Corporate training is undergoing a seismic shift. Sending employees to sit in a classroom for hours listening to lectures is a dying model. Video-based e-learning is increasingly becoming the preferred training method of choice by many companies.
This transition has good reasons. When it comes to providing information, saving money, keeping employees engaged, and encouraging knowledge retention, video learning has a lot going for it compared to traditional training. As technology improves access and reduces costs, video-centric training, often created by an educational video production company, becomes more versatile and valuable over time.
The Limitations of Traditional Training
For decades, classroom-based training was the standard approach across corporate America. It made sense at the time – you could put 20 or 30 employees in a room to learn from a qualified instructor. However, as the workplace and technology have modernised, glaring flaws with this model have been exposed.
It’s Expensive
Classroom-based training requires paying for instructors, training facilities, employee travel and accommodation costs, training materials, and more. For large companies rolling out training across multiple global locations, these expenses add up exponentially. Preparing custom courses is also time-consuming and costly.
According to LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning Report, 41% of L&D professionals say their biggest challenge is the lack of budget allocated to training. With classroom-based training, companies often have to choose between quality or quantity when developing employee skills.
It’s Inflexible
Booking training sessions around the availability of employees and instructors is logistically challenging, especially with remote staff. Employees have to adhere to fixed schedules rather than consuming training when it suits them. Furthermore, training frequently fails to adapt to learners’ knowledge gaps on a personalised basis.
A SHRM survey found that 40% of employees skip training because they lack time in their schedules. Inflexible training models inevitably lead to employees missing out on opportunities to strengthen their skills.
Limited Knowledge Retention
According to the University of Houston, people generally remember only 20% of learned information after just one day and less than 10% after one week if they don’t put skills into practice. Yet traditional training typically offers limited opportunities to reinforce and implement newly acquired knowledge. As a result, companies don’t obtain full value from their training investment as employee retention remains minimal over time.
How Video-Based Training Provides Solutions
With video-based training delivered through e-learning platforms, companies can overcome many of the core challenges of traditional training methods. Well-designed video content also provides unique advantages that other mediums cannot replicate.
It’s Budget Friendly
Once created, video learning modules can be used indefinitely across the organisation. This allows companies to amortise their initial course development costs over time to achieve vastly improved ROI. Video e-learning also makes scalability far simpler. New employees can be onboarded instantly with existing video assets accessed through a learning management system (LMS).
According to Magnet ABA research, e-learning requires 40-60% less employee time than traditional training. Because developing materials and rolling out training costs less, cost efficiency can be vastly improved.
It’s Flexible
Video modules allow employees to learn at their own pace, revisiting course materials as often as necessary. This supports more personalised and impactful training. Additionally, video content is available on-demand 24/7 for individual employees and teams to access at their convenience.
Surveys indicate that 75% of employees prefer video learning over printed job aids. Enabling self-directed learning via video is the best way to ensure flexible, high employee utilisation rates.
It Drives Retention
Well-produced video content uses visual and auditory learning to deliver information through two channels simultaneously. This enhances understanding, boosts engagement, and improves recall. Videos can also incorporate frequent comprehension checks and knowledge reinforcement to increase memory retention over time.
According to Forbes research, employees retain 95% of a message conveyed via video compared to 10% when reading text. Leveraging video’s immersive properties leads to stickier learning and better application of skills.
Key Factors Driving Video Adoption
Several evolving factors are bringing video-based employee training into the mainstream:
Younger Workforces
By 2025, Millennials and Gen Z will comprise 75% of the global workforce. These digital natives have grown up consuming information through video, so online video learning resonates strongly. However, a survey by HBR revealed that only 65% of Gen Z students prefer learning from conventional classroom methods. Video is better aligned with next-generation employee expectations.
Faster Internet Speeds
Now, video streaming across wider geographies is buffer-free. This makes it easy for employees to consume training content without any hassle. Consumption flexibility is going to increase higher as 5G and fibre broadband help provide higher video quality across mobile devices.
Smarter Personalization
Sophisticated LMS platforms leverage smart data and analytics to serve employees with targeted video content aligned closely with individual knowledge gaps, learning styles and past responsiveness. It amplifies engagement and efficacy over one-size-fits-all training programs. Improving personalisation also helps foster a culture of self-directed career development among staff.
Improved Collaboration
Trainers can now use social tools seamlessly in modern video learning systems. In-video quizzes, polls and live chats allow for peer-based learning within video content. This social layer helps employees obtain timely feedback and apply developing skills collectively.
