4 Easy Ways To Use Video in the Onboarding Process

Karina Kasparova
Updated:
September 6, 2023

Most new hires find their new job has an onboarding experience unstructured and messy.

And the people that do the onboarding find it just as frustrating. With no best practices or standardization, you rely on long documents (that might never get read!) and tedious in-person training or video calls.

And once you’ve answered all the questions that came up…

It’s time to onboard the next employee.

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But, onboarding is, without a doubt, vital to complete. Because organizations with strong onboarding programs increase new hire productivity by 70%.

They can also improve new hire retention by a staggering 82%.

Long story short, onboarding is essential to hiring a new employee. And video is a game-changing tool that will make it:

  • Easier.
  • Faster.
  • And better.

5 reasons why video is the perfect delivery tool for onboarding training

Video helps you standardize the information, and scale out training to more than one person at a time.

Video onboarding helps two groups of people:

  1. New team members become more confident in their decisions leading to higher productivity, happiness, and autonomy
  2. Managers and co-workers are now free to do their own work rather than babysitting new hires

Did you know? 🤔

New staff are almost 3x more likely to feel prepared and supported when they’ve undergone a good onboarding process.

#1: Video is better at keeping attention than written resources

Video is an incredibly powerful tool for capturing and keeping attention. And with attention spans split across a million different channels, it’s important to keep people engaged as much as possible.

Short videos help hires get up to speed from the first day:

  • Improved comprehension: Better visualize complex topics that would otherwise confuse new hires.
  • Improved completion: Keep employees' attention for the entire duration of the video with creative visuals, animations, and audio elements that help break up topics engagingly.

Did you know? 🤔

This research paper found that videos were more effective than text when it comes to retaining information.

#2: Video training helps scale onboarding

The customer engagement platform Dixa was stuck with lengthy onboarding training that took a manager and new hires 3 days to complete!

Those aren’t numbers that scale well.

So they switched to video. Using Synthesia’s AI video maker, they quickly created engaging videos that could be used for remote onboarding. Now, when a new employee joins Dixa’s team, it takes them just one day to get up to speed.

Example 🧐

Ultimately, Dixa reduced their onboarding time by 66%. This video is one of the many training videos new hires use to get started.

Dixa Customer Case Academy

#3: Video delivers consistent messaging

Consistency is key to eliminating confusion and ensuring every single new hire receives accurate information about company policies and procedures.

With video, you can create a library of modules and make them available to every employee, no matter where or how far apart they are. Everyone has access to the same materials. Everyone, no matter their location, receives the same onboarding information.

Having consistent messaging from the top down will give employees a sense of belonging and ensure everyone is on the same page.

Tip 💡

Include videos from senior leaders or founders sharing the organization's mission and talking about why they chose to start it in the first place. It also helps employees feel connected with your organization's overall vision and understand their role within it.

#4 Video is easy to personalize

Video content can be tailored to specific roles and departments, ensuring everyone gets the most relevant information.

For example, video can easily be segmented into different modules, allowing you to create content relevant to each employee’s job requirements. It helps make onboarding more personal and engaging while delivering the same core messages.

#5 Video is great for remote onboarding

It's easier to form an emotional connection with the company culture and values when you can see and hear other employees sharing their experiences and perspectives. This can be particularly important for remote teams with less opportunity for in-person interactions and communication.

Onboarding videos help you:

✅ Quickly create and share relevant videos with new hires, regardless of their location.

✅ Ensure that everyone receives the same level of instruction and can hit the ground running as soon as they start work.

✅ Eliminates the need for costly travel expenses or in-person training sessions.

Tip 💡

New hires can watch the videos at their own pace and on their own schedule, which is particularly useful for remote workers who may be in different time zones or have other commitments.

4 ways you can use videos in your employee onboarding process

Here are 4 ways how to use video in the onboarding process to create an excellent experience for new hires and increase team engagement

#1: Use video to introduce the company, its role, and your product

Video offers a perfect way to make a great first impression and provide new hires with an overview of the company, its values, and its products.

In your welcome video, include interviews with team members, an overview of the company history, and a product or service tour. Add key points like company goals, mission statement, and culture to help employees get familiar with your work culture and key team members.

Here's an example company values video you can easily duplicate and personalize:

Company Culture and Values | Free Talking-Head AI Video Template

#2: Video training for tools and apps

Tutorial videos help employees learn a new role, and figure out how to slot into work as part of the team. A compelling onboarding video can be helpful if you want to explain how your project management system works, what communication tools you use, or even the best way to set up their email signature.

👉Screencast videos, in particular, make it easier to get up to speed quickly, as the videos can be accessed at any time and watched multiple times. Check out this tutorial video on how to set up a signature in Gmail.

How to add your email signature in Gmail

#3 Provide a virtual tour

A virtual office tour is a great way to help (potentially nervous!) new hires become familiar with the physical office space and give insight into their colleagues and the organization's culture.

It’s an excellent opportunity for them to discover all the available resources and how to make the most of them.

👉Consider following in WeWork’s footsteps with a 360° video walkthrough of your office facilities.

Full Office 360 VR Tour | WeWork
Tip 💡

Pair location walkthrough videos with team interviews to create a powerful company culture video communicating your values.

#4: Easily conduct compliance training

Company policy videos provide a visually engaging and memorable way to share corporate policies and procedures while ensuring the new hire is familiar with compliance-related topics. Short video training courses can also reduce information overload and deliver training materials one-by-one.

👉Use these compliance training video templates to cover topics such as anti-harassment policies, financial reporting guidelines, and other compliance-related subjects that may arise.

Ready to learn how to make an onboarding video?

Using video in onboarding can help your organization create a more engaged and productive workforce.

Ready to learn how to make an onboarding video in less than 30 minutes? Start with these 5 onboarding video templates. 👇

Frequently Asked Questions