What are employee onboarding videos?

An employee onboarding video is a type of video that brings new hires up to speed with your company when they’re starting a new job. Before someone begins working with you, they’ll watch the onboarding video to get an official introduction to your brand, the company’s history, and their new colleagues. 

An onboarding video should include:

• A brief overview of the company 
• The type of clients or customers you serve 
• Your company culture and core values
• Their roles and responsibilities
• Company policies 
• Their colleagues and managers 

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Why create new hire videos?

Save time and engage new hires

There’s no doubt about it: video is emerging as one of the most popular ways to consume content. Studies have shown that the average person watches 17 hours of video per week. Companies that format their employee onboarding documents in video form are simply better positioned to engage new hires using the medium they already know and love. That’s bound to make a strong first impression. 

Bring new employees closer to the company

Starting day one at a new company can feel intimidating. There’s so much to learn and so many people to meet. But when you use video to onboard new employees, they can see who they’ll be working with. It instantly makes the employee onboarding process more engaging than images of their future colleagues—or worse, a list of names.

Improve communication and information sharing

People are better at retaining information that’s been delivered visually. Instead of talking through your culture, employment benefits, or company policies, illustrate each point using video footage. When in doubt, show, don’t tell.

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10 amazing employee onboarding videos

Ready to direct a successful onboarding video? Here are 10 engaging video examples to draw inspiration from. 

1. Bolt: “We are Bolt”

Bolt is a perfect example of how you can create short videos that are fast-paced and cater to people’s ever-shortening attention spans. Within the first 10 seconds, employees get a teaser of what they’re about to watch—a smart video editing technique that can improve viewer retention. The fast-paced nature of Bolt’s video also showcases the company values. Alongside data to show the company’s history, team members explain how the speedy video replicates what it’s like to work at the company. If employees like fast-paced working environments, they’ll love their new role at Bolt.

2. Google’s “An Intern’s First Week”

Google is a company known for its culture. This great onboarding video brings new hires up to speed using five summer interns who recount their first week at Google. Each intern talks about the atmosphere of Google’s office. They use the words “eccentric” and “academic”—two qualities of employees it wants to attract. Alongside the stories, Google’s company culture video uses B-roll footage to show the campus. New employees get to see what they’re signing up for while listening to stories that make them feel excited.

3. Netflix: “Culture: Freedom and Responsibility”

Netflix is another great example of how you can enlist the help of existing employees to create an effective video. In this video, Netflix’s manager of UI engineering, Paul Onakoya, explains why the company’s values of freedom and responsibility support him to do a job he loves. A highlight of this onboarding video example is the strong hook. Within the first 10 seconds, employees know why freedom and responsibility play into Netflix’s company values. This is great for modern viewers—especially those who are familiar with TikTok—who need to be hooked within less than 30 seconds.

4. HubSpot: “Our Story”

Speaking of engaging hooks, HubSpot’s employee onboarding video starts with a bang and recounts the story of how its two co-founders met. The voiceover continues as people see photos on-screen—a smart way to tell stories with vivid detail.The video also uses jump cuts to create a quick, snappy effect. Producers use this editing technique to create energetic montages to keep viewers on their toes. Viewers want to continue watching the video because the content they’re seeing constantly changes—and therefore, doesn’t get boring.

5. Canva: “Canva Culture”

Canva is a company with an interesting background. Its co-founders introduce new hires to that history with this onboarding video. They walk through how Canva was created, how they spotted a gap in the market, and the workplace culture they wanted to foster. Instead of making the bulk of the video a sit-down interview, this employee onboarding video example uses funky background music that reflects the Canva office atmosphere. It’s a smart tactic that can add to the emotional impact of your video—especially since the light, upbeat track reflects the culture Canva says they’re trying to build.

6. Deloitte: “Welcome to Deloitte”

Don’t feel like recording a voiceover for your employee onboarding video? This example by Deloitte proves it’s possible to skip the vocals in favor of on-screen captions—which use the same font as other branding materials to build consistency.The standout element of this onboarding video, though, is the fact that Deloitte uses the word “you.” Companies often default to telling new employees all about their business that they forget what a new hire will get from the working relationship. But when Deloitte’s onboarding video says “This is a story about you,” employees are more likely to feel included and valued.

7. Zendesk: “This is Zendesk”

It’s difficult for companies with remote teams to showcase their company culture in an onboarding video. Employees are distributed all over the world. And with no central base to film from, it can make the actual process of shooting footage tricky. Zendesk proves it’s not impossible to showcase remote work culture with this employee orientation video. It builds a sense of community by showing its headquarters, employees on Zoom, and colleagues who work from home with their children. There’s even the line: “No matter where you are, when you start working at Zendesk, someone will say hello.”