Key Video Learning Best Practices
While video offers clear advantages, realising success requires an informed strategy encompassing these best practices:
Keep Videos Concise
Dr. Richard Mayer’s research indicates that videos that are longer than 6 minutes result in diminished knowledge retention. Videos focused on discrete topics, which are leaner, have more impact. By breaking concepts down into micro-modules, your learners never lose their attention span.
Mix Interactive Elements
When it comes to purely passive video watching, it’s ineffective. Regular knowledge checks and interactive cues such as quizzes appear on the screens to reinforce understanding. THM Agency found that interactive video increases engagement by 66 per cent compared to non-interactive content. It’s all about integrating tests, questions, and collaborative features.
Align Video and Text Content
Combining videos with media that contrasts, such as infographics, slide summaries, or text transcripts, promotes success for all learning types. Video learning programs offer both visual and written information to a wider audience.
Real-World Scenarios
Video content that is contextualised and references recognisable workplace settings, situations and challenges feels more relevant to employees. Information is presented with real-world scenarios as a backdrop to help learners see how skills are used in real-world scenarios and bridge the theory to practice.
Role Playing Exercises
Video courses with role-play simulations allow employees to develop confidence in working with newly introduced skills in plausible settings. Instead of passively watching examples, learners can use decision simulators and branched scenarios to implement training points themselves for deeper embedding actively.
The Rapid Rise of Video Learning
Video learning adoption has been spurred bypandemic-drivenn remote work and training mandates. However, there are signs that video upskilling will become a permanent fixture in the workplace because of more fundamental advantages.
Surging Investment
As per LearnExperts’s research, organisations spent $98 billion on corporate training in 2024 – a significant part was funneled specifically into video learning resources as adoption rates accelerated.
Spending on video learning platforms is projected to grow at a compound annual rate of 13.5% until 2028 as video begins to dominate training budgets.
Emerging Hybrid Models
Classroom-based training won’t disappear yet; however, video allows for more hybrid experiential models, combining self-directed online learning with hands-on skills application. Employees digest foundational knowledge through video content before coming together for intensive peer workshops focused on role-play, simulations, and complex problem-solving.
This allows companies to reduce multi-day programs into shorter practical sessions focused exclusively on interactive tasks. To maximise valuable face time, theoretical concepts are learned independently over video beforehand.
Expanding Applications
Video learning is moving beyond conventional employee training to be utilised for wider functions, such as candidate screening, soft skills coaching, competency evaluation, compliance processes, and more. As platforms grow more agile and intelligent, video becomes a versatile tool to enhance every aspect of human capital development across the employee lifecycle.
Boosting Leadership Buy-In
Initially, sceptical leadership teams have witnessed first-hand the engagement levels and efficiency gains unlocked by video learning during COVID-enforced remote transitions. However, as veteran decision-makers become more tech-savvy, scepticism about video training’s strategic value has given way to genuine advocacy and investment.
The Future of Video Learning
Ongoing innovation will help video learning add even more value as an enterprise capability over the coming years through new directions like:
VR/AR Immersion
Virtual and augmented reality video courses will be integrated into platforms that will provide visceral simulated experiences that are not possible using traditional mediums. Active participation thus dramatically increases the impact of learning.
Smart Recommendations
Future video learning systems will continue to integrate AI to prescribe targeted content for each employee based on their individual skill set needs, knowledge gaps and learning habits over time. This will nurture self-directed learning at scale.
Mobile Optimization
With increased smartphone penetration globally, video courses will increasingly be configured for mobile-first employee access and designed in a small screen-compatible way to enable learning across contexts and environments.
Enterprise Integration
Video learning will be tightly integrated into core enterprise platforms like HRIS, collaboration tools, knowledge management systems, and internal social channels, and training will be part of daily workflows and continuous skill development.
Lifelong Learning
As careers become increasingly spread across employers, the focus will be on making skills portable. Video is a standardised medium for talent to document their expertise as digital credentials and present themselves as capabilities to future teams seamlessly through online profiles.
Conclusion
As businesses realise the inherent advantages of video-based training over traditional models, the age of video-based training has arrived: cost efficiency, personalisation, retention boosts, and flexibility. Early adoption of remote work necessities fueled early adoption, but video-based learning is poised to become a key pillar in the development of human capital strategies.
As technology continues to improve video versatility and generational comfort levels increase, video will continue to be an enterprise learning mechanism. By investing in video-centric training platforms and solutions today, companies will not only have a competitive edge but also build an adaptable and future-fit workforce.