Video Training for Employees Done Right 

Learning and development teams are delivering video training for employees more than ever before. Why?  

• Video is easier to create and share. Today, anyone can be a video creator. 
• Video is an effective medium for training that enables video creators to explain complex topics more easily than text. 
• Learners like video. Video holds learners’ attention and provides opportunities to learn at a point of need. 

Let’s Talk About Video

Video is everywhere. Our learners are consuming a lot of video in their day-to-day lives from streaming services to social media apps. This year, 82% of all consumer web traffic will be video. That’s a lot. 

Not only are our learners using video for entertainment and socializing, but they’re also using it to learn. In fact, 90% of all DIYers (do it yourselfers) watch how-to videos on YouTube when actively working on their projects. Additionally, according to a Pew Research Center report,  87% of us use YouTube to learn something new with 51% of us saying it’s very important. 

As has been the case, the use of video in education and learning is on the rise. Kaltura’s The Sate of Video in Education 2022 report surveyed 700 educational professionals to track how video is revolutionizing learning in the modern workplace.  

The bottom line – we learn through video, and we will see greater investment in video training for employees. 

Why are Training Videos Important? 

Learning through video isn’t new. We’ve all participated in video training at some point or another whether it was a VHS tape on how to make a sandwich or a corporate training video to better understand proper workplace etiquette. 

Video training for employees is important because, firstly, employee training is important. Most of us have felt that things are changing faster than ever. In many ways, they are. What we do and even how we do it has completely changed over the last couple of years. To put this in perspective, some studies show that 85% of jobs we’ll be doing in 2030 don’t even exist yet. To ensure our employees can adjust, we must invest in their continued training and upskilling. 

The increase in training needs necessitates investment in online learning technologies such as virtual classroom platforms for virtual face-to-face instruction. Virtual instructor-led training (VILT) provides opportunities for real-time engagement without the added costs of travel and logistical challenges of finding a room. However, VILT does pose challenges for scale. With virtual classrooms, we can offer more training than in-person, but we are still limited by instructor time and employee availability. 

Video training for employees is important as it helps us train at scale through a median that is effective for learning and development. As we mentioned above, video training for employees is important as our employees are already using video to learn. We rely more heavily on video to teach us complex topics because there are a lot of advantages to video.  

Advantages and Disadvantages Training Videos for Employees 

Let’s talk about the advantages and disadvantages of training videos for employees. 

Advantages of Training Videos for Employees 

Video is highly effective for onboarding new employees or training current employees on new products and services. Here are some key advantages of training videos for employees: 

Train at Scale – Even with the mass adoption of virtual classroom platforms to replace the majority of our in-person training, we have a problem of scale when relying solely on instructor-led training. There are only so many hours of live facilitation that we can offer so we must offer more options for VOD instruction that does not require a live instructor. Video training provides great opportunities for relaying complex information in a digestible format. By creating training videos and sharing them, thousands of employees can learn what they need to learn without the need to join a live training. 

Flexible Delivery – One of the greatest challenges of in-person or face-to-face instruction is logistics. It’s incredibly difficult to find time that works for the facilitator and all learners. It becomes even more difficult when considering that we need to train employees across different time zones. Video training for employees provides much-needed flexibility. Instead of requiring that all employees join a session at a specific time, employees can choose to complete their on-demand training at a time that is convenient for them. 

Knowledge Retention – Learners forget things. In fact, 75% of what is taught will be forgotten 6 days after training if your learners don’t use what they learn. This means that context is everything. Learners must apply what they learn. Rather than separating learning from a learner’s job, we can use video training for employees at the point of need to complete a specific objective. This on-the-job training with video provides a seamless delivery that will assist in knowledge retention as learners are applying what they learn as soon as they learn it. 

Video is Engaging – We are competing for attention. Our learners have many distractions from incessant notifications from work chat apps and emails to the myriad distractions that working from home poses. Video is effective at holding learner attention. A properly crafted video can keep learners focused and focused learners will learn more effectively. 

