How to Conduct Effective Onboarding With Video to Boost Productivity

A well-executed onboarding process isn't just a box to tick; it's a strategic investment that can significantly impact your organization's bottom line. Statistics show that companies with strong onboarding programs can increase employee retention by up to 82%. [1]

Video is a dynamic and efficient way to engage new hires and accelerate their learning curve. By incorporating it into your onboarding process, you can create a more immersive, memorable, and effective experience that sets the stage for long-term success.

What Defines an Effective Onboarding Video?

An effective onboarding video has several key points. From my experience, the top five characteristics are:

• Interaction: Videos that include quizzes, call-to-action prompts, or follow-up tasks are the most engaging and help with knowledge retention. They encourage new hires to think critically and form questions for leadership or team members, which supports team collaboration.
• Accessibility: You must ensure that all hires can access the onboarding videos. You're not only making the videos easy to find, but also using features that improve understanding. For example, guidde’s translation and captioning make your clips accessible for those who don't speak your language or are hearing impaired.
• Role-Related Examples: Real-life illustrations are powerful for reinforcing information. You should include scenarios from team members' experiences, with screenshots from prior situations, to make the material more memorable.
• Audio: Clear audio improves comprehension. You can use guidde to add voiceovers and supplement information not visible on screen. But, you need to be careful and test them first. Feedback and internal testing will help you ensure that this approach suits your new employees' learning styles.
• Video Format: The most effective onboarding video format varies with the content and available resources. For example, animated clips can make complex topics engaging. Your formats should be flexible; you can combine live footage with animations.

How to Create Effective Onboarding with Videos

Step 1: Pre-Boarding

Pre-boarding is the phase where you welcome a new hire. You would send essential information such as a welcome email, necessary HR paperwork, and equipment arrangements.

To be effective, your video content during this stage needs to:

• Explain their roles
• Introduce the team
• Provide other relevant details like 30-60-90 day plans or short- and long-term goals.

You should keep the pre-boarding video manageable and engaging by making it 2–4 minutes long. Depending on the industry and company style, the format may vary—from voiceover and animated videos to slideshows or examples of previous onboardings and company events.

You can use guidde's text-to-speech feature to add scripts without a live voiceover. You can also integrate it with your Gmail to send emails with pre-scheduled clips. Just make sure to set reminders so you don't forget to update the hire with new clips every step of the way.

Avoid going off-topic. Stay focused on the overview of the most important factors without unnecessary tangents or personal anecdotes. This way, you keep the new employees interested and help them understand key points.

Step 2: Day One Orientation

Day-one orientation is there to set up the hire's essential tools, email inbox, and introduce them to key team members and other departments. This step is also an opportunity to review the company resources, such as the primary HR contact and feedback channels.

Orientation videos at fast-food chains like Burger King or McDonald’s effectively introduce safety, hygiene, and health code protocols. These clips  use familiar faces and scenarios. Hires can then relate to the content and retain the information quicker, because they watch employees in similar roles performing various tasks.

For an effective day-one onboarding, you should have each team create a concise, relevant clip—two to three minutes long. It needs to cover their core functions and best practices for cross-departmental collaboration.

The support team can use guidde to create one where they explain their processes. The editing tools include calls-to-action, so could include one for ticket submission at the end of the clip. The hire can then go through the process and understand the customer's journey.

Additionally, failing to incorporate elements of your company’s culture can leave new hires feeling disconnected. Use videos to showcase your values, norms, and day-to-day processes, helping new employees understand what is expected and how they fit into the organization.

Step 3: Role Specific Training

Role-specific training videos provide an in-depth look at role-specific operations, and prepares the hire to handle challenges they may come across. This clip requires customization, oversight, and a deep dive into the day-to-day responsibilities of the role.

For a Customer Success Manager, role-specific onboarding videos would include reviewing ticket submissions and resolution workflows, as well as managing user access. The compilation of clips might include screenshots, recordings, and walkthroughs created by the support team.

You should have the most experienced team member play a significant role in shaping the video content for this step. Their insights and accumulated experience provide valuable context, helping to outline what the role truly entails and equipping the new hire with practical skills. If you use Zendesk, you can also record your videos by integrating guidde with it.

During role-specific training, avoid sharing information that's too technical for certain roles. This could confuse the hire, especially if the role is more client-facing instead of technical.

Step 4: Compliance Training

Compliance videos—like those for HIPAA and GDPR—tend to be longer, typically ranging from 30 to 60 minutes. Depending on the depth of the information, their content may even extend across multiple days. You get them from external organizations.

They usually include interactive components, such as quizzes. Hires first learn why compliance matters, read through real-life scenarios, and then respond with multiple-choice answers or written responses.

For example, the GDPR Awareness Training Video covers key aspects of the GDPR, including definitions of personal data, penalties for non-compliance, and individual rights under the regulation. The clip uses a combination of animated visuals and clear narration to maintain viewer engagement. It also presents real-life potential consequences of non-compliance.

To maximize effectiveness, you should update these videos regularly to reflect any changes in policies. This way, both employees and partner companies can use them to stay compliant with the current standards. You can also use guidde and convert your video into a knowledge base article for easier access on the go.

Don't overwhelm viewers with too much information at once, as this can lead to confusion and disengagement. You should also steer clear of complex legal terminology, as it can confuse employees. Aim for clear and simple language instead. 

Step 5: Ongoing Training and Development

Training and development videos are essential for every role within a company, extending well beyond the initial onboarding phase. It keeps employees up-to-date on current product changes, use cases, or new offers.

For example, Deloitte created training videos to introduce its Digital Bank Accelerator. These clips were meant to help sales and customer success teams understand the tool's front- and back-end functionalities.

You should keep aligning the length of these training videos to the complexity of the topic. Sometimes, covering a single feature or update may require a series of videos to convey the necessary information fully. You can also keep a previous version available in the knowledge base so the employees can connect what they already know with the updated material.

Types of Onboarding Videos to Engage Hires

You can use a variety of onboarding videos, each tailored to different stages of the hire's experience:

• Welcome and Introduction Videos: These videos introduce the company to new hires. They show the culture, mission, and values and explain the communication style and expectations. By giving an overview of the onboarding, these clips help new hires feel more comfortable and engaged right from the start.
• Team Introduction Videos: Clips that introduce team members help new hires feel like they belong and connect with their future coworkers. The videos include personal introductions from each staff member and show key processes and tools.
• Training and Demo Videos: During orientation and training, demo videos teach new hires essential workflows. These videos provide detailed instructions and practical examples. Including interactive elements like quizzes reinforces learning and improves retention.

Elevate Your Onboarding with Video

Video is a powerful tool to transform onboarding. Follow these steps to create a comprehensive, engaging program: welcome new hires with introductory videos, introduce the team with personal videos, and train effectively with demo videos and interactive elements.

A strong onboarding process boosts retention, productivity, and job satisfaction. Invest in video; invest in your future.

Resources:

1. M. Laurano, “The true cost of a bad hire,” Brandon Hall Group. Available: https://b2b-assets.glassdoor.com/the-true-cost-of-a-bad-hire.pdf

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