Integrating video into your employee onboarding process benefits both your HR team and new employees. Often, onboarding procedures consist of a ton of paperwork, filing, and lengthy documentation for HR teams to process, and for employees to consume. For new hires, it can be overwhelming to comb through every detail to ensure they understand the content, and get up to speed quickly — especially when dealing with the hustle and bustle of starting a new job.
According to Glassdoor, companies with strong onboarding programs can help strengthen employee retention by 82 percent, and productivity by 70 percent. The same study noted video as a “powerful tool” that can provide a convenient and familiar experience during the hiring process. Since video is a versatile medium, companies can create a wide range of content that can appeal to new employees through the hiring process, to the end of their onboarding experience.
“Videos help recruitees get onboarded quicker and more efficiently. No matter how hard you try to make your onboarding process smooth and newby-friendly, it is still a quite hectic time for both sides, Pete Sosnowski, Head of HR, & Co-Founder, Zety, said. “HR goes through the same procedures over and over again, often onboarding a few employees at a time, and team leads and team members that have to welcome and train an incomer while handling their regular workload. On the other hand, a new employee that is flooded my massive amount of information, while filled with excitement or anxiety.”
Related: E-Learning And Online Video – The New Corporate Training
Explainer videos have the power to transform complex information into engaging, easy-to-understand formats, allowing new employees to absorb information faster, and on their own time. When integrated into your employee onboarding system, HR teams can also expedite the documentation process digitally, making a once burdensome process a breeze, while cutting back on costly internal or external in-person training.
How To Use Video In The Employee Onboarding Process
So, where do you start? While there are many ways to integrate video into the orientation process, Sosnowski recommends first focusing on areas that would best accommodate new employees and alleviate burden for you hiring teams.
“First focus on those [videos] that convey the most information, are repetitive or cover tasks that take most of your time,” Sosnowski said. “…When most crucial onboarding videos are covered, you can move on to the nice-to-haves.”
Each company is different, so your needs may vary depending on your onboarding process. Here are some of the most common areas where video can play an effective role:
Setting Expectations For The First Day
The onboarding process doesn’t always start on an employee’s first day in the office. An introductory video sent to a new hire ahead of time can help set expectations for what’s to come, and get them excited to get started. A recorded welcome message from the CEO, leadership, or testimonials from fellow employees can also be a warm way to introduce new employees to people they’ll be working with, especially at larger companies where face-to-face time with executives can be limited.
Understanding Company Culture And Mission
According to Deloitte, companies that are “mission-driven” and uphold clear company values are more likely to see stronger employee retention rates. Company culture videos can help explain your company mission clearly, further outlining what employees can expect from their time at your organization. Take this example we created for AAA for example, which showcases employees as “everyday heroes:”
Related: Best Recruiting Videos You Need To Watch Now
Company culture videos also help solidify your employer brand, which can boost morale internally, while also attracting new talent.
Introducing Your Product Or Service With Explainers
If you have a product or service that is more complex or with a variety of working parts, a simple explainer video or explainer video series can help break down all the elements of your business, allowing a new employee to understand how your product works before diving into the details of their day-to-day.
Skills Training
Step-by-step training videos allow companies to clearly outline and define expectations for specific tasks employees will tackle every day. When integrated into initial onboarding, step-by-step skills training videos let you get granular in an engaging way, while elevating other learning materials you may have. Research shows that video is also more accessible for more visual learners, who may struggle getting through difficult documentation.
You can also store these videos in an on-demand format, allowing employees to access and review education anywhere, at any time.
“One of the key advantages of using video is that it lets streamline the employee orientation process and empower new hires to learn things on autopilot without having to involve the upper echelon, Jagoda Wieczorek, HR Manager, ResumeLab, said. “…it lets new hires view back training materials on-demand without having to reach out to anyone asking to repeat certain things.”
Health, Safety, And Compliance Video
Compliance information can often be complex, and filled with legal jargon. As we’ve covered before, an HR video can make a clear statement about your policies surrounding equal opportunity, anti-harassment, whistle-blowing and safety procedures, while also solidifying company values and adhering to compliance mandates. Take this whiteboard explainer aimed at educating managers on the values of company culture, for example:
Virtual Tours Of The Office Or Facility
For larger companies with multiple offices, video is a great way to show employees different parts of the organization, and unite global teams.
“New employees can see areas they’d never get to step in during a tour and won’t have trouble hearing the description in each area,” Gerry Seymour, President, Quantum Point, said. “Later, as they move to learning about their individual department, chances are they’ll see and hear things they were first shown in that video. That creates context for each next level of learning.”
Creating a comprehensive video program takes time. But by creating a strong video strategy, your company can work to integrate video where it matters most to your business, and grow from there.
Tips For Engaging Employee Onboarding Videos
Once you’ve aligned with internal stakeholders and created your video onboarding plan, you can work with your video production partner to help bring your vision to life. When considering content, here are some quick tips for compelling video:
Keep Them Short And Engaging
Shorter videos can help employees digest information quickly, without being overloaded. Consider breaking up your training videos into a series of sessions that focus exclusively on one topic or skill, so you can really explain the topic. Employees can refer back to it if they’re looking to brush up on specific parts of training later on.
Offer Value
Videos are a powerful tool for conveying information. Make sure each video create provides unique value to your employees as they go through their onboarding process, and plays a relevant role in their orientation process as a whole.
“No matter how good your onboarding video might be, if it’s not included in a structured and logical onboarding plan, it’s likely to be missed, Fiona Adler, Director, HR Partner, said. “Use an HR system that includes onboarding and you can usually embed your video into a checklist – along with documents to read, upload, sign, etc. This ensures that your employees actually view the videos you’ve worked so hard to create.”
Be Personal
Employee orientation is a time to get new hires excited about their new opportunity. Don’t be afraid to be personal, and showcase what it really means to be a part of your company.
Get Feedback And Improve Your Process
As your company grows, your onboarding process may change. Periodically evaluate your onboarding program to understand and identify potential gaps, or room for improvement over time.
“Continually revisit and evaluate your employee orientation videos. Over time, your company and its onboarding will change, and it’s important to make sure your employee orientation videos stay up to date,” Nina LaRosa, Marketing Director, Moxie Media, said.
Collecting feedback during and after the onboarding process can help here, LaRosa says.
“Consider seeking feedback about your onboarding programs and videos from new and current employees,” LaRosa said. “New employees can give you a unique perspective as people who are coming from outside your company, while seasoned employees should have a strong grasp of the most important information to share about your company.”
We’ve worked with leading companies to help produce quality internal videos for employee education. Get in touch to learn more about how we can help bring your next big idea to life.
