With the labor shortage and skills gap, it is already difficult to hire or promote qualified candidates. You don’t want to blow it with poor onboarding. According to an article from SHRM, new employees who went through a structured onboarding program were 58 percent more likely to be with the organization after three years.

Think about how excited people are when they are leaving their old company and starting a new job. They might be relieved to be leaving a micromanaging boss or a toxic culture. They are optimistic about their future. They are eager to learn about the company, their department and their new role. They want to get up to speed as quickly as possible so they can start doing their job.

How do you build on this enthusiasm and high engagement and make a strong first impression? One thing to consider is incorporating video with your in-person events for a blended-learning onboarding experience. Video can complement your live onboarding events for a more satisfying start to a new job.

Benefits of Using Video in Employee Onboarding

Accessibility

Videos are available on demand. For a new hire that is day 1, day 10, or day 100. You could even make the videos accessible during the two-week notice period before day one. Leverage the new person’s excitement and let them start onboarding on their own time. Onboarding can start before they officially start.

New hires can watch and rewatch as necessary. This works well for important healthcare and benefits conversations an employee may need to have with their family. They can rewatch the videos at home, at night, or on the weekend. In-person onboarding conversations and meetings can get delayed when regular work becomes more urgent or important. Videos are there when the employee needs them.

Consistency

Video is ideal for content that must be delivered exactly the same, every time. It guarantees the correct tone is conveyed, specific language is used, and details are covered. Unfortunately, people can be rushed or distracted during onboarding conversations. This applies to the new hire and the onboarding manager. They can miss important details. The HR rep or supervisor can get bored with the constant repetition of onboarding conversations and try to change things up to keep it interesting while inadvertently changing the message.

At two previous companies, we held a new employee orientation every other Monday. This was convenient for the people starting on that particular Monday. New hires with earlier start dates came to class with varying levels of accurate and inaccurate information that was distracting and wasted time. This took us off script and opened the door for unintentional omission of content.

Efficiency

Employees can watch their onboarding videos, take notes and get their information immediately. This saves time for the HR team who normally has to repeat these meetings and conversations over and over. It also saves time for the new hire eliminating longer orientation sessions listening to the unrelated questions of other new hires.

When the employee has questions (and they always do!), they can spend the time with their HR contact in conversations about details pertaining to the employee’s specific needs. Videos can provide the foundation and the HR representative can provide the personalized details.

Connection

Many HR and Training professionals argue that using videos and technology for onboarding employees is colder and less personal than a live event making it harder to achieve a strong connection with the new hire. Conversely, if the live onboarding event takes place in an auditorium and lasts for several hours, there may be less of a connection.

Offering new hires a series of onboarding videos can help to create an immediate connection between the company and the new person. It demonstrates the company’s commitment to the success of the new employee. The connection can be reinforced by the onboarding manager in the face-to-face meetings. “If the company took the time to create these videos and take me through this process with my onboarding manager, they must really care about me as a new employee.”

Content Ideas for Onboarding Videos

Most of our clients use a blended-learning approach with training in general. It’s a combination of experiences including instructor-led classroom, online webinars, and self-directed learning in our HSI LMS. Blended learning applies to the onboarding process as well. Video won’t replace the personal interactions that are so important as a new employee embarks in their new career. Some topics need to be handled in person. Others could easily be addressed in videos.

Benefits explanations

We all know how complicated healthcare solutions are. These are the details that must be consistent every time. You don’t want to confuse people on their benefits. These are perfect topics for onboarding videos. Videos can go into the detailed differences between a high deductible plan with an HSA or a PPO with an FSA or any other new acronyms that come along. Others include vacation and sick leave policies, or bonus pool and incentives for newly promoted employees.

Software programs and technologies

This might start with the LMS or benefits portal. This can also include employee operations topics like how to schedule a meeting, request days off, or submit a PO. Certain departments may use complex proprietary programs for accounting, inventory, customer service, project management, sales lead management and marketing automation to name a few. Simple video tutorials with voice-over and screen capture can be helpful for an initial overview so the new employee can bring specific questions to the technology trainer in their next meeting.

Company history, mission, vision, culture

Effective training of the company’s mission, vision, and values can unite your workforce with a higher purpose and helps to build a connection with your new hire. Pre-producing videos would allow you to engage your senior leadership team to be visible to everyone. It is highly unlikely they would be able to attend every onboarding event, so pre-producing a video would allow them to be introduced to every new person.

How to Create Employee Onboarding Videos

Custom Training Videos

You could partner with a company like HSI to create fully produced custom training videos. Our team of experts will partner with you to write the script and create engaging graphics. We can hire a professional presenter or you can choose someone from your company to record in our studio.

Additional Resources

• You can request a free trial of our HSI LMS and try the recording tool for free.
• We have another case study on helping Gresham, Smith, and Partners implement a new employee onboarding and training solution.
• Check out our eBook, The Complete Guide to Onboarding Training.