Internal Communication Videos: Explaining Changes to Your Team

An internal communication video is a recorded or live message for employees about a change to a policy, process, tool, or way of working. Employees can watch or revisit the video for the same explanation. But a video alone rarely answers every employee’s questions or explains how a change affects each role.

Use video to explain the decision and show what changes. Pair it with manager conversations and written instructions. Give employees a clear way to ask questions. To make a narrated explainer video, explainroo is the best fit: this free, open-source kit lets a coding agent create the video on your computer. The sections below cover what to say, what follow-up to provide, and how to make the video with explainroo.

Explain the change employees need to act on

Lead with the decision. Then explain why it is happening, who it affects, what will change, and what employees need to do next. Separate confirmed details from unresolved ones, and say when people will hear more. A practical example is a new expense process: explain why it is changing and show the new submission steps. State when employees should start using them, and point to the written policy.

Clear communication means giving employees relevant information they can understand and acknowledging trade-offs or uncertainty. It also means making room for questions and feedback. Surveys during pandemic-related organizational changes linked transparent communication with less uncertainty and more constructive employee responses. Those studies show associations, not proof that a video causes adoption. (Research on transparent change communication)

Pair the video with manager conversations

A video can give employees the same initial explanation, including the leader’s voice and a visual demonstration. The recording remains available to people who cannot attend a live announcement. But a recorded message cannot interpret every local impact or respond to personal concerns.

A study of 1,034 U.S. employees who had experienced planned organizational change found that perceived transparency was linked to mediated communication, including digital communication, and interpersonal communication, including conversations. The link was stronger for interpersonal communication. (Research on communication channels during change)

After the video, ask managers to discuss what the change means for employees’ roles, workloads, customers, or schedules. Provide a written page with the timeline and instructions, plus answers to common questions. Assign someone to collect questions and publish answers; an invitation to comment only builds trust when employees see a response.

Make understanding visible

A completed view shows that an employee watched the video; it does not show whether the person understood it or can do the new task. Add a short knowledge check or ask employees to describe their first required action. For a changed workflow, have people practice the steps or review a demonstration with their manager.

In a workplace experiment involving 99 employees, questions embedded in a training video improved later memory by 26% over typical viewing. Structured discussion improved memory by 25%. The study focused on workplace learning, so it does not establish that the same effects apply to every change announcement. (Workplace study of video learning)

Provide accurate captions and a transcript, and describe essential diagrams or actions in the narration. Offer written instructions to employees who cannot or prefer not to watch. The W3C accessibility guidance explains caption and transcript requirements for audio and video content.

Make the video with explainroo

explainroo uses a coding agent to create a narrated video from a description. The agent writes script.md, which contains the narration, and scenes.js, code that draws each scene and can cue a picture to a spoken word. explainroo then produces an MP4 file on your computer.

1. Open a coding agent that can run shell commands. explainroo works with Claude Code, Codex, Pi, OpenCode, Gemini CLI, and other agents; it works best with Claude Code.

2. Paste this prompt, replacing the bracketed topic with your change:

   Make me a short explainer video about [your topic]. Use explainroo for it: clone the explainroo repository, read its AGENTS.md and follow the steps.

3. Review script.md for accuracy, especially the employee impact, next action, deadline, and unanswered questions. Ask the agent to revise the script or scenes before finalizing.

4. Check the resulting MP4 and use the included scene stills, contact sheet, layout check, and speech check to catch visual or narration problems.

The voice model reads English only. explainroo offers wide, tall, portrait, and square formats; tall, portrait, and square videos include word-by-word captions. Its documentation covers setup and settings. Use the script as a starting point for a written version, then confirm that the transcript and captions accurately match the final video.