Best Employee Onboarding Video Examples

Employee turnover is incredibly expensive. Research shows that replacing a salaried employee can cost an employer six to nine months of that employee’s salary. While many factors contribute to a person choosing to leave, the most crucial window of time is often the one we overlook: the first 90 days. A new employee’s first impression of your organization isn’t just about their excitement for the role; it’s about the feeling of inclusion, competence, and clarity they experience right out of the gate. Get this initial phase wrong, and you risk a costly early exit.

Unfortunately, many organizations still rely on outdated, cumbersome processes. Traditional onboarding involves mountains of paperwork, dry presentations, and endless links sent via email. This approach is often overwhelming, boring, and fundamentally ineffective especially for teams operating in remote or hybrid environments where face-to-face introductions are rare. It creates information overload and makes new hires feel like just another number, rather than an essential part of the company’s future.

The solution is both dynamic and engaging: the high-quality, streamlined Employee Onboarding Video. Videos cut through the noise, delivering critical information with consistency, warmth, and personality. They transform a monotonous checklist into an immersive, welcoming experience that instantly captures the essence of your company culture and values. Investing in a powerful Employee Onboarding Video library is the essential 21st-century solution to boost retention and ensure your newest team members feel prepared and excited from day one.

This guide breaks down the best categories, concepts, and concrete examples of Employee Onboarding Video strategies to help you design a welcoming, efficient, and memorable new hire experience.

Why Invest in a Dedicated Employee Onboarding Video Strategy?

You might be asking why you should overhaul your current system. The truth is, a dedicated strategy built around the Employee Onboarding Video delivers tangible, measurable benefits that traditional, text-heavy methods simply can’t match.

1. Consistency and Efficiency

• When managers or HR staff have to deliver the same welcome speech, explain the PTO policy, or detail the company hierarchy repeatedly, natural inconsistencies inevitably creep in.
• Video eliminates human variation. An Employee Onboarding Video for Training and Development ensures that every single new hire, whether they start on Monday or three months from now, receives the exact same, polished message delivered with the precise tone you intend.
• This standardization saves countless hours for HR staff and hiring managers who would otherwise be repeating foundational information, freeing them up for more high-value, personalized interactions.

2. Culture Immersion

• It’s one thing to read a page in an employee handbook that says, “We value collaboration and transparency.”
• It’s another thing entirely to see a video featuring genuine employees working together, laughing in the office kitchen, or hearing the CEO candidly discuss the company’s mission.
• Videos let you show, not just tell, your company’s personality and values instantly, making your culture feel real and immediate. This early immersion is critical for building loyalty and aligning expectations.

3. Information Retention

• Studies consistently show that people retain visual and auditory information far better than text alone.
• By leveraging motion graphics, voiceovers, and engaging demonstrations, your Employee Onboarding Video can dramatically boost the recall of crucial, but often dry, information.
• Need to explain the complex health benefits package or detailed compliance procedures? A short animated video is infinitely more memorable and easier to digest than three pages of dense legal text.

4. Human Connection in Remote/Hybrid Teams

• In today’s increasingly dispersed work environment, the first few weeks can feel isolating for new remote hires. Video is the ultimate tool for bridging this physical gap.
• A personalized welcome from the CEO, or short introduction clips from immediate team members and leaders, offer a face-to-face connection right away.
• This human touch helps the new employee instantly feel like part of the community, increasing their sense of belonging and reducing the anxiety associated with joining a team remotely.

Core Categories of Best Employee Onboarding Video Examples

A successful video strategy isn’t built on one single clip, but a library of short, focused videos tailored to specific needs. We can organize the best Employee Onboarding Video examples into three essential categories: The Why, The How, and The Who.

Category A: The Culture & Values Showcase (The ‘Why’)

This is the emotional core of your onboarding experience. The goal here is to sell the new hire on the company’s long-term vision, its mission, and the environment they are joining. It’s about answering the question, “Why do we exist, and why do we work here?”

• Focus: Authenticity, company mission, history, and defining values.
• Content Examples: This video might feature a montage of authentic “office life” (or remote collaboration), interspersed with employee interviews discussing their favorite part of the culture. Look for real-world examples of your values in action—if you value “innovation,” show a snippet of a hackathon or a product launch.
• Goal: To make the new hire feel emotionally connected to the brand and purpose immediately, fostering early commitment and excitement.

