Get latest insights on immersive learning trends

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability to work from home became a necessity, immersive virtual reality (VR) technology played a major role is allowing people to effectively work from home. In recent times, VR has moved from the Gaming and Entertainment industry and is making a mark in diverse fields. The shift to working from home has accelerated the need for virtual reality applications in the workplace, especially for employee training purposes. VR engages the senses and immerses learners in life-like simulations, resulting in better training outcomes. More organizations are starting to use VR for workforce training, as the immersive nature of virtual reality offers numerous benefits to learners and organizations alike.

Do you want to learn more about using VR in the workplace?

On 9 August 2022, 11:00 a.m. EST, XR Guru is conducting a webinar on "Using Virtual Reality for Workforce Readiness." Join the webinar to learn more about using VR for employee training and its advantages.

1. What is VR Training?

Virtual reality training uses realistic simulations to help trainees learn new skills and sharpen the other skills they possess. VR immerses learners in a computer-generated world that mirrors the real-life environment and allows users to interact with virtual objects at a closer level.

Employees can participate in VR-based training activities and scenarios; these training activities can be anything from technical skills exercises, such as learning to operate heavy machinery, to soft skills exercises, like interacting with an unhappy customer. These types of VR-based training programs are better and offer tangible benefits compared to traditional training methods.

2. Are Traditional Training Methods Outdated?

Corporations are responsible for onboarding new employees and upskilling their current employees. To achieve this, companies often use standardized training methods such as PowerPoint presentations, online quizzes, puzzles, instructor-led classes, etc. Creating and implementing these programs can be challenging, and often organizations do not get the desired outcome.

So, companies are wondering, "Are traditional training techniques outdated?" In this technologically advanced era, conventional training methods are outdated and are often not as effective as training with cutting-edge technology like virtual reality.

To truly master a skill, employees should have hands-on practice. But traditional training programs do not offer real-time experience. As a result, the inexperience of learners can lead to safety risks or physical injuries. Companies can adopt virtual reality for training to overcome this challenge and facilitate a hands-on, practical learning approach. A more interactive, immersive, and hands-on training environment will make employees receptive to new information. VR improves knowledge retention by helping trainees safely practice what they learn in a virtual environment.

3. How Virtual Reality Can Revolutionize Workforce Training

An organization has several responsibilities, and training its employees is perhaps one of the most challenging tasks. However, adopting virtual reality for training has the potential to simplify and reduce human involvement in training processes. Here are some compelling reasons to incorporate VR training in your company:

3.1. New Recruitment Practices

With the excellent collaboration capabilities of VR, recruitment practices will improve drastically. VR enables recruiters to access workers around the globe, improving recruitment processes and ensuring the recruitment of top talents. As a part of the recruitment process, interview candidates will have the opportunity to virtually shadow their potential positions to get a better feel for their day-to-day responsibilities.

3.2. Modernized Training Techniques

Generally, corporate training programs involve talks, PowerPoint presentations, online quizzes, and videos. The problem with these conventional methods is engaging effectively with employees.

The ability to fully immerse learners in life-like scenarios makes virtual reality a perfect training tool. VR-based training programs are especially advantageous in high-risk situations, as it helps employees gain proficiency in a safe, low-risk environment. Using VR for employee training makes the training experience engaging, minimizes risks, and reduces costs. Virtual reality reduces the onboarding time and practicing in a virtual environment improves memory retention.

3.3. Improves Engagement

When it comes to corporate training programs, engaging employees is one of the biggest challenges for employers. Virtual reality technology helps organizations overcome this obstacle by creating an immersive learning environment with minimal distractions. VR engages the senses and immerses learners in life-like simulations, leading to better training outcomes.

A study by Stanford University and Technical University in Denmark showed that VR-based training drove a 76% increase in learning effectiveness over traditional educational methods.

VR training facilitates 'learn by doing,' making learners more capable by offering hands-on experiences with tasks they might otherwise have to read about in a textbook or wait to do once they are on the job. With VR, learners can practice multiple times and take extra practice time to master a skill in the virtual environment.

