Personalized, Persuasive, People-Forward: The Vouch Guide to Using Video at Every Stage of the Employee Lifecycle - Part 3: Pre-boarding and Onboarding

This third chapter is all about pre-boarding and onboarding — critical moments in the employee lifecycle where companies can solidify their connection with new hires. In this post, we’ll explore how personalized video messages from teammates or managers can help build excitement and foster early relationships even before a new hire’s first day. This chapter fits perfectly into our series by showing how video can transform the onboarding experience and set new employees up for success from day one.

Your strongest candidate signed their offer letter — your work is done!

Not so fast.

A recent survey in the UK found that a staggering 93% of Gen Z respondents had no-showed for job interviews and, even after accepting a role, 87% had ghosted a new employer and not shown up on Day 1 because they had accepted an alternative offer. Companies can no longer take for granted that the people they hire will actually turn up to do the job.

From the moment a candidate signs their offer letter, they’ve begun the pre-boarding process. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to strengthen your new hire’s connection to the company. This is an ideal time for their new teammates or manager to record videos congratulating them on their new role, sharing how they’ll work together and what they’ll tackle together first. Package these videos up and send them to the new hire prior to Day 1 to help boost excitement and foster connections with the people who will become their peers.

This pre-boarding outreach is particularly important in an era of hybrid and remote work. Not every new hire will have the opportunity to meet with their manager and introduce themselves organically to coworkers around the office on the first day of work — many are likely to be introduced to just a handful of people via video calls during the first week or so. By taking extra steps to help a new hire build their network and connect faces to names during pre-boarding, companies can effectively build a sense of belonging before the candidate even joins.

These pre-boarding videos can be part of broader efforts to enhance the employee experience early. If your company traditionally sends out a swag pack to new hires, consider also including a QR code that links to a welcome video featuring your employees and highlighting your culture to multiply the impact of the moment — the new hire will already be excited about their company swag, and the surprise opportunity to see and hear more about their new team will only strengthen their engagement.

This relationship-building can also go two ways. Having new hires record their own video introductions as part of their pre boarding process can be a great way for them to boost their profile. At the same time, this approach gets their new peers excited about the team expanding, instead of everyone starting on a blank page on Day 1. Help your employees discover what they have in common and they’ll be more likely to hit the ground running when they join the team.

Three prompts for a getting-to-know-you video:

1. What made you choose to apply for a job with _______?
2. What are you looking forward to most in your new role? 
3. What’s your favorite thing to do outside of work?
4. What’s your superpower?

Once the new hire starts their first day and the formal onboarding begins, you will likely already have a structured program in place with a number of resources available to get them up to speed. Employee generated videos can add a personal touch and additional context to onboarding modules that might otherwise be fairly routine. Your IT team could record some videos walking people through  the technology setup and what employees need to know in terms of cybersecurity. Tenured employees or members of the People team could record videos  sharing their favorite company rituals or other unique aspects of the organization’s culture that they value. This is an opportunity for creativity — to make an impression where other companies might just brush over quickly. Over time, these extra moments will add up into deeper cultural connections, a better employee experience and stronger engagement.

Our next post will focus on learning and development. If you’re curious about how to keep your employees engaged with short-form, bite-sized video learning, don’t miss this chapter. We’ll show you how to turn traditional training programs into dynamic, impactful experiences.

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