10 Reasons to Use Video for Employee Training and Development

In this highly competitive climate for hiring top talent, a strong employee training and development programme is going to set you apart in your industry. But training and development aren’t just useful for hiring the right people, it’s useful for retaining them too. And growing profit for your business!

According to LinkedIn’s 2017 Workplace Learning Report:

“80% of learning and development professionals (L&D pros) agree that developing employees is top-of-mind for the executive team. Yet L&D pros are challenged with limited budgets, small teams, and a gap in demonstrating return on investment (ROI). To tackle these challenges, L&D must demonstrate business impact.”

Enter: training videos.

Creating training videos is one of the most effective ways to develop your team, both in terms of cost and engagement. In this article, we’re going to take a look at 10 reasons to use video for employee training and development.

1. It Keeps Costs Down

Here’s a stat for you:

85% of every dollar spent on classroom training is spent delivering it.

This means that when you invest in classroom training, you’re spending more on instructor time and travel costs than you are on the actual training materials.

With video, you don’t need to pay anyone to deliver your employee training, you simply press play. And there’s no need for your employees to travel either. They can watch training and development videos from the comfort of their own desks.

In addition to those cost-saving benefits (as if that wasn’t already enough!), when you invest in training videos, you’re only paying once for a source that you can use endlessly. When Microsoft decided to use video instead of classroom training, their costs reduced from $320 per person to just $17 per person. Over 3 years, the total costs saved amounted to about $13.9 million PER YEAR!

2. Better Engagement

Ever since visual media was invented, it has been at the top of everyone’s list for consumption of entertainment. Just think of: “Video killed the radio star”, or every time you heard someone say: “Why read the book when you can watch the movie?”

People just enjoy videos more. According to Forrester Research, employees are 75% more likely to watch a video than to read documents, emails, or web articles. The bottom line is: if you want your employees to engage with your training, you need to make it interesting, and videos are much more likely to keep their attention than basic text documents or classroom lectures.

3. Increased Retention

When you allocate budget and time to training your team, you want to make sure they remember what they learnt. Unfortunately, a study from the SAVO Group found that just 7 days after a training session, the average employee will have forgotten 65% of the material covered, and after 6 months the number increases to 90%.

However, when you pair relevant visuals with learning information, retention levels rise to an impressive 65%. So video is actually proven to be more memorable than other training materials. It makes sense when you consider that people tend to remember only 20% of what they read, compared to 80% of what they see and do.

4. It’s Versatile

Video is a versatile medium. There are so many different styles – animation, stop-motion, live-action – and a variety of ways you can tell your story or get your message across. But videos can also be versatile in their purpose too. When it comes to employee training and development, videos can be used for:

• Introducing new products and services
• Demonstrating a new system or software
• Onboarding
• Continuous professional development
• Improving customer service skills

By embracing video into your employee training and development programme, over time you will have a library of visual resources that you can refer to for a variety of different purposes.

5. It’s Measurable

When you hold classroom training for your team or hand them written training and development materials, how can you be sure that they actually read and/or digested the information?

You can’t!

Video makes it easy to track and measure the effectiveness of your training because through your video hosting provider (such as YouTube or Wistia) you will have access to metrics such as number of views and whether or not the video has been viewed all of the way through.

If you create an interactive video, you can also measure your employees’ level of engagement with your training, which brings us onto our next reason…

6. You Can Make it Interactive

Interactive video is on the rise, with 28% of marketers planning on using it in 2018. It’s perfect for employee training and development because it can be tailored to whoever is watching. This means that people in management roles don’t need to watch the same training as entry-level employees. Take a look at this Deloitte video for some inspiration.

Although this is more of a ‘company culture’ video, it gives you a feel of how you can use interactive video to train your team.

If you ask questions, like the above, you can also record your employees’ answers to see who is performing the best and who needs a little bit of extra help.

