How to Write an Epic Employee Onboarding Video Script

Updated: 
February 17, 2025
Craft the perfect employee onboarding video script with these expert tips. Learn how to engage new hires, communicate company culture, and streamline the onboarding process effectively.
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A proficient employee onboarding experience will set up new hires up for success and ensure a smooth transition into their roles within the business.

This starts with the intro video.

A well-crafted onboarding video is a powerful tool to convey your company culture, values, and expectations effectively. It allows you to deliver consistent and engaging content to all new hires, regardless of their location or start date. By investing time and effort into creating a compelling onboarding video script, you can:

  1. Make new employees feel welcomed and valued from day one
  2. Provide clarity on job responsibilities and performance expectations
  3. Introduce key team members and facilitate initial connections
  4. Familiarize new hires with company policies, procedures, and benefits
  5. Inspire enthusiasm and motivate employees to contribute to the company's mission

An epic onboarding video script goes beyond merely conveying information; it should be engaging, memorable, and reflective of your company's unique culture. It's an opportunity to showcase your brand's personality and create a positive first impression that resonates with new hires.

Tips for Writing an Employee Onboarding Video Script

Now that we’ve established its importance, here are the steps involved in executing a proficient employee onboarding video script.

Goal Setting

Before diving into the script writing process, it's essential to define the primary goals of your onboarding video.

Taking the time to clarify what you want new hires to learn, feel, and understand after watching the video will help you create content that is focused, relevant, and effective.

When setting goals for your onboarding video, consider focusing on the following key aspects:

  • Company Culture: introduce new hires to your company culture. This includes showcasing your organization's values, mission, and vision.
  • Values and Expectations: your onboarding video should also clearly define your company's values and expectations. This includes highlighting the behaviors and attitudes that are valued and rewarded within your organization.
  • Employee's Role and Contribution: Another important goal of your onboarding video is to help new hires understand their role within the company and how their work contributes to the organization's overall success.
  • Building Connections and Fostering Engagement: build connections between new hires and their colleagues, as well as foster a sense of engagement and belonging. This can be achieved by featuring testimonials from current employees, showcasing team-building activities, and highlighting opportunities for growth and development within the company.

Rough Draft Script

With your goals clearly defined, it's time to start drafting your onboarding video script. Begin by outlining the key points you want to highlight in your video. This outline will serve as a roadmap, ensuring that your script covers all the essential information while maintaining a logical flow.

Your script outline may include the following elements: 

  • Organizational Structure and Leadership: next, provide an overview of your company's organizational structure and leadership. Help new hires understand how different departments and teams work together to achieve common goals.
  • Department Overviews and Team Introductions: dive deeper into the specific department or team the new hire will be joining. Provide an overview of the department's function, goals, and how it contributes to the overall success of the company.
  • Job Responsibilities and Performance Expectations: clearly outline the skills and knowledge required to succeed in their role, and the metrics used to measure their performance.

Picking an Avatar

Incorporating a talking avatar or streaming avatar into your onboarding video can significantly enhance its visual appeal and engagement factor.

Avatars are digital representations of characters that can be customized to match your brand's personality and style. They help humanize your content, making it more approachable and relatable for new hires.

When selecting an avatar for your onboarding video, consider using a tool like Talking or Streaming Avatar. Both of these game changing solutions offer customization options to better align your videos with your overall brand.

Plan the Visuals

Visual elements may include animations, B-roll footage, or live presenters. These should support and enhance the script, making the content more engaging and easier to understand. Consider using graphics or animations to illustrate complex concepts, and incorporate footage of real employees to showcase your company culture and work environment.

Review and Optimize Script

Once you have a complete draft of your onboarding video script and have planned out the accompanying visual elements, it's essential to review and optimize your content before moving into production.

This review process allows you to refine your script, ensure that it effectively communicates your key messages, and identify opportunities to make your content more concise, engaging, and impactful.

Here are some key considerations when reviewing and optimizing your onboarding video script:

  • Clarity and Concision: review your script for clarity and concision, ensuring that your messages are clear, easy to understand, and free of jargon or technical terms that may be unfamiliar to new hires.
  • Engagement and Interactivity: look for ways to make your script more engaging and interactive, encouraging active participation from your new hires. Consider adding prompts for reflection or discussion, asking questions that encourage new hires to think critically about your content and how it applies to their role within the company.
  • Tone and Pacing: evaluate the tone and pacing of your script, ensuring that it aligns with your company's communication style and keeps your audience engaged throughout the video. Use a conversational, friendly tone that makes new hires feel welcome and at ease, and vary the pacing of your content to maintain interest and avoid monotony. Consider adding short breaks or pauses between sections to give new hires time to absorb and reflect on the information presented.
  • Storytelling and Examples: incorporate storytelling and real-life examples into your script, making your content more relatable and memorable for new hires. Use anecdotes or case studies that illustrate your company's values, culture, and approach to work, and showcase the successes and experiences of current employees to help new hires envision themselves as part of your team.
  • Call to Action and Next Steps: add a clear call to action and outline the next steps for new hires after completing the onboarding video. This may include directives to complete additional training modules, meet with their manager or team members, or explore relevant resources and tools.

Incorporating Onboarding Videos Into Your Workflows

Incorporating AI-leveraged onboarding videos into your new hire workflows can significantly streamline and enhance the overall onboarding process.

By using advanced technologies like AKOOL's customizable avatars and AI-powered content creation tools, you can create engaging, informative, and scalable onboarding videos that effectively communicate your company's culture, values, and expectations to new hires.

Here are some key benefits of incorporating AI-leveraged onboarding videos into your workflows:

a. Consistency and Scalability
AI-leveraged onboarding videos ensure that all new hires receive a consistent and comprehensive introduction to your company, regardless of their location, role, or start date.

By creating a standardized onboarding experience, you can ensure that all new employees receive the same high-quality information and training, reducing the risk of inconsistencies or gaps in knowledge.

b. Time and Cost Savings
Onboarding videos can significantly reduce the time and resources required for in-person training, allowing your HR and management teams to focus on more strategic initiatives.

By automating key aspects of the onboarding process, you can reduce administrative burdens, streamline workflows, and realize significant cost savings over time.

c. Flexibility and Accessibility
AI-leveraged onboarding videos offer a high degree of flexibility and accessibility for new hires. By making your onboarding content available on-demand, you allow new employees to access the information they need at their own pace and on their own schedule.

This self-directed approach to learning can improve retention and engagement, as new hires can revisit key concepts and modules as needed.

d. Continuous Improvement and Optimization
By leveraging AI-powered analytics and data insights, you can continuously monitor and optimize your onboarding videos for maximum impact and effectiveness.

To successfully incorporate AI-leveraged onboarding videos into your workflows, consider the following best practices:

By incorporating AI-leveraged onboarding videos into your new hire workflows, you can create a more efficient, effective, and engaging onboarding experience that sets your employees up for long-term success.

With the power of AI and advanced technologies like AKOOL, you can streamline your onboarding process, reduce administrative burdens, and create a consistent, high-quality experience that aligns with your company's culture and values.

Frequently asked questions
How long should an onboarding video be?
What essential elements must be included in an onboarding video?
Should we include current employees in our onboarding videos?
How often should we update our onboarding videos?
Cassie Wilson
AI Author for AKOOL
Helping Businesses create content that resonates with their audiences
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Cassie Wilson
AI Author for AKOOL