Employee onboarding videos made from your welcome handbook

This guide is for HR, managers and L&D teams who regularly welcome new employees, temps or apprentices. It recalls what EU law requires on recruitment, then outlines a video series taken from your welcome handbook.

What EU law requires at recruitment

In one sentence: under the EU framework directive on safety and health at work, employers must give each worker adequate safety and health training on recruitment, specific to their workstation or job; the rest of onboarding is up to you, and it decides how well the first months go.

• Directive 89/391/EEC, Article 12. Training is due on recruitment, on a transfer or change of job, on the introduction of new work equipment and of any new technology, adapted to new risks and repeated periodically if necessary.
• Article 10 of the same directive requires that workers receive the necessary information on safety and health risks and on the protective measures that concern them.
• National law adds detail. Each member state transposes these rules; in France, for instance, Article L4141-2 of the Labour Code requires “practical and appropriate” safety training for every new hire.

A welcome handbook is rarely mandatory. It is still the best starting document.

What a good onboarding series covers

Five videos of one to two minutes, sent before the first day and during the first week:

1. Welcome, and who does what. “Monday, 8:45 a.m. You arrive at reception.” The org chart, drawn and reduced to the people the newcomer will actually meet, and their go-to contact.
2. The first days. Badge, desk, IT access, benefits and the first meeting with the manager, in the order they happen.
3. Safety at the workstation. The site’s own risks (from your risk assessment), protective equipment, evacuation instructions and the number to call after an accident. This video complements practical safety training, it does not replace it.
4. The tools. What each tool is for and which rules apply (passwords, data, AI). For click-by-click steps, a screen recording beats a drawing.
5. How we work. Hours, remote work, expenses, and the company’s values told through concrete situations rather than slogans.

Sent before day one, the first video lowers first-day nerves. The others get watched again when the question comes up.

How to make it with EducPilot, in three steps

1. Upload your welcome handbook as a PDF, with the relevant extract of your risk assessment and the IT policy. The assistant proposes how many videos to make from it.
2. Approve the plan. One video per onboarding moment, one objective per video. Check names, numbers and addresses: each sentence links to the page of your handbook that supports it.
3. Correct by annotating, then share. The team manager reviews from a link and pins notes on the frame. When someone changes role, correct the scene that names them, without remaking the video.

Sources

• Council Directive 89/391/EEC on safety and health of workers at work, official text on EUR-Lex, Articles 10 and 12.
• French Labour Code, Article L4141-2 (in French), Légifrance.