Data – We need it. As learning and development professionals we often live on data. Data provides us insights on the efficacy of our training programs. It proves adoption and investment. It helps us predict success and helps us make our case to leadership to continue to invest in our programs. Video can provide a rich set of data that we may not get from in-person training. We can measure viewing time, when content was viewed, how it was viewed, when video was started over, or skipped. By diving into video analytics, we can understand what video content succeeded in upskilling our employees and what videos fell flat. 

Now that we’ve looked at some of the advantages of video as a learning and development tool, let’s dive into some disadvantages. Surely, there must be some. 

Disadvantages of Training Videos for Employees 

Obviously, video is great, but there can be downsides to relying only on video. Below are some potential disadvantages or pitfalls by relying too heavily on video. 

Generic Video Libraries – Not all of us have a bank of video to share. Many companies rely on 3rd party video libraries for their training needs. These video libraries can be great at training employees especially around soft skills. However, these video libraries are generic. They will not specifically cover what’s unique within your organization. As such, they may be less relevant and less helpful. 

Video Creation and Management – Creating internal training videos can require significant initial investments to create your video library. Additionally, keeping those video assets up to date required continual investment. Our workplace is dynamic and ever-changing, our training resources must follow suit. Nothing is worse than watching an internal training video that is no longer relevant due to changes in the product or services we offer. 

Video Can Be Passive – Video is engaging, but video can also be boring. How many times do you find yourself scrolling through your phone while lying on the couch during a television show? We are competing for our learners’ attention. We don’t need to invest heavily in high production values, but we do need to be sure that videos are short, to the point, and delivered when needed. We can also use different tools like video quizzes to make our videos more interesting and effective. 

The core disadvantage of video training for employees is less to do with video itself and more to do with how we deploy video as part of our learning strategy. Just like anything else, there is a right way and a wrong way. 

How to Create Employee Training Videos For Your Organization 

Creating your own video training for employees is a worthwhile investment. Your internal video library will help you share institutional knowledge effectively. Additionally, rather than piecing together random, generic videos, your training videos specifically covers the processes, products and services of your company. These contextual videos will then be more effective as they apply to specific tasks and jobs that learners need to do. 

Traditionally, training videos required a lot of production. We needed to hire video production teams to create these high value assets and manage all the elements around that – scripting, hiring actors, dedicating space and time, equipment rentals, post-production, etc. These types of high production training videos can certainly offer a lot of value to the company. However, the challenge with these types of videos is that they are expensive to make and difficult to keep up to date. 

Very often, we don’t need these types of videos. Instead, we should focus on creating training assets that require minimal production that are easy to update when needed. 

• Screen Capture – Many of our employees work on their computers a lot. There they engage with a variety of tools like customer relationship management portals (CRMs) and SaaS tools that we use to conduct our business. Create video training for employees using your computer and a capture tool that records your screen and audio. You can record your webcam too. Recording your screen is an easy way to instruct employees on how to use these critical tools with step-by-step directions. 

• Record Live Classroom Instruction – Always think about how you can get more value out of the various instructional sessions you have. Virtual instruction or in-person instruction is great for back-and-forth discussion and collaboration. Record every training. You can then leverage training recordings to extend the training by reinforcing topics with employees that were present or by offering reruns by playing the session recording VOD or even as a simulcast. 

• Easy Custom Pre-made Videos – Many off-the-shelf video tools exist that enable you to create dynamic videos using video templates and tools. Companies like Powtoon provide exciting ways to create fun videos that effectively engage employees without the need to record new footage. You can create videos for onboarding new employees, highlighting security policies, or just reminding employees how to adhere to various company policies. 

• Edit your Videos – Video training videos must be to the point. Few employees have an hour or two during the day to watch long form video lectures. Think about how you can serve short videos that are self-contained. If you need to create a video on how to create a quote in your CRM, then consider breaking it into many steps. Concentrate on recording small steps so that your videos are never longer than a couple of minutes. This will make creating, updating and sharing specific videos far easier. 