Category B: The Logistics & Operations Guide (The ‘How’)

These videos tackle the administrative pain points that can leave new hires feeling frustrated and lost. They are designed to be practical, instructional, and accessible on-demand, allowing the employee to reference them at their own pace.

• Focus: Practical, day-to-day information and systems.
• Content Examples:
  • How-To Guides: Growing MNC logistics company like Maersk, use screen-share videos on setting up IT equipment, accessing VPN, requesting software, or navigating internal directories.
  • The Virtual or Physical Tour: A short, engaging video walk-through of the office (if applicable) showing important locations like the kitchen, meeting room booking screens, or how to access supplies.
  • Tool Explanations: Short guides to your core communication channels (e.g., “Slack Etiquette 101” or “How We Use Asana”).
• Goal: To reduce immediate friction and eliminate the need for dozens of distracting “where is the…” questions, allowing the new hire to focus on their job tasks faster.

Category C: Meet the Team & Leader Introductions (The ‘Who’)

Human connection is the biggest predictor of early success and retention. These videos put a face and a voice to the names on the organizational chart.

• Focus: Personal, human-to-human connection and psychological safety.
• Content Examples:
  • Team Clip Reel: A collection of very short (15–30 second) clips where immediate team members introduce themselves, state their role, and share one fun fact or a piece of advice. These employee introduction videos are a low-lift, high-impact way to foster warmth.
  • Leadership Welcome: A concise, warm welcome from the CEO or Department Head. This shouldn’t be a policy speech; it should be a quick message expressing genuine excitement that the new person is joining the team.

Best-in-Class Employee Onboarding Video Concepts

Once you have the foundational categories established, you can elevate your onboarding experience with creative, best-in-class execution. These advanced Employee Onboarding Video concepts using AI Video tools and storytelling to maximize engagement.

The “Choose Your Own Adventure” Style

• Concept: Instead of a linear video, this approach uses interactive video tools that prompt the new hire to click on different paths. For example, a welcome video might pause and ask: “Ready to set up your laptop, or should we explore the benefits package first?”
• Benefit: This technique gives the employee ownership over their learning flow. It personalizes the experience, making long compliance or administrative content feel less passive. This format transforms a potentially boring long-form Employee Onboarding Video into an engaging, active self-paced tool.

The “Compliance Comedy Sketch”

• Concept: Let’s face it: no one gets excited about reading an anti-harassment policy or the rules for expense reporting. This concept turns traditionally dry and mandatory topics into short, memorable, and slightly humorous animated or live-action sketches. Think short-form educational comedy.
• Benefit: Humor and narrative significantly improve engagement and, more importantly, retention of mandated information. When the content is funny, the key takeaways stick much better than when they are read from a bulleted list.

The “Mission Statement in Action” Narrative

• Concept: Instead of showing the CEO reading the mission statement from a teleprompter, create a highly polished, short film (2–3 minutes) that tells a story. The narrative shows employees collaborating to solve a hypothetical (or real) challenge facing a customer, illustrating the company’s core values in practice.
• Benefit: This narrative approach creates a powerful emotional impact and provides a clear, visceral illustration of company standards and how employees embody them. This type of highly polished Employee Onboarding Video elevates the perceived professionalism and depth of your organization’s culture.

Wrapping It Up

The best strategy for a winning new hire experience involves breaking down your orientation into three core video types. The Culture & Values Showcase (the why), The Logistics & Operations Guide (the how), and Meet the Team & Leader Introductions (the who). By replacing overwhelming text with short, focused videos. You immediately reap the benefits of improved retention, guaranteed consistency, and enhanced human connection.

Your Employee Onboarding Video isn’t an expense. it’s a critical investment. This saves your HR team countless hours, reduces new hire anxiety, and sets up your newest team members for immediate, focused success. It’s the difference between merely completing paperwork and truly feeling welcomed into a new family.

The path to a world-class onboarding experience starts simply. Don’t wait to build a massive library. Start today by filming a short, authentic welcome message from the team. And, then plan to expand your full suite of Employee Onboarding Video assets, focusing on one category at a time.