If you have never investigated virtual reality (VR) or not in recent times, now is certainly the time.  It has come a long way.  We are past the overhyped promises of early days. VR is finally here in real “virtual” life.  Recent newer devices such as the Oculus Quest provide a release from cables with all the processing in the headset and at a very approachable price point.

The VR experiences is a game changer for employees. Here we will focus on aspects of VR regarding training, collaboration, and corporate culture.

Orientation

First a few definitions to orient yourself to this content.  You will learn about VR and not Augmented Reality (AR) and not digital connections through screens on your PCs or Mobile devices. 

You will learn about VR and the actual full immersion into a virtual space with virtual interactions using a headset you will look through.  This is very much unlike AR which is experienced using a device which you hold up or look through to see our live reality with virtual elements presented in combination with our live world.  With our focus on VR we will also go well beyond the desktop virtual meeting experiences and virtual platforms which are experienced through your PC or Mobile device.

Although VR has been around for a long time, the newer devices and technology are enabling full virtual immersion experiences. We will dive into some of the research and application of these VR experiences in relation to you and your employees.

VR is where fun and business utility come together to provide game changing benefits for your business.

Employee Training

Employee training has always been important in business to align employees and drive innovation in your business.  Most training in businesses takes place either in a classroom with instructor led content delivery or through self-paced e-learning modules presented on through a PC or Mobile device.

Classroom and e-learning is costly in many ways including the time it takes to consume, comprehend, and understand what is being taught.  Further, classroom training can deliver inconsistent teachings and self-paced e-learning tends not to be completed.

“What took two hours to learn in the classroom could possibly be learned in only 30 minutes using VR.”¹

In a recent study performed by PWC¹ it was found compared to traditional classroom and e-learners, employees learning through VR were 4x faster to train, almost 3x more confident in applying the learned skills, and almost 4x more emotionally connected to the content.  The numbers differ slightly in between classroom and e-learning compared to VR but still impressive results.

Training using VR can tackle new skills training through simulation and multi-step process training, but it really changes the game with scenario-based training for soft skill enhancements. Things like customer service interactions, sales presentations, or even large audience presentations can easily be improved with VR immersive training.

In VR you can be on stage with hundreds of people in front of you as you run through the speech of your life and receive feedback as you give the speech in VR.  Practice again and again.  When you walk onto that stage you will have already been there done that…

“Virtual reality ensures a standardized delivery coupled with a personalized experience where knowledge acquisition can be easily measured.”²

Finally, you have the means to get all your employees on the same page.  No more will you hear, “we didn’t get time to cover that in the class session” or “we weren’t taught that” and that being the case.  In VR it is a consistent message which can be given and consumed repeatedly.

“Discover the ways you can use VR to upskill and reskill your teams.”³

All the stats and compelling information presented regarding the benefits of VR will not fully be grasped until you immerse yourself in VR.  I strongly suggest you find a way to at least try VR at a local games place or purchase your own VR device.  You will see how effective and fun this really is as well as see where this is going.

Employee Collaboration

Employee communication and collaboration are more important today than ever before.  With teams of employees not always in the same room or even in the same country, collaboration has become more of a challenge.  The initial big push into virtual meetings through our devices to connect with others.  Although effective, this quickly surfaced some short comings.  Thinks like working on the same documents or objects and a clear perception who is in the room working together.  Distractions are many with this approach.  Also, we discovered that this new way of doing things with our brain cause unwanted fatigue as well as a lengthened work effort.

Not all the downside is solved with VR but much of it is.

VR is fully immersive which helps reduce distraction and in the same PWC¹ study mentioned above, has proven to increase focus by as much as 4x.  Also, being in VR removes the camera off scenarios where people “time out” during a collaboration session.  The feeling is of being in the same room so you want to lean in and take part more.

The new push with VR is to bring in your devices you use everyday into the VR experience with you.  This will provide a more connected and immersive VR experience.  There is much more to come with collaboration using devices within VR and things are moving quickly.

“According to Christopher Dede, a Harvard School of Education professor whose work focuses on applications of VR for education, ‘The future of VR is being immersed into an environment blending physical and digital worlds, where users interact via a headset, their computer, or their mobile device to role play with an avatar or learn a new skill.’”⁴

Virtual work rooms and spaces are well on the way with both Microsoft and Meta (Facebook) jumping in with both feet.  Both seem to be offering fully immersive environments which allow screen and VR participation within the environment.

Examples of Collaboration environments:

Here is Meta’s (Facebook) version called Horizon Workrooms.  A VR environment creating immersive meeting experiences including tools like in VR whiteboards.

Here are more details about Microsoft’s “Mesh” for teams.  A VR environment built on Teams to bring collaboration and connection together.

Corporate Culture

Inclusivity, diversity and balance have always proven to be qualities found in successful businesses. As businesses continue to move towards being more inclusive, diverse, and balanced, newer approaches including VR are helping.

“A small number of forward-thinking companies are experimenting with [VR] to combat unconscious bias and create a more inclusive environment.”⁵

With the advancement of VR in business environments as a scenario training tool, is seen by some to propose the creation of an “entirely new HR role dedicated to VR: a VR Immersion Counselor, focused on creating, facilitating, personalizing, and scaling the rollout of Virtual Reality for professional development.”⁴

“One challenge for companies, especially during Covid-19, is to assimilate new employees into the cultural norms of the organization.”⁶

In one study⁶ it was found, instead of training specific skills, using VR to provide salient examples which work together to highlight abstract themes from the overall corporate culture was proven to be more effective.

There will be more studies and there will be more challenges to fully implement VR to for business cultural change, however, it is proving itself as a strong viable candidate to get the job done and done better than other approaches.

VR Game Changing Conclusion

With large technology companies pushing lots of resources towards VR and the new work environment we all find ourselves in these days, VR is something you will want to investigate further right now.  Also, remember, there is a large amount of fun wrapped up in these new techniques for business improvement so please enjoy the ride.

If you would like to discuss this further or dive into some other techniques which may assist you and your business regarding your employees and corporate culture, we are here to help!

 

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Sources:

1. https://www.pwc.com/us/en/tech-effect/emerging-tech/virtual-reality-study.html
2. https://www.td.org/insights/improve-organizational-culture-with-virtual-reality
3. https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2021/07/21/how-to-train-employees-effectively-with-virtual-reality/?sh=5d0332f71681
4. https://hbr.org/2021/01/how-companies-are-using-vr-to-develop-employees-soft-skills
5. https://www.atlassian.com/blog/teamwork/workplace-trends
6. https://hbr.org/2020/09/is-vr-the-future-of-corporate-training