In decades past, just having employee training videos was enough to put any company ahead of the curve. Gone were the all-hands seminars and lengthy in-person training sessions; training videos for employees were fresh, new, and far more efficient.
But today, video is the baseline.
Modern jobseekers are accustomed to video-based training—and not just any videos, either. As work environments speed up and call for ever more specialized skill sets, your employees expect (and deserve!) high-quality, interactive video training.
Don’t know where to start? This article covers what you need to know to plan, produce, and edit the most effective employee training videos, including:
- What is an employee training video?
- What are some common types of employee training videos?
- Benefits of producing training videos
- What makes good training videos for employees?
- What should you include in an employee training video?
- 10 high-quality employee training video examples
- How to make an interactive employee training video
Let's get started.
What is an employee training video?
Employee training videos are exactly what they sound like: video-based content to train employees. Of course, there’s a lot of nuance hidden in that simple definition.
Employee training videos can be short or long, humorous or serious, professionally shot or taken via smartphone, packaged into an onboarding seminar or offered as continuing education. Videos can be used across massive multinationals, within single-location businesses, or even by solopreneurs looking to train a remote VA.
There are just as many different styles of training videos for employees, too. They can be a slideshow presentation with voiceover, a traditional front-of-the-classroom lecture, an animated explainer video, an interactive video experience, or even an informally taped conversation between colleagues. And of course, it can all be self-paced or instructor-led.
Such boundless opportunity explains why the corporate e-learning industry is projected to reach over $37 billion by 2026, growing at an impressive rate of 11% year over year.
For your business specifically, this means that the sky’s the limit when it comes to producing training videos for employees!
What are some common types of employee training videos?
Employee training videos range the full spectrum. If it’s something an employee would want or need to know on the job, you can absolutely create a video for it.
Some of the most common types of employee training videos include:
- New hire orientation
- Department onboarding
- Technical training
- Product/tool training
- Sales training
- Safety training
- Anti-discrimination training
- Diversity training
- Social media etiquette training
- Soft skills training (e.g. communication or conflict resolution)
- Any legally mandated training
In addition to the traditional uses above, our modern world of remote work introduces even more need for high-quality employee training videos. Things that would otherwise be picked up “on the job” often need to be systematically taught—including topics like general workflows, standard office procedures, or even company culture. You can connect your team to the knowledge you want them to know and test their skills with interactive training videos for employees.
DOWNLOAD: 5 Ways to Retain Staff with Interactive Video
Benefits of producing training videos
What are the benefits of producing training videos for your employees, you might be wondering? Unsurprisingly, there are many. By packaging your training into a video format, you can:
- Ensure consistency in quality across locations and time
- Avoid the hassle and expense of in-person training sessions
- Allow employees to rewatch training on their own time
- Easily reach a regionally or even globally distributed workforce
Another surprising benefit can save your business significant cash.
Studies from LinkedIn have found that “94% of employees say they would stay at a company longer if it invested in their career development.” That means that by providing genuinely meaningful training, you can actually retain employees longer—preventing the drain of employee turnover, which costs U.S. businesses over $1 trillion per year. Not a bad ROI for video training!
What makes good training videos for employees?
When it comes to evaluating the quality of employee training videos, there are two sides of the equation to keep in mind: your employees and your administrative team. Balance these two sides well, and you’ll end up with the best possible training videos for everyone.
For your employees
The first aspect is, of course, the employees themselves. Are the videos helpful and easy for new staff members to understand? Are they reasonably accessible to everyone on your team?
From the perspective of your workers, good training videos for employees are:
- Relevant to their specific job duties
- Bite-sized and focused on a very specific topic, question, or task
- Spoken in plain language without any confusing jargon
- Designed with cues and interactivity to draw attention to key points
- Memorable in some way (whether through audio, visuals, humor or some other creative aspect)
Remember that training videos are most often created for someone who’s new to your company or new to a specific role. By adopting a kind, coach-like demeanor, you’ll make the viewer feel more comfortable and more receptive to your training.
For your administrative team
The second aspect is more commonly overlooked, but it’s equally important in terms of answering the question, “What makes employee training videos?” It’s the administrative side of things.
From this perspective, good employee training videos are:
- Polished and professional
- Affordable to produce
- On brand, both in terms of visuals and messaging
- Easy to reuse in different scenarios and for different teams
- Easy to update as policies and procedures change over time
- Easy to track and analyze as employees engage with content
If you’re looking for a tool that balances the needs of your employees and your admin team, our interactive video design studio, PlayPosit, stands out. Businesses use PlayPosit to implement interactive videos in lessons, courses, and curricula — delivering more engaging learning opportunities for everyone.
What should you include in an employee training video?
While every employee training video will be slightly different depending on the topic and the company, the best videos often share some key components:
- Learning objectives: Start by quickly explaining what the viewer will learn from watching this video.