7. Everyone Gets the Same Experience

If you send one half of your team for classroom training on Monday and the next half on Tuesday, those two groups will not have the same learning experience. The team on Monday could be less engaged because they’re still thinking about the weekend, the Tuesday team could have the office clown with them who distracts others, there could be a different teacher on each day – the list of variables is practically endless!

One of the best ways to ensure that everyone gets the same training experience is to create a video that covers all of the appropriate training and development topics that you want to go over.

8. You Can Break Down Complicated Information

Video is a great tool for breaking down complex information and ideas and explaining them with the use of simple, easy to understand, visuals. As an animated explainer video company, we know first-hand how complicated or dry topics can be made clear with the help of some engaging graphics. Take a look at this video we made for Tonisity:

This video clearly breaks down, in a step-by-step way, exactly how to prepare Tonisity’s pig feed. The icons in this video are so effective, that no voiceover is needed to accompany it.

In addition to being able to break down information, videos can also be made continuously available, so if anyone missed a point or wants to go back and revise what they learnt, they can! This is much easier (and cheaper!) than re-organising a training presentation or classroom session.

9. Easy Onboarding

Did you know that when companies have a well-executed onboarding process that their employees have a higher job satisfaction rating, greater organizational commitment, and an average employee retention rate of 86%?

It just goes to show how a great first impression can really make a difference!

On the surface, using video to onboard new employees is awesome because of the points we’ve already mentioned – it saves costs, it increases engagement, and so on. But it also allows you to infuse your company’s personality into the training and make what is usually a daunting experience much more fun and memorable.

If you really want to showcase your company culture, you could have existing employees star in your videos. This onboarding video by BambooHR is a great example:

(Click here to watch)

10. It’s Accessible

Whether you have 10 employees, or 100, it can be difficult getting everyone in the same place at the same time. If you need to travel to an instructor or a training facility, it can be even more difficult, because then you have to factor in travel costs and work out how everyone is going to get there.

Even if you do your own classroom training in-house, it can be difficult to make your learning materials accessible to everyone, because everyone learns at a different rate and has varying levels of expertise.

When you’re training a big group, it can be easy for employees to miss something, and not everyone is comfortable stopping the instructor to ask him or her to repeat something. This results in critical information being missed and the training becomes a big waste of everyone’s time (and your money!).

With video, you can eliminate that problem. Everyone on your team can watch (and re-watch if they need to) at their own pace until they understand the content or topic at hand.

Implementing Video Training: Key Considerations and Tools

Implementing video-based training is an effective approach to engage employees, but it requires thoughtful planning and the right tools to maximize success. Here are the key considerations and recommended tools to streamline video training implementation:

1. Define Learning Objectives: Before creating any content, it’s essential to establish clear learning goals. Ask yourself, “What should employees learn from this training video?” Defining objectives will help tailor content to align with desired outcomes.
2. Choose the Right Video Style: Select a video style that fits the content and audience. For onboarding, a personal, narrated approach might work best, while animation may be more effective for explaining complex processes. Different styles will suit different learning needs, so make choices based on effectiveness rather than aesthetics alone.
3. Develop a Script and Storyboard: Writing a clear script and storyboard keeps the video organized and ensures that each segment meets the training goals. It also minimizes post-production edits and makes it easier to stay within budget.
4. Invest in Quality Production: High-quality audio, clear visuals, and professional editing go a long way in enhancing viewer engagement and retention. Invest in good lighting, sound, and editing software to create a polished final product.
5. Use Interactive Features: Adding quizzes, clickable links, and call-to-action buttons can make videos interactive and engaging, helping employees retain information. Interactive features also allow managers to assess understanding and identify areas for improvement.
6. Choose Reliable Hosting and Tracking Tools: Hosting platforms like Wistia, Vimeo, or YouTube provide detailed metrics on viewer engagement, such as completion rates and replay frequency. These insights help track the effectiveness of training and adjust content based on viewer responses.
7. Evaluate Effectiveness and Seek Feedback: After deployment, gather feedback from employees and monitor metrics to gauge the training’s impact. Use surveys or polls to understand employee satisfaction and make necessary improvements for future videos.

