High definition conferencing is nothing new in the boardrooms of worldwide corporations, but the rapid expansion of cloud-based videoconferencing apps more businesses of a more modest budgetary level are discovering what high definition can do for them. Far from being out of reach, cloud apps have brought high definition to wherever you, or your staff, happen to be at the time. Liberated from large room-based systems, modern videoconferencing can take place between locations and between devices. You can have face time with anyone, anywhere, anytime. And in the end it can save you a lot more than money.

The Hard Costs of ‘Soft Costs’

A recent Gallup poll had a hard wake-up call for human resources and management across all spectrums of business. When seven out of 10 of your best educated senior employees are disengaged from their jobs. Workers who are engaged and involved, enthusiastic about their environment, and contributing to their organizations in a positive manner have reached a massive low. As productivity has grown, so have demands on the senior workers to contribute more and more of their time to the success of the company, often to the detriment of time they would otherwise devote to their family, or even to themselves. The competitive pressure cooker to give more, do more, and make more has in the end not helped but hurt American business.

Going worldwide, the numbers are actually worse, with 87 percent of highly educated workers from 30 to 64 reporting that they are disengaged at work to some degree. This disengagement can result in high turnover, absenteeism, workplace accidents, quality defects, and even in shrinkage. Re-engaging with employees often reevaluating the culture of the workplace itself. Bringing back enthusiasm, creativity, and even passion requires jettisoning the jargon soaked pabulum of the business publishing industry, created less to help manage actual people, and more to sell books and seminars. Changing the culture to promote the kind of engagement you want to see takes effort and creativity, too.

Rethinking Meetings

People really do love meetings. Actually over 90 percent of employees who regularly attend meetings really do value them as a way to contribute to the success of the company and their projects. However, meetings are very costly. A Verizon study placed the average cost of a five person meeting with four attendees required to travel at over $5,000. In addition to being expensive, the study also found that busy professionals are required to attend an average of 60 meetings per month, and most state that they cannot attend all the meetings that are demanding their time and resources. This and the time that they are required to be away from the office, and away from family, also contributes to a great deal of stress for constantly traveling busy professional.

Bringing the meetings home is one way to handle it, videoconferencing is very popular. Bluejeans HD videoconferencing and other apps have bridged the gap that room-based video systems could not. Bluejeans can operate on any equipment, any system, and most operating systems – such as Android, iOS, Windows, and Mac. By bringing the videoconference to your employees, on whatever device they happen to be using at the time, you are making meetings simultaneously more accessible and more inclusive. In addition you are creating the incentive for geographically diverse staff and departments to work together. When a meeting simply takes a few taps and a swipe on someone’s iPad, it becomes as easy or easier than walking down the hall and knocking on someone’s door.

Face Time is Money

Implementing videoconferencing that can be used by everybody, no matter where they are or how they access the Internet, can bring 87 percent of remote users to feel more connected and engaged with their coworkers and their projects. A Gigaom study points out that videoconferencing is an awesome way to increase enthusiasm and productivity. As much as people value meetings, there’s nothing to say that everyone has to be in the same room. Contractors, home workers, office workers, staff at remote worksites, and management can all agree that good meeting really brings life to an otherwise moribund project and passion to the fore.

Making the most of your employees’ creativity and drive doesn’t mean micromanaging or making ridiculous demands of their time and resources. Working to find new tools to help them reengage will mean a lot to your bottom line, as well is to your reputation as an employer that someone would really love to work for. Increasing employee engagement and satisfaction doesn’t mean pampering or pandering, it means giving people the best available tools you can to do what you hired them to do. Videoconferencing can bring your people closer together, and give them a new and deeper interest in their workplace, coworkers, and work.