Online video sites aren’t just for skateboarding dogs and frat boy stunts anymore. With the right approach, they can actually boost productivity.

Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Philadelphia-based Rohm and Haas Co. doesn’t seem to think so. The chemical-manufacturer plans to roll out a company-wide “corporate YouTube” site, where workers can access instructional info and training vidoes supplied by their peers.

Here’s the rationale: A company may have an employee handbook, but it can be a hassle to find information, especially for overly-complicated and detailed processes. Plus, some jobs are learned better by seeing instructions and actions, not just reading about them. (Like the specifics of volatile chemical manufacturing? We’re thinking so.)

Workers have a natural tendency to ask their next-door work neighbors or other employees to get answers for their questions directly from the source.

That can sap time and productivity — not only would your company have wasted its time designing an in-depth employee instructional manual, but then workers have to get up, leave their desks, find knowledgeable co-workers, who then have to stop whatever work they were in the middle of and walk the confused party throught the process … it all adds up. But uploading instructional videos to a corporate-run, online site has multiple benefits:

• Workers don’t have to repeat themselves endlessly whenever someone runs into a problem – the video can be accessed as many times as needed.
• It saves time for both the worker with questions and their source of information.
• All info is edited and run by your company, which ensures employees are getting the right info across to co-workers the first time (the only thing that wastes more time than a walkthrough session is having a walkthrough session that shows someone the wrong way to do things).

Plus, having an online video database for your employees might kill two birds with one stone: They’ll get the work-related info they need while satisfying their seemingly never-ending urge to use the Internet for personal web-surfing. And security isn’t an issue — they company’s video site is firewalled so only internal people can access the materials. Now, if there was only a way to make Spider Solitaire a part of all those budget requests.

Tags: corporate video, Rohm and Haas, training, YouTube