3.4. Cost-Effective in the Long Run

Immersive learning eliminates distractions and enables learners to complete training faster, saving organizations time and money. While the upfront costs of setting up VR training are a little expensive, research shows that using VR to train a large group of employees over time can be cost-effective. Virtual reality is becoming mainstream now, and VR equipment and software development costs are less expensive than a few years ago. Therefore, it is safe to assume that VR training will continue to be extremely cost-effective in the future.

3.5. Better Analytics

Virtual reality training programs offer essential tools to monitor trainee behavior and track the effectiveness of the training program. With VR, organizations can observe individual employees and provide feedback. VR training apps include key performance indicators (KPI) and biometric tools such as eye tracking, motion tracking, heartbeat monitoring, etc. These metrics help companies observe trainees' ability to perform in a stressful/high-risk environment.

3.6. Reduces Onboarding Time

When new employees join an organization, they need to learn a lot of information during the onboarding process. Corporations spend a lot of resources and time conveying information that may not be transferred perfectly to trainees. VR-based training ensures effective training of several employees at once, making the onboarding process straightforward. Organizations with a remote workforce benefit immensely from virtual reality as it eliminates the need for in-person interactions. With VR, employees can learn all about their roles and the company without necessarily being physically present in the office.

3.6. A Safe Space to Practice

Some jobs are riskier than others and involve a significant risk of physical injuries to employees. High-risk jobs include activities such as operating machinery or working in hazardous environments. Going into these jobs without the necessary experience/practice can cause serious damage to property or physical body. VR offers a safe, low-risk virtual environment where trainees can sharpen highly technical skills such as surgery, engineering work, operating machinery, piloting, etc. VR training ensures employees have the required skills and are familiar with the workplace conditions before getting to work.

3.7. Faster and Distraction-Free Training

In business, time is invaluable; training employees quickly and effectively can drastically improve your company's productivity. The fully immersive training experiences offered by VR give trainees the chance to learn new skills faster and retain knowledge for a longer period. A study by PwC shows that VR learners completed training four times faster than conventional classroom training.

VR also creates a distraction-free training environment, allowing learners to focus more on the training exercises. With research suggesting that our attention spans are shrinking, a distraction-free training technique is crucial for effective workforce training.

3.8. Remote Training and Accessibility

The great thing about virtual reality training is that learners can access the training program anywhere, anytime. Instructor-led training often requires trainees to travel to a particular location. Virtual reality eliminates geographical boundaries and allows people to come together and collaborate irrespective of physical distance. Thus, VR makes training more accessible, time-saving, and eco-friendly.

You may think you can achieve the same using cheaper alternatives like video conferencing. However, unlike video conferencing, VR uses realistic avatars and graphics, making users feel like they share the same space, resulting in more effective collaboration.

4. The Bottom Line - Choose Smart, Choose VR

There are plenty of reasons to feel confident that virtual reality technology is here to stay. The technology is expected to become mainstream in the next three-four years. With a report suggesting that VR-based training programs reduce training time by 40% and improve employee performance by 70%, this is the ideal time to start exploring virtual reality solutions for workforce training.

Join Us for Our Next Webinar

Title: Using Virtual Reality for Workforce Readiness

Enhance Training Outcomes with Virtual Reality!

If you are exploring ways to improve workforce training, learn how to use virtual reality for corporate training and the benefits of virtual reality-based training programs.

Join our live webinar to learn more about using virtual reality for workforce readiness.

If you cannot attend, register anyway, and we will send you the recording.

Host: Doug Smith

When and Where:

11:00 a.m. EST, Tuesday, August 9, 2022

25 Minutes

Zoom Link for Registration

Goal: To help companies understand how to use virtual reality for workforce training and how it can help organizations improve the training outcomes.

Who Should Join:

Highlights of the Webinar:

Outcome: Attending this webinar can help you understand how adopting virtual reality in the workplace can increase productivity and offer your employees a better training experience.