Onboarding videos have become an essential part of modern employee training, enabling businesses to deliver clear, consistent, and engaging experiences to new hires. Unlike traditional onboarding methods, videos make it easy to communicate your company’s culture, expectations, and processes at scale, while saving time and resources.

In this article, we’ll explore the role of employee onboarding videos for businesses, how they benefit both employees and employers, and what makes them such an effective tool for modern training strategies.

The role of onboarding videos in growing teams

As businesses expand hiring initiatives, even the most organised teams often find themselves repeating the same information, answering the same questions, and patching together a disjointed onboarding experience. What works for a handful of employees doesn’t always hold up when you’re bringing on people across multiple departments, roles, or locations.

That’s where employee onboarding videos offer value. By recording key parts of your onboarding process once and sharing them across every new hire, you create a consistent, scalable system that keeps quality high even as the volume of hiring increases. These videos give new employees the clarity they need while freeing up your HR team to focus on more strategic work. 

How employee onboarding videos solve training challenges

Manual onboarding often means sending over PDFs, running the same intro sessions repeatedly, and juggling ad-hoc calls to cover company policies or tools. This approach may seem manageable at first, but it becomes inefficient and difficult to scale as your team grows.

Onboarding videos solve several common challenges:

  • Inconsistent messaging – Different managers may explain things differently, leading to confusion.
  • Lost time – Team leads and HR personnel spend hours repeating information.
  • Low clarity – New hires are often unsure where to start or what’s expected.

When you introduce video into the onboarding process, you replace reactive training with proactive communication. New hires can learn at their own pace, engage with interactive video content, revisit key information when needed, and hit the ground running with a better understanding of how things work. And with plenty of tools available, there’s really no reason not to explore using video for onboarding.

8 most common onboarding videos for businesses

Getting started with onboarding training videos in your organisation doesn’t require fancy editing, background music, or high production value. Focus on what’s useful. The most effective employee onboarding videos are simple, specific, and easy to update over time.

Below are a few high-impact video types to consider.

1. Welcome video from leadership to build trust

A short, informal message from the CEO or founder helps new hires feel connected to the broader mission and values from Day One. It also gives a human face to the company, which builds trust early. A welcome video can set the tone for culture, expectations, and communication style. It reinforces a sense of belonging from the very beginning, especially for remote hires who may not meet leadership right away.

2. Team introductions to spark early connection

Team introduction videos highlight who’s on each team, what their roles are, and how they support one another. This eliminates confusion and encourages early collaboration. And because onboarding videos are fully customisable, you can introduce your team in a way that highlights the company’s voice and culture. It also helps new hires put faces to names before their first meetings. These introductions can reduce social anxiety and encourage quicker relationship-building.

3. Policy overviews to ensure compliance

Policy and compliance videos help break down essential topics including security, privacy, and workplace conduct, without overwhelming new hires with walls of text. They make complex information easier to understand and ensure everyone gets the same message. You can also track who’s completed them, which adds an extra layer of accountability. Plus, they reduce the chances of HR or legal issues down the line by making sure nothing important slips through the cracks.

4. 30/60/90-day plan to guide new hires

Onboarding video helps set clear expectations for a new hire’s first few months. By outlining what success looks like early on, it helps new employees feel more focused and confident in their role. It also gives managers a solid framework for offering support and feedback. Most importantly, it shows that growth and clarity are part of the culture from day one, making it easier to catch small issues before they turn into bigger ones.

5. Tool walk-throughs to boost productivity

Walk-throughs introduce new hires to the tools they’ll use every day, such as email, project management software, internal dashboards, or leave-request systems. It cuts down on repetitive how-tos and gives employees a go-to resource they can revisit anytime. That’s especially valuable for remote teams or anyone working across different schedules and time zones.

6. Job training to get new hires up to speed

Job training videos give new hires a clear picture of what their day-to-day responsibilities look like. They help set expectations early and shorten transitional challenges by showing exactly what needs to get done. These videos are easy to update and reuse across similar roles, making them a scalable training tool. Paired with gamified elements such as quizzes or checklists, they also reinforce key tasks and contribute to a growing knowledge base that supports long-term learning and role clarity.

7. Process guides to simplify admin tasks

Process guide videos walk new hires through essential workflows, such as submitting expenses, booking time off, or accessing payslips. They help cut down on back-and-forth with HR, reduce delays, and prevent errors caused by unclear or undocumented policies. Even small but important tasks, such as submitting a reimbursement form, become much easier when explained through short, focused videos.

8. Strategy updates to align the team

A strategy update video gives new hires a clear, high-level view of where the company is headed. In it, team leads or executives talk through current goals, upcoming product plans, and key priorities for each department. It helps paint the bigger picture, making it easier for new employees to understand how their role fits into the broader mission. Over time, these videos serve as a transparent, trust-building way to keep everyone aligned and motivated.

Benefits of onboarding video for new hires

Onboarding videos aren’t just convenient, they support real business outcomes. When new employees start with clear, consistent information, they succeed faster, ask fewer repeat questions, and build confidence early.

Here’s what video onboarding unlocks:

  • Consistency – Everyone receives the same information in the same format.
  • Time savings – Fewer live sessions and repeated explanations.
  • Cost efficiency – Reuse content across hires, with minimal updates.
  • Scalability – Works whether you're hiring one person or fifty.
  • Better employee experience – New hires feel more supported and less overwhelmed.

Ultimately, onboarding videos help you to improve the experience of joining your company, ensuring it is positive, streamlined, and reflective of your organisation’s values.

The long-term impact of onboarding videos

The true value of onboarding training videos compounds over time. As your company grows, the hours saved by not repeating the same walk-throughs, policy briefings, or tool demos multiply. Employees get productive faster, which improves performance. Teams experience less disruption, which supports stronger collaboration. And when people know what’s expected, they’re more likely to stay engaged for longer.

Even small improvements, such as helping a new hire to start strong or reducing early turnover, add up. Instead of being reactive, your organisation can take a proactive approach that scales naturally as the business evolves.

Getting started with onboarding videos

You don’t need a library of 20 videos to start seeing results. Begin with one common question you’re asked during onboarding. Record a short, clear explanation. No script, no production crew, and share it with your next hire.

From there, build gradually. Prioritise the videos that answer the most frequent questions or support high-impact roles. Over time, you’ll develop a library that acts as a resource hub for every new team member, helping them feel confident, supported, and ready to contribute.

Final thoughts on onboarding videos

A lot of businesses assume onboarding training videos have to be perfect, but as long as they’re clear and practical, these onboarding videos are doing their job.

With clear onboarding videos, you reduce friction, save time, and give new hires a better first experience without putting added pressure on your internal team. By investing in simple onboarding videos now, you create a foundation for smoother growth, stronger retention, and a better culture overall.

Cinema8 gives you the tools you need to create high-performing onboarding videos with reliable video hosting and powerful analytics built into the platform. Get started today and transform your videos into valuable assets that help your company scale.