Top 5 Tools for Video Training Implementation

1. Camtasia: A popular tool for screen recording and video editing that’s easy to use for beginners and allows customization.
2. Loom: Ideal for creating quick instructional videos, Loom’s simple setup is great for remote teams needing rapid training materials.
3. Adobe Premiere Pro: A more advanced editing tool that provides professional-grade video editing options for creating polished content.
4. Vimeo: A hosting platform that includes interactive video features, password protection, and detailed analytics for tracking engagement.
5. Articulate 360: A comprehensive suite for building interactive courses, perfect for blending video training with interactive elements and quizzes.

Types of Training Videos for Effective Learning

Different types of training videos serve unique purposes in an organization’s learning and development strategy. Here are the most effective types and when to use each:

1. Onboarding Videos
   • Purpose: Introduce new hires to the company culture, values, and processes.
   • Content: Often includes a welcome message, core values, and an overview of company policies.
   • Example: A video with team introductions, office tours, and tips for success during the onboarding phase.
2. Explainer Videos
   • Purpose: Break down complex concepts, processes, or software in a digestible format.
   • Content: Often uses animations or live demos to simplify difficult information.
   • Example: A product demo showing employees how to navigate a new software platform or explaining company workflows.
3. Scenario-Based Training Videos
   • Purpose: Help employees apply skills to real-world situations by simulating possible scenarios.
   • Content: Shows scripted scenarios to demonstrate decision-making or problem-solving in specific situations.
   • Example: A customer service training video depicting challenging customer interactions and effective response strategies.
4. Microlearning Videos
   • Purpose: Deliver focused training on single topics in short segments (2-5 minutes).
   • Content: Highly focused, with one objective per video, often used for ongoing learning.
   • Example: A series of short videos on communication tips, compliance rules, or safety procedures.
5. Soft Skills Training Videos
   • Purpose: Develop interpersonal skills such as communication, leadership, and teamwork.
   • Content: Often includes role-playing exercises, tips, and testimonials from leaders.
   • Example: A video teaching conflict resolution techniques or effective communication strategies.
6. Technical Skills Training Videos
   • Purpose: Teach employees specific skills related to technology or industry processes.
   • Content: Screensharing, live demos, or step-by-step tutorials.
   • Example: Training for engineers on a new software tool or skill-building for marketers on analytics platforms.
7. Compliance and Safety Training Videos
   • Purpose: Ensure employees understand critical safety protocols or compliance regulations.
   • Content: Typically includes instructional content and animations to illustrate safety procedures.
   • Example: Health and safety training for factory workers, complete with hazard identification and safe-handling protocols.
8. Product and Service Training Videos
   • Purpose: Educate employees about the company’s products and services, essential for sales and customer support teams.
   • Content: Detailed product overviews, customer FAQs, and usage scenarios.
   • Example: A video series covering product features and common troubleshooting tips for customer service representatives.
9. Leadership Training Videos
   • Purpose: Develop managerial skills for employees in leadership roles.
   • Content: May include tips for effective team management, decision-making exercises, and mentoring techniques.
   • Example: A video on performance management strategies for supervisors, including case studies and success tips.
10. Interactive Videos

• Purpose: Engage learners with quizzes, clickable choices, and scenario-based assessments.
• Content: Allows viewers to make choices within the video, often testing their knowledge as they proceed.
• Example: An interactive compliance video where employees answer questions to progress to the next section.

Next Steps

So now you know all of the great reasons to use video for employee training and development, and you’re probably excited to get started on creating your own. But there are a couple of things you should think about first, such as:

• What style would be best?
• What should you focus on?
• What makes a good training video?

Luckily for you, we’ve created an online guide filled with tons of information about training videos, including case studies and examples.