Create an employee onboarding video module in one afternoon — no camera required

Updated May 2026

HR teams build a complete Week 1 onboarding video module in 3–4 hours using Synthesia — write the script in a doc, paste it into Synthesia scene by scene, choose an avatar and branded template, review the render, and export as MP4 or SCORM. When policies change, you update only the affected scenes in minutes rather than re-recording everything.

Traditional onboarding video production means booking a conference room, corralling a manager with a busy calendar, running multiple takes, then waiting days for editing. Synthesia replaces all of that with a browser-based workflow any HR coordinator can run solo. Here is exactly how to do it.

Why this approach works

The bottleneck in onboarding video production has never been content — HR teams know exactly what new hires need to hear. The bottleneck is production logistics: booking a presenter, managing retakes, waiting for edit turnaround, then doing it all over again every time a policy changes. Synthesia removes every one of those dependencies.

An AI avatar reads your script with natural delivery. You control the pacing, the branding, and the structure entirely through a browser. And when your PTO policy changes in October, you update the three sentences that changed — not the whole video.

Step 1: Write your script first — before opening Synthesia

This is the step most people skip, and it is the step that determines whether the video is actually useful. Open a Google Doc or Word file. Write the complete script before touching Synthesia. Editing text is faster than editing rendered video.

A Week 1 overview module runs about 8 minutes, which is roughly 1,000–1,100 words of spoken script. Structure it across six sections. Each section becomes one or more scenes in Synthesia.

SECTION 1 — Welcome (60–75 seconds)
Opening: warm, direct, sets the tone.
Cover: who this video is from, what it covers, what the new hire will know by the end.
Avoid: jargon, mission-statement language, anything that sounds like it was written for a brochure.

SECTION 2 — Systems Access (90–120 seconds)
Cover: what accounts they'll receive access to (email, Slack, project tools, HR portal), in what order, and who sets them up vs. who they set up themselves.
Include: day-one login steps, IT contact, what to do if something isn't working.

SECTION 3 — Who's Who (60–90 seconds)
Cover: immediate team, reporting structure, key cross-functional contacts.
Format: keep it light — a name, a role, and one sentence on when to go to that person.
Avoid: a full org chart read aloud. That belongs in a slide, not a script.

SECTION 4 — First Week Schedule (90–120 seconds)
Cover: a day-by-day or block-by-block outline of what the first five days look like.
Include: who to meet with, what to show up prepared for, what is expected of them vs. what is just observation.

SECTION 5 — Where to Find Answers (60–75 seconds)
Cover: the company wiki or handbook, who to ask for what, how to handle "I don't know" situations.
This section reduces day-one anxiety more than any other — be specific about where things live.

SECTION 6 — Next Steps (45–60 seconds)
Cover: what to do right after this video ends (check email, set up laptop, go to their desk, message their manager).
Close: a short, human sign-off. "We're glad you're here" matters more than it sounds.

Write it conversationally. Read it aloud while you write — if you stumble, the viewer will too. Replace any sentence longer than 20 words with two shorter ones. Remove hedging language ("sort of," "basically," "as it were"). The avatar will read exactly what you write.

Step 2: Set up your Synthesia workspace

Once your script is complete, open Synthesia and start a new project. Before you paste a single line of script, do three things: choose your avatar, set up a branded template, and select your background. These decisions apply to the whole video — changing them later requires updating every scene.

Choosing an avatar

Synthesia offers 150+ stock avatars across a wide range of ages, appearances, and presentation styles. For onboarding content, choose someone who reads as approachable and professional — not overly formal, not casual. A blazer or smart-casual attire typically works across industries. If your company culture skews creative or startup, a more casual avatar reads as more authentic. If you serve a regulated industry, lean formal.

Avoid avatars that look like stock photo archetypes — the "authoritative man at a desk" or the "smiling woman pointing at a whiteboard." New hires notice when a video feels generic. Synthesia also supports custom avatars created from a consented video of an actual employee — this is worth considering for companies where culture and authenticity matter more than production speed.

Building your branded template

Navigate to Templates and create a new one. Upload your company logo in the corner, set your primary and secondary brand colors, and choose a font that matches your brand guidelines (Synthesia supports Google Fonts and allows font upload on paid plans). This template becomes the default for every new slide. A consistent template means even a 20-scene video looks like one coherent piece — not a presentation assembled by committee.

Background selection

Synthesia provides solid-color backgrounds, gradient options, and blurred environmental backgrounds. For onboarding, a clean neutral background (off-white, soft grey, or your brand's lightest color) keeps attention on the content and the avatar. Avoid backgrounds that include objects or architecture — they date quickly and can conflict with brand updates down the line.

Step 3: Paste and segment your script

Now open your script document alongside Synthesia. Create one scene per script section. For an 8-minute, 6-section module, you will end up with somewhere between 6 and 14 scenes — some sections may need to be split across two scenes if they exceed Synthesia's per-scene character limit (currently around 1,500 characters of spoken text).

How to break the script into scenes

The rule of thumb: one topic per scene. When the content shifts — from Welcome to Systems Access, from Who's Who to First Week Schedule — that is a scene break. Within a section, create a new scene when you want to show a new visual element (a slide, a diagram, a list on screen) alongside the narration.

Paste the text for each scene into the script field. Synthesia will auto-calculate the spoken duration so you can see whether your pacing is on track. If a scene is running over 90 seconds, consider splitting it — viewer attention drops significantly in single uninterrupted takes past the 90-second mark.

Controlling pauses and emphasis

Synthesia supports SSML (Speech Synthesis Markup Language) tags to control delivery. Use <break time="0.8s"/> to insert a pause between sentences where you want the viewer to absorb what was just said. Use <emphasis level="moderate">word</emphasis> to slightly stress key terms. These tags are optional, but they make the difference between a video that sounds robotic and one that sounds produced. Use breaks before every section transition and after any instruction the viewer needs to remember ("Your IT setup link is in your welcome email. [pause] Let's move on.").

Step 4: Review the rendered video

After completing all scenes, click "Generate" and wait for Synthesia to render the video (typically 2–5 minutes for an 8-minute module). Then watch it through entirely once before making any edits. Take notes on a separate doc as you watch — do not pause and edit as you go, or you will lose track of the overall pacing.

What to check on first review

Step 5: Export and deploy

Once the video passes review, export it in the format that matches your deployment environment.

MP4: The default export. Works for direct upload to any LMS (Workday Learning, Cornerstone, TalentLMS, Docebo), embedding in a company wiki (Confluence, Notion), or sharing via a direct link. Export at 1080p for quality; 720p if your LMS has file size limits.

SCORM: Synthesia supports SCORM 1.2 and SCORM 2004 export on Business plans and above. Use SCORM if your LMS needs to track completion and pass data back to your reporting dashboards (who watched it, when, whether they reached the end). For most onboarding use cases, SCORM is worth the additional plan cost because completion tracking is a compliance requirement, not just a nice-to-have.

Captions: Synthesia auto-generates captions for every video. Before exporting, review the auto-generated captions file — download it as an SRT, scan for errors (especially on proper nouns), correct any mistakes in the caption editor, then re-export with captions burned in or as a sidecar file depending on your LMS's requirements. Captions are not optional if your organization is covered by ADA or similar accessibility standards.

Step 6: Build your update workflow — the feature that justifies the tool

Most onboarding videos go stale within 12 months. A policy changes, a system is replaced, a team lead leaves. With traditionally recorded video, "update" means "re-record," which is expensive enough that most HR teams simply leave stale content live. Synthesia changes this calculus entirely.

Here is how to build a sustainable update workflow from the start: