We have stepped into the era of Virtual Reality. When covid-19 hit the world, students and professionals everywhere had to adapt. They had looked for alternatives that could let them continue learning and surviving from the comfort of their homes. The internet made it possible, and it also created a need for VR experiences. A video or employee handbook can only carry a professional so far. They need to have practical knowledge about their daily tasks, which can be learned in a VR training space designed specifically for these employees.
What VR can do now is just the beginning of wonders it is going to deliver in the future. We have barely scratched the surface of this lifelike technology, and yet we now have the means to build virtual tools that can help the world progress, businesses thrive.
Think about the benefits. VR Training programmes will create a safe space, which is necessary for hazardous jobs. Employees will be able to practice in a safe and low-pressure environment without a threat to their life.
How does VR training Benefit Employees?
Improved Memory Retention:
Practice Makes Perfect is a centuries-old phrase we have all grown up hearing. We have also learned that practice does help one master a skill over a period of time. Several scientific studies have also observed that repetition learning significantly increases memory performance.
The correlation between the two is quite direct and applies to the VR repetition training. When businesses set up a VR training space, employees have the opportunity to learn by repetition-style learning, which can be conducted keeping in mind the “spacing effect“.
The spacing effects states that students have a better opportunity to retain knowledge when the training sessions are conducted at spaced-out intervals and not in quick successions, one after the other. With a VR training space, employees don’t have to hold back. If they come up with a theory that would help them improve themselves and their work, they can be fearless in implementing these in the training space. And if it doesn’t work out, by reviewing the videos, they can still figure out what went wrong and learn from their mistakes.
Adds fun to the process:
A workplace should be more than just a desk, a cubicle, or focused on manual labour. Such a lacklustre environment can have adverse effects on the employees, negatively affecting their work and productivity. A study focusing on workplace fun and its correlates stresses the importance of fun and how it can positively impact both the workplace and employees. Virtual Reality Training can be turned into not just a learning but a fun experience. One way to do that is by gamifying the training model with a points system. It will turn the entire experience into a friendly competition. Also, it will boost employees happiness level, in turn boosting their performances.
The traditional training resources such as an employee handbook or a training video can sometimes miss the mark. What we need now is an interactive training model built with technologies such as VR.
We have already seen the benefits of training and teaching employees better skills. VR allows businesses to make the learning experience not seem like another chore. By incorporating VR, they can build a stellar model to keep employees engaged and excited.
Working in a low-risk Environment:
VR can help build a VR training module that can create a low-risk environment where the employees can safely practise and learn techniques that can help them upskill. VR Training can especially come in handy with high-risk jobs with manual labour where workers can practise and become more skilled at their jobs, ensuring a safer work environment with a low chance of injuries.
Builds Empathy for Customers:
Harvard Business Review’s take on VR training has given us a great example to explore the topic of how employees can build Empathy for customers, the hotel industry.
Even with the most reputed hotels, employee frustration can result in losing patience with criticizing customers. Such businesses that work directly with the customers need to prepare their employees to see things from a customer’s perspective. Building a VR experience featuring scenarios with irate customers, allows employees to understand their problems in a stress-free environment. Once the team members, in this case, the hotel staff, understand their guest’s feelings. This exercise helps them better manage the customers’ expectations.
This benefit might transcend even the workplace, allowing your employees to understand others in and outside the workplace.
How Does VR Training Benefit the organization?
Cost-Effective and Time-saving:
Investing in VR Training can result in both short and long-term economic growth. For example, PWC conducted a study on their soft-skill training VR project. The study focused on how different learning modes affect employees positively. The three learning modes were Virtual Reality, E-learning, and classroom training.
The study observed Virtual Reality Training speeds up the learning process. It is four times faster to train employees with VR training compared to the classroom. E-learning has a lot of focus related issues. It is easy to get distracted. VR offers an environment conducive to learning, allowing employees to become more focused.
It also found that after VR training, Employees were extremely confident in applying the skills they learned.
Building or purchasing a VR Training program for your Employees is a one-time necessary investment with a high return of investment. It is also a time-saving process, allowing businesses to speed up the employee onboarding process.
Reduced Onboarding Trime & Decreased Employee Turnover:
When a new employee joins a company, it takes time for them to get up to speed and become a contributing member of the workforce. Building a VR training programme that replicates the real-world process can help them learn faster reducing the employee onboarding time.
In addition to offering them a module to get up to speed, VR training can also offer a realistic simulation of a day at the actual job, replicating the real job’s environment, sounds, and views. This will provide the new hires with first-hand knowledge of what to expect from the organisation.
Remote Implementation:
VR training modules can help businesses that have hybrid or remote work models. These training programs can ensure that no matter where the employee or member of the organisation is located, they can have access to the training programs without issue. They can utilise these resources to learn and upskill by breaking barriers such as long distances.
Productive feedback with Real-time Monitoring:
Constructive feedback is essential to progress and better employee-owner relationships. Although the traditional approach has worked for centuries, we now have VR technology that can monitor the employees as they are learning.
VR Training with real-time monitoring gives businesses access to their employees recorded VR sessions. These sessions can be viewed later to provide the employees with detailed feedback. Employees getting consistent and objective feedback have the opportunity to review their sessions as well. Watching themselves going through the training hurdles might help them better understand what they could do differently.
Build a healthy relationship with Employees:
Although these advantages benefit both the employees and Businesses alike, facilitating a healthy relationship between the employees and their workplace.
A training VR tool will also allow businesses to train employees interested in remote work opportunities. Organizations do not have to limit the hiring process to the locals. They can hire people across the country and have no trouble training them. Businesses can send their remote employees an onboarding package with VR headset, which will allow the visitor to join the Virtual training programme.
Training is just one facet of how VR works for business. Early adopters of the technology can also incorporate it into their marketing plans.