Employees respond to video training
Today’s tech-savvy employees don’t want to sit through hours of meetings and look at pages of handouts for onboarding and skills training. They’re unlikely to remember the mountains of material that are often pushed out at these meetings.
Instead, video is the ideal way to train your new and existing employees. Video provides a proven method that increases engagement and keeps the training front-of-mind.
People pay attention to videos
And here’s a reason why, as the Buggles reminded us, video killed the radio (or, in this case, the on-site training) star. it’s an attention grabber. People are naturally attracted to video content, and video training sessions engage audiences in a way that handouts never can.
In fact, research from Forrester showed that employees are 75 percent more likely to watch a video than read documents or email. Videos make training interesting and keep employees from nodding off.
Videos cost less than on-site training
While creating videos may require an up-front expense, that investment pales in comparison to the cost of travel for trainers, which is one of the biggest component to training expenses. In fact, a recent study found that the average domestic per-trip cost is $949, while international travel costs $2,600 per trip. It’s easy to see how the expenses can add up.
And, of course, that’s not factoring in the opportunity cost of having that person out-of-pocket for any other activities, or for that matter, the people who are being trained. Enabling learners to look at videos anytime and anywhere often enables them to get more done during the work day, viewing video content during breaks or off-hours instead of eating up productive work hours.
And with video, your company doesn’t need to reserve classroom space. For example, your business can use a training portal to store your video content, with both desktop and mobile support for easy access. Let’s say that your classroom or conference room costs $25 per square foot per year (a reasonable assumption), and that the room is 600 square feet, making the overall cost $15,000 per year. If replacing classroom training with video can reduce the need for even one classroom, then you can see how the savings adds up quickly.
Track Training effectiveness
When your employees sit through training, how do you track its effectiveness? Do you provide quizzes, or do you just assume they’ve learned the material? Many training sessions never include follow-up to measure retention or understanding. In contrast, video-based training can deliver metrics that provide details, like how much of the video they watched, how often they watched, and more. And easily embedded quizzes can provide in-depth feedback about knowledge and retention.
Many training seminars have empty seats because employees skipped the panel or ducked out early. With video metrics, you can tell when viewers “skip out,” and even require them to finish in order to receive credit.
Employees learn at their own pace
Have you ever seen in-person training where a few learners obviously didn’t understand the material? You knew they needed a little extra time, but the instructor had limited time and couldn’t meet the needs of some individual learners. With video training, learners aren’t beholden to a schedule, and can learn at their own pace.
And if they don’t understand concepts in a video, it’s there for them to watch again. They can stop the video to take notes. People go into training with different learning abilities and levels of knowledge. For some, the training is old news, or they get it on on the first try; for others, it may take longer. Video accommodates all kinds of learners much better than in-person training.
Easy access for all learners
Anyone who’s trying to make a schedule meet the needs of learners and instructors knows that scheduling even a small number of people is a daunting task. Instructor schedules, employee availability, travel limitations and venue demand can all make for a logistical nightmare.
Video training, on the other hand, eliminates the nightmare. All learners need is computer or smartphone and they have the ideal training venue. You don’t need to bring in everyone from a satellite office; they can watch training anywhere, including from their desk, a conference room, or even their home.
For companies with remote employees, in-person training costs can be prohibitively expensive, particularly when everyone is expected to attend in-person training at a central location. Instead of the time and money for sales meetings, for example, reps can sit in front of their home computer and get everything they need.
Video Training for today’s employees
It’s a fact that today’s learners respond to video training. Millennials have long enjoyed (or suffered, according to some) the reputation of taking in information best via online streaming services. You can argue the merits, but not the facts.
You could choose to ignore their preferences, but at the peril of increased expense, reduced engagement, and lower comprehension. Or you could deliver video training, proven to be both familiar and effective.
