How to Create Engaging Onboarding Videos and Boost Retention [6 Examples]

While traditional in-office work is far from obsolete, there’s no denying that remote work has been on the rise thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of 2023, 13% of full-time employees work from home and 28% work a hybrid model. Looking ahead, it’s projected that 32.6 million Americans, or about 22% of the workforce, will work remotely by 2025.

This makes it all the more crucial to have a smooth onboarding experience that helps new employees feel connected to the company and team—despite managing a workforce that's spread across the country (or even the globe). Swapping out piles of documents to read for engaging videos that cover the same vital information can help you make a great first impression.

Otherwise, a lackluster onboarding process can leave new hires feeling confused about their roles and responsibilities or unhappy with the company culture, leading to higher turnover.

If you’re looking to engage—and retain—new employees, we’ve got you covered with six video types to revitalize traditional onboarding, along with examples. Coupling video with the handy features in BambooHR’s employee onboarding software can help you set your people up for success from the jump.

3 Reasons Onboarding Videos Boost Employee Engagement

Video has the power to enhance the overall experience, but how? Here are just a few of the top reasons to make your onboarding process more visual:

Videos Show Rather than Tell

An employee handbook can tell you that everyone is excited to welcome you aboard, describe the company mission, and outline guidelines for new hires. But at the end of the day, it’s black ink on white paper.

It can’t capture the warm smile of the CEO as they greet you or the collective cheer from your new teammates. It won’t walk you through the software programs you’ll be using or introduce you to the machinery you’ll operate.

Live, in-person introductions and demos can do these things, but they usually rely on busy individuals who are critical to daily operations, managing teams, or leading projects. There’s no guarantee they’ll always be available or deliver a consistent experience each time.

Only video can deliver complex, dynamic content about your organization to new hires while ensuring a consistent experience and minimal disruption to company productivity.

Videos Are More Memorable

According to Forbes, people retain up to 95% of a message delivered through video, compared to only 10% when reading it in text. So, if you want new hires to sit up in their chairs, pay attention, and absorb the most critical information, then video is the way to go.

Videos Speed up the Onboarding Process

Individuals have varying reading speeds, which can significantly impact the onboarding process. If you give them a stack of documents to read, it may take a while for some employees to digest all the material. However, whether they’ll need an hour or an entire afternoon to peruse your handbook, new employees can likely watch multiple videos covering the same (or even more) information much faster, leaving more time for person-to-person interactions.

All in all, the sooner employees can be onboarded, the sooner they can acclimate to their roles, deliver value, and feel a sense of accomplishment.

How to Create Onboarding Videos (Without a Studio)

If you haven’t created onboarding videos before, it may be hard to know where to start. Instead of feeling pressured to put on a Hollywood-level production, keep it simple—yet effective—by leveraging low-tech programs, such as:

• Slack: To send welcome messages to new hires, record video clips up to five minutes long on your desktop or mobile device. You can either send individual employees a direct message or post your video in a dedicated Slack channel for new hires.
• Zoom: If you want to make training videos to show new hires how your company uses a specific software program, for example, simply share your screen and record yourself doing a walkthrough over Zoom. Then, share a link to the recording with applicable employees.
• Loom: This service lets you create and share AI-powered video messages. Features like auto summaries, auto tasks, and filler word removal help streamline the process.

6 Types of Onboarding Videos to Try [With Examples]

There's no single formula for the perfect onboarding video—they should be unique to your company and guided by a specific topic. Let's dive into some examples:

1. “Welcome to the Company” Video

To help ease your new hires’ first-day jitters, your first video should be a warm welcome from someone authoritative. This could be your CEO, the new employees’ manager, key team members, or a combination of all three.

Beyond saying hello, a welcome video is a great way to tell new employees more about your company’s mission and how their hard work helps make it all possible. Giving your people a sense of purpose might be the difference between them embracing your company or looking for the exit as soon as they enter.

Example: Welcome to Edmonton’s Waste Management Services

The Canadian city of Edmonton is a global leader in sustainable waste management. Their well-done welcome video features team members and supervisors sharing how rewarding it is to keep their city beautiful and safe to live in for all.