- Explanation of why: To gain some buy-in from viewers, explain why this task, procedure, or requirement matters.
- Demonstration: If this video is covering a discrete skill or process, show someone completing the task at hand, preferably a couple of times in different ways.
- Bite-sized tips: If this video is covering a soft skill, organize information into simple, easily remembered tips. This email etiquette video is an incredible example.
- Alternatives: What happens if this exact training procedure won’t work for some reason? Explain what should be done or how to solve it.
- Visual cues: Signals like on-screen text and arrows can help viewers retain information better.
- Summary: At the very end, include one or two sentences summarizing the content and explaining next steps, if any.
The major takeaway is this: your training video should include enough narrative and visual elements to clearly explain the topic—and no more! Aim for short, tightly focused videos with minimal extraneous information.
In terms of actual length, conventional wisdom says to keep each video under 6 minutes, though Training Mag has found that longer videos work, too, as long as the content is relevant and helpful.
10 high-quality employee training video examples
When creating your own employee training videos, it helps to draw inspiration from the best. Here are 10 great examples of training videos, plus why they work.
1. NibbiBrothers New Employee Safety Orientation Video
If you need to deliver a lot of information at once, you can use training videos to ensure you get the message across. This video covers several different aspects of employee safety and is broken down into clear sections.
2. St. Luke's Rehab Safety Plan Activation Training
Shorter training videos can still focus on workplace safety, satisfaction, or efficacy. This video shows employees exactly how to talk about safety plans and work with patients who need assistance.
3. Milton Martin Toyota's New Employee Training Guide
Do you have a complex process for employees to learn? Use a video to walk them through it step-by-step. This makes it easier for members of your team to understand your expectations and do tasks the right way.
4. Human Error's Guide to Keeping Security Simple
Some topics are naturally more interesting than others. This video is a good example of how you can engage employees when you’re discussing important concepts. Using humor can make training more fun and effective.
5. Chick-fil-A's Fulfilling Mobile Orders Training Video
Training videos aren’t just for new employees. Existing members of your team may need to pick up skills as your processes change. Videos like this can help you explain requirements and updates.
6. Objection Handling: 7 Steps for Overcoming Any Objection in Sales
Employees who are prospect or customer facing can find themselves in some tricky situations. Use a training video to cover common questions and objections that may come up in conversation, so your people are prepared.
7. How Airtable Does Customer Research
Do you need your team to get up to speed on a new service or software? Try recording your screen and showing employees exactly how you want them to use tools in a video like this one from Airtable.
8. Canity's Customer Service Training: Never Argue
Sometimes you need a quick way to share your most important work tips. This video is a great example of using animation and a compelling scenario to teach employees how to interact with customers.
9. How a Trip Works with Uber
For visual learners, seeing exactly how things run can make all the difference. This video from Uber shows how everything will work for drivers within the interface of their app. Plus, it includes guidance on common trip issues.
10. Pagliacci Pizza's How to Hand Toss Pizza Dough
What if your company’s top leadership could always train new employees? Get closer to making that a reality by having them demonstrate the process and record them for your employee training videos.
Note: These examples showcase a wide variety of high-quality employee training videos. Now, imagine the added impact of interactive elements? Employees can test their understanding, explore information, and practice decision-making, all within the training video content! As you develop your employee training videos, consider how you can use interactive video to improve training.
How to make an interactive employee training video
Back when corporate video training was a brand-new concept, it was expensive and time-consuming to produce. But times have changed!
To make an engaging, interactive employee training video today, you don’t need fancy equipment or software. Simply record your screen, shoot footage on your smartphone, or use existing content, then layer on interactive elements to engage your team members and assess their proficiencies.
With an interactive video maker like PlayPosit by WeVideo, you can easily:
- Insert clickable buttons: Send viewers to different parts of the video depending on their choice. This is useful for “what if” situations.
- Add assessment questions: Test comprehension by making viewers answer multiple-choice or true/false questions before proceeding.
- Use annotations: Let viewers click on parts of the screen to reveal additional tips, definitions, or resources.
- Track performance: See who watched videos and how they performed on quizzes to identify knowledge gaps.
- Gate access: Require video completion and/or quiz passage before granting access to additional training materials.
The major benefit of video interactivity is increased engagement and retention, leading to quicker mastery of skills.
Enrich video content with a variety of powerful interactions ranging from multiple-choice questions to graded fill-in-the-blanks. Then track engagement to see how employees are interacting with and comprehending training.
Ready to make your own employee training videos?
Now you know how to make an employee training video and have easy-to-customize templates to get you started. All that’s left is to make them! By incorporating video strategically, you’ll be on the path to more skilled and satisfied employees, which in turn unlocks limitless potential for your company.