8 Effective Employee Training Videos (And Why They Work)

LinkedIn’s 2019 Workforce Learning Report found that 94% of employees would stay at a business longer if it supported their learning goals. The 2021 report found more than half of employees see learning as the key to their career success. This desire to learn is powerful in the newest generation to enter the workforce—Gen Z employees watched 50% more hours of learning content in 2020 compared to 2019.

Unfortunately, a video teaching employees a skill doesn’t automatically make it helpful, even if workers request it. How you present your training is just as important as the training itself. A practical video is useless if trainers don’t add the assets necessary to understand the lessons.

We collected eight examples of effective employee training and development videos from five types: live, screencast, branched, interactive, and scenario-based. Each one uses a kind of training that supports the video’s goal, raising the likelihood of changing employees’ behaviors for the better.

1. Etu’s branched-scenarios training video for new team leaders

Etu’s branched video training places employees in the shoes of a team leader, making decisions for their new team. Every decision alters the course of the video based on how the viewer’s team reacted to their words, just how it would in real life.

Leaders can use this simulation to see how employees would react to their leadership decisions. For example, in a training video, one of the team members approaches you during the training. They offer business ideas and help during your leadership transition. A colleague gets upset seeing how their teammate directs all of your attention toward them, so they leave the room. As a leader, you must read the room and pick the most effective response out of four options for that situation.

Simulations give the viewer room for mistakes. No matter what option leaders pick, there won’t be consequences. This risk-free learning setting lets leaders learn what to do and what not to do to keep their team happy.

Etu’s training also lets leaders experiment with leadership styles. Let’s say leaders want to be more authoritative. In that case, they can test fictional employees’ reactions to more strict directives and projects. Then, based on employees’ responses, they can choose whether to try this style in real life.

2. Amazon’s interactive training video for employees

Amazon’s interactive training video walks new employees through their first day. After showing interactions and events, the video adds interactive buttons. Employees can click on each of them to learn about Amazon’s five tenets. Since there’s no time limit for grasping each principle, employees can learn at their own pace.

The training video for employees also reduces staff’s anxiety about starting a new job. New employees will feel confident on their first day and save leaders from answering repetitive questions. Plus, if they forget a tenet, they can be reminded of it with just one click.

3. Vyond’s introducing processes & tools template

Vyond’s Introducing Processes & Tools template uses screen recordings to show the exact steps involved in scheduling and preparing for a Google Calendar meeting. Employees can replay the video as many times as they need to in order to book their appointments.

Without a screen recording, learners would have to follow bullet-point directions, such as “click on Find Time” or “tick the All day box.” Viewers used to Google Calendar can follow these steps. But those who haven’t used it would read the bullet point and waste time trying to find the right buttons. The screen recording ensures any viewer can quickly follow the steps without confusion.

The video pairs screen recordings with animations: characters, arrows, and boxes. These elements highlight a button or field that employees should click or fill. As a result, every step becomes even easier to follow for all employees, regardless of role or age.

4. The Game Agency’s gamified finance training

The Game Agency created a game where a character jumps between platforms and activates finance questions when the character touches one of them. Companies can add their own questions to teach employees about any topic.

Regular quizzes are an alternative to this game-like approach. But, as TalentLMS’s 2019 survey found, non-gamified training leads to more bored and unproductive employees than its gamified version. Forcing employees to go from one question to another won’t cut it anymore.

In contrast, the same survey found that 83% of employees participating in gamified training are motivated. A motivated employee is more eager to learn and improve their role than a bored one. They are also more likely to look forward to the training and seek outside education.

5. MURAL’s introduction to visual collaboration video

MURAL created a live training webinar to teach people how to collaborate on projects using their tools. Live videos allow employees to ask hosts to explain an argument better or share more examples in real-time.

For example, if one employee hears a term for the first time, they can ask hosts to explain it before moving on. An asynchronous video would force the employee to pause, find a definition (which might not come from a credible source), and return to the video. Employees can get distracted while searching for the definition, affecting their chances of retaining your lessons or even simply finishing it.

But preventing confusion about a topic isn’t the only reason to try live training. Employees can also raise their hands to propose topics related to but outside the scope of the presentation. Thanks to this freedom, you can iterate your presentation’s angle in real time and address topics your audience values the most.

6. Vyond’s scenario-based training on flight check-in

Vyond’s video trains flight attendants to check in passengers with accessibility needs. The video shows the exact steps a flight attendant must take to help these passengers.

The video’s setting also aids with long-term recalling, as visual images help people memorize information. In this case, the scene takes place in an airport, the location where flight attendants will apply these lessons. Employees will associate the steps with the airport’s counter, thus having an easier time recalling the steps.

7. Chad Chelius’s Adobe Creative Cloud video training

Chad Chelius’ Learning Adobe Creative Cloud training course uses slides and screen recordings so that viewers don’t get lost between the tool’s hundreds of functionalities. Viewers can easily follow each step just by looking at Chad’s screen.

Each video lesson focuses on one aspect of operating the Creative Cloud. For example, the fifth module’s first video introduces employees to Adobe’s fonts. The next one talks about Adobe Stock, their stock library, and the last one discusses Adobe Color. By creating one video per lesson, employees can learn one functionality or skill and move on when they feel ready.

Besides avoiding confusion, screen recordings help prevent the should-how fallacy: a situation where you explain what someone should do instead of telling them how to do it. For example, it is good advice to tell people to upload their assets to the Creative Cloud’s team folder. They should do it. But this advice is not actionable. By recording himself uploading these assets, Chad shows precisely how to execute his advice.

8. Create Common Good’s food safety training

Create Common Good created a food safety training video that teaches kitchen staff how to keep food safe from germs and bacteria. The video features people doing everyday kitchen activities that are bad from a food safety standpoint.

But the video doesn’t tell the viewer which activities are harmful right away. Instead, it waits for the kitchen worker to finish a routine and then asks viewers how many mistakes they saw.

Some mistakes are obvious, like sneezing on the food. But this training’s differentiator is how strict it is with what it considers wrong. It explains why pre-kitchen activities like your health and the jacket you use impact the food’s safety. This level of specificity challenges workers to be more mindful of every action they take in the kitchen.

Create your own compelling employee training video

The message you want to convey dictates the best format for your video training. Don’t use slides or a talking-head video to introduce your team to a tool—use a screencast. Pair your format with animations to make your overall training more valuable, as animations help viewers recall data longer.

Vyond offers an easy-to-use animation platform. Our templates help learning and development department employees create high-quality, effective training videos.

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