8. Salesforce: “Trailblazer Moment”

If you’ve won awards or accolades for your workplace culture, your employee onboarding video is the perfect place to shout about it. This type of social proof can help reiterate that new hires are making the right decision when starting a new job, which could ease any last minute nerves or questions surrounding whether they accepted the best offer. Salesforce also showcases its company culture by asking current employees to pick a word that best describes the business. Words like “passionate” and “empowering” are thrown into the mix—both of which get new hires excited about the company they’re about to join.

9. Nando’s: “What’s It Like to Work at Nando’s as a Student?”

‍Nando’s is a restaurant chain that creates employee onboarding videos to appeal to the most popular type of person it hires: students. This video, in particular, tells the story of Kobe—a student who works at Nando’s. He tells new hires about the benefits of working for the restaurant and what he enjoys about his job. What’s especially unique about this onboarding video example is that it solves a pain point that employees will likely face: working at the restaurant while studying. Kobe goes to college four days a week and still enjoys his job at Nando’s.

10. Duolingo: “Life at Duolingo”

Duolingo is a language learning app known for its personality. Instead of letting their animated mascot run riot (like it does on TikTok), this employee onboarding video introduces new hires to the people behind the company through an office tour.Anyone about to start working at Duolingo’s Pittsburgh office can see what the space looks like and the team members who work there. The host even explains how there’s plenty of outdoor space, restaurants, bars, and coffee shops in the local area—subtly showing how Duolingo values work-life balance.

4 tips to create great welcome videos for new employees

Make it accessible 

Your workplace needs to be inclusive. Videos, by default, aren’t inclusive—they’re a visual medium—but you can cater to people who use screen readers, are hard of hearing, or struggle to watch videos by editing your video in Descript.

Use the video editor to automatically generate subtitles, captions, and transcripts for your videos without spending time creating them manually.

Tell a story

People remember stories more than facts. Instead of overwhelming new hires with a laundry list of facts and figures, make the viewing experience more engaging—and help them retain more information—by presenting your video as a story. 

Let’s put that into practice and say you’re using the storytelling narrative to give new hires a brief overview of your company. Tell the story of how the founders thought of the idea, how they got started, and when their first “big break” was. It can get employees to buy into the brand and feel like they’re on the journey with you. 

Create video chapters

Video chapters divide your onboarding program into digestible chunks that people can reference later down the line. 

In new hire video content, you might have chapters for:

• Personal introduction
• Company values 
• Team members
• Roles and responsibilities 
• Company policies  

This is especially valuable for new team members who will reference their onboarding video in future. They don’t have to bother their colleagues on Slack, nor wait for a response to their email. New hires can simply find the right chapter in their onboarding video for an immediate response to their query. 

The best part: You don’t need to pause your video and break the content into chapters manually. Select how many chapters you want to divide your content into, then use Descript’s AI Chapter Generator to split the content up for you.

Personalize the onboarding experience

The first day working at a new company can feel intimidating. And if you’re onboarding remote workers, it can easily feel like you’re the new kid at school. A personalized onboarding video makes new hires feel welcome. 

You don’t need to record an entirely new video each time you’re onboarding a new employee. Start with a standard onboarding video or presentation, then add a welcome message at the start—just a few seconds long—to help build that emotional connection with new employees. Something as simple as, “Hi, my name is Elise and I’m super excited to start working with you, NAME!” goes a long way. 

The best tool to create employee onboarding videos

Recording your video is only half the battle when recording onboarding videos. Not only will professional editing make your content more engaging, but it will speed up the process—which is especially important if you’re growing fast and onboarding new employees regularly. 

Thousands of business leaders already rely on Descript’s video editing tools to create world-class corporate videos. Join them and take advantage of features like:

• Live collaboration tools to chat about videos—instead of a never-ending email thread 
• Screen recording with audio and webcam
• Video templates and tutorials to keep content on-brand
• Transcribe audio in up to 22 different languages
• AI Voices to create voice overs using a stock voice

Ready to create an employee onboarding video that engages new hires and improves viewer retention rates? Take a free test drive of Descript today.

Onboarding videos FAQ

How do I create a new employee orientation video?

A new employee orientation video should bring people up to speed with what it’s like to work at your company. You could use screen recording software to film a presentation, interview current employees, or film an office tour. 

What should onboarding videos include?

• Welcome message
• Company intro
• Job role and responsibilities
• Company culture
• Benefits of working there
• Business policies

How do I make my onboarding interactive?

Throughout your onboarding video, engage new hires by asking them questions. For example, when talking about your company history, ask employees “When did you first hear of [brand]?” Prompt them to share their answer in your team collaboration tool.

What are the benefits of onboarding videos?

• Improve employee engagement
• Save time during the onboarding process
• Improve information retention
• Build strong relationships with new hires
• Easily share important information
• Cater to visual learners