Are You Using Videos to Onboard New Employees?

Most small businesses give new team members an Employee Handbook that outlines everything anyone needs to know about the company. We expect our new hires to read this brick and be ready to pick an insurance plan, a 401K choice, know the company dress code, code of conduct and even what they can and cannot do online. We often include a boring video for safety or sensitivity training.

Many companies are now fast-tracking onboarding into a series of short videos that go through everything they need to know. It’s revolutionizing the new-hire orientation process, and here’s why it’s such a great idea:

1. Your employees are already watching videos: Many spend 95% of their time at work in front of a computer, and even outside work, they’re still staring at their smartphone or watching YouTube videos.
   People are used to getting information in this format, so why not use it?
2. It works for employees of all trades: Even if your employees aren’t at a computer all day, videos are still a viable solution. You can e-mail the video to them, so they can watch it on their smartphones or
   at home. Companies like GuideSpark, who create training videos for employees, let you know that the videos were opened. You can’t guarantee that your 43-page booklet has ever been cracked, much less read.
3. It makes participation easier: Training videos should be short…3-5 minutes at the most. You probably have more than 5 minutes of content, so break it up into chunks. It’s a lot easier for someone to read 2
   pages and watch a 5-minute video than to read 43 pages, attend a class and watch a 30-minute 1970s training video.
4. It makes delivery of information easier: Companies that are changing their insurance coverage, adding a rule or changing their dress code may want to think about sending out a video e-mail with the
   explanation. Recent studies suggest two thirds of employees would prefer to watch a video rather than go to a live meeting explaining the change.
5. It cuts your orientation time: By cutting the time of your orientation with short videos that can be viewed on a phone or laptop, you could save yourself money and have the new employees doing their jobs much faster

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