2. Product Overview Video

Whether your business offers a physical product or SaaS platform, your new hires can quickly gain a solid understanding of what you provide with a product overview video. Be sure to include an engaging product demo with key features and functions—this is more likely to help them retain the information as opposed to reading a lengthy manual.

It can also help them see the bigger picture by explaining how your product solves your target audience’s pain points. Sharing customer success stories that show the value of your product in real-world scenarios is a bonus.

Example: An Introduction to Grammarly

This Grammarly product overview video does an excellent job of explaining how its AI-powered software helps millions of students and professionals write clearly. Its ability to detect tone and rephrase for clarity makes it much more advanced than a standard grammar and spelling checker.

3. “Goals for New Hires” Video

New hires need to understand the expectations for their new position, and a goals-focused video can take care of this task from the start. This should be a rundown of the team objectives and what the company wants them to achieve in their first days, weeks, and months at work. For maximum retention, you can even create an accompanying checklist for new hires to use.

Example: The First 4 Weeks at Zappos

Every new employee of the retailer Zappos, regardless of their title, goes through the same immersive onboarding process. This involves shadowing the Customer Loyalty Team and answering phone calls. It's designed to help new hires get out of their comfort zone and learn the company’s most important value: Deliver WOW Through Service. At the end of their first month, new hires are treated to a lively graduation, complete with diplomas, swag, and confetti! An onboarding video like this makes it easy for new hires to prepare for Week 1.

4. Company Policies Video

Every new hire needs to be briefed on the key company policies that form the bedrock of your organization. This video should cover standard HR policies regarding:

• Code of ethics and conduct
• Nondiscrimination
• Cybersecurity
• Workplace harassment

But it can also include a section on culture, values, and other key elements that make your organization unique. It doesn’t have to be a dry, by-the-book lesson packed with all the dos and don’ts and their possible consequences—it can be funny, endearing, and expressive of your company’s personality, all of which will make new employees happy about their choice to sign on with you.

Example: Day 1 of Amazon Orientation

This Amazon video covers a variety of topics, such as daily cleaning processes to keep everyone safe, a “Things We Care About” section that includes sustainability practices, and a reporting protocol in the event Amazon drivers experience discrimination while out making deliveries.

5. Company Benefits Video

To motivate your new hires, consider making a video explaining what fringe benefits they’re entitled to, such as health insurance, retirement plans, paid time off (PTO), and more. This extra step shows you value them as people—not just employees—and are invested in their work-life balance.

Example: Inclusive Benefits at Netflix

This thoughtful video shows that Netflix values inclusion by offering the benefits its diverse workforce needs to thrive. Those in the US Armed Forces can leverage paid leave to serve, and LGBTQ+ employees can grow their families with comprehensive family planning support.

6. Skills Training Video

Your new employees are qualified to do their jobs, but every role comes with its own learning curve and it'll take some time for them to adjust. However, one of the biggest pitfalls in many onboarding processes is information overload.

Video training lets you do two important things that one-time presentations and written materials can’t:

• “Drip” content to new hires over time. This allows their minds to absorb the information in digestible chunks and on a schedule that allows them to put it to practical use as they learn.

• Host a catalog of content that new hires can access on-demand. Whenever they feel stuck, they'll know where to find the information they need to get back on track.

Example: How to Hand Toss Dough at Pagliacci Pizza

This short, but thorough, video shows employees at Pagliacci Pizza the step-by-step process of successfully hand-tossing pizza dough. The trainer covers everything from how to scoop up the dough ball to how to make a nicely defined crust. He even includes a helpful analogy on how tossing pizza dough is a lot like shooting a basketball.

Keep Great People with Great Onboarding

These six video types can lay a solid foundation for your onboarding process, but the sky's the limit! Every company has unique needs, so once you’ve covered the basics, you may find it helpful to dive deeper with more videos that cover company history, tech setup, departmental insights, and more.

Remember, your new hires are not on the lookout for an Oscar-worthy production, but rather confirmation that they’ve made the right decision in accepting your job offer. So keep it simple and genuine, letting your awesome company culture shine through.