• Make Video Engaging and Social – Learners that engage your learning content with social features like sharing, liking or other interactive tools watch 30x more content. Always understand that you are competing for attention. We don’t need to be an academy award winning director to create engaging training videos. As long as you keep your videos concise and to the point, you will keep your learners engaged. You can also look at introducing interactive layers to your videos like video quizzes, hotspots, and other interactive elements.  

• Mobile is King – Your smartphone has a better camera than most professional cameras from 10 years ago. Don’t be afraid to take out your phone and record directly from the field or warehouse. Just think of video creators today on social media, they have mastered creating high value videos on the go. These short form videos grab attention and convey information effectively. Get on social media and see what works. With a little trial and error, you’ll be able to record valuable material directly from your phone. 

3 Examples of Effective Training Videos 

Sometimes it’s just easier to learn by example so I’ve highlighted three training videos for a good place to start. 

How to Create a Pitch Video Message? 

Customer training videos are a great source of inspiration. As learning and development professionals, we can also look at our learners as our customers. We must hold their attention and ensure they understand the material presented. 

Notice in this video that we use a simple screen capture with voice over. The video doesn’t lose us in unimportant details. Instead we focus on the main point of the video which is to create a video message. The voice over lays out the goals of video at the outset to level set expectation then walks the learner through the process step-by-step. 

It’s also important to highlight that these videos are captioned which means we have extended reach with learners that require captions as well as those that prefer to watch their videos on mute. 

Recruiting for Deloitte  

I love this video. Now, it is true that there is some good production value in this video. We don’t need high production value for all our videos, but sometimes it’s nice to go the extra mile. 

What’s amazing about this video is that it walks a new employee through their first day in a fun, interactive video adventure. Check it out and try some of the wrong steps just to get a feel for the experience. 

Event DIY Tips: Using Event Data Properly 

Here’s an example of a bite size video. These types of videos don’t contain a whole lesson or direct how-to, but instead can help inspire certain thought processes. These can be delivered to our learners in a quick email update or shared in a chat channel. You can also link these in the tools your teams use to inspire them when they need it most. 

Kaltura Training Video Platform 

The Kaltura Video Cloud helps organizations power their hybrid learning experiences. Kaltura does this by leveraging the power of video in all its forms that enables organizations to create and deliver video training for employees: 

• Create – Easily, create engaging video with tools such as Kaltura Capture to record your screen and video then share your video through dynamic players. Make your learners active by adding interactive elements such as hotspots on your videos or assess their understanding with video quizzes. Tools like interactive video paths provide a fun way for learners to go through your material. 

• VOD – Creating videos is great, but simply recording it does not mean your learners are going to find it. You need to organize and share your videos in a video management portal. The Kaltura Video Portal provides an easy to manage space to securely create and share organizational videos. Centralizing your video management ensures your videos are searchable, discoverable, and secure. 

• Live – Deliver contextual virtual classes or large scale webcasts to your entire workforce with Kaltura Virtual Classroom and Town Halls. What’s great about the virtual classroom, is that you can leverage your VOD video and share synchronously in the live training. You can even click a button to broadcast your live training to hundreds of thousands. 

• Data Driven – Training your employees requires loads of data. With Kaltura you get everything from attendance data, poll responses, quiz assessment both in virtual classes or through video quizzes, chat history, comment history, watch time, etc. These data points are available through API or centralized dashboards to help you make sense of it. 

Summary 

Video training for employees is worth the time to put together. We are not looking to replace all in-person training with on-demand training. Instead, we are looking at making the most out of all training experiences. Sometimes, in-person or virtual instructor-led training makes sense, especially when we want to encourage collaboration and discussion. Many times, we don’t need those types of training activities or we just don’t have the resources for them. Video training for employees is an effective method that helps you deliver consistent, measurable training at scale for your global workforce.