setton. “It also helped people laugh, seeing leaders, seeing employees joke around with their employees, high five each other when they've done things well.”

Setton and Gilead continue to leverage the simplicity and effectiveness of the Cinebody platform for the foreseeable future. Not only is it a fantastic and affordable way to highlight workplace culture, it’s also very simple to set-up and use. And in a day and age when everyone has at least one smartphone, it’s giving huge corporations the advantage of having thousands of videographers ready to tell their stories at the drop of a hat. Now that’s the real power of UGC.