VR Training – What role does VR play in employee training?

The pandemic has only exacerbated the situation. VR Training, on the other hand, has been a welcome reprieve. Technologies and processes are rapidly changing in today’s fast-paced environment. 

Businesses need to keep up with the pace to remain competitive in the market. To make this happen, the business must not only stay current with technologies and processes, but it must also ensure that its workforce is well prepared and trained in these areas.

For most new businesses, workforce training has become a top focus. However, it has proven to be a challenging area due to factors such as travel, potential safety problems, and complex training settings. 

In 2021, the global VR market was estimated to be worth $21.83 billion. From 2022 to 2030, this is predicted to rise at a compound annual growth rate of 15%. 

This is obvious evidence that VR Training has the potential to transform the corporate world, particularly when it comes to learning to adapt to ever-changing work conditions. 

With the start of the pandemic and an increasingly remote-based workforce, the requirement for skill-based training has become even more critical.

According to the study, the VR training and simulation market was worth $204.41 billion in 2019 and is expected to expand to $601.85 billion by 2027, with a CAGR of 13.7 percent from 2020 to 2027.

What is Virtual Reality Training (VR Training)?

In training, virtual reality is a computerized experience that is close to or identical to real-world events. The words virtual and reality both refer to a hypothetical situation. 

In simple terms, this entails simulating a real-life event without actually putting people in that circumstance to train them.

Employee training has traditionally consisted of a blended learning strategy that comprised manuals, videos, classroom sessions, on-the-job training, and one-on-one mentoring.

This strategy proved to be quite costly, as in-person training needed more time from the employee, reducing productivity, as well as travel time and infrastructure costs for the teacher and training materials. 

And it was unable to extend this to a bigger group. When addressing larger audiences, however, such training is less successful.

That is why businesses are adopting VR Training approaches that provide immersive learning and allow employees to be trained faster than ever before. 

The learner can immerse themselves in a fully realistic environment with the use of VR gadgets such as gloves, headsets, glasses, and bodysuits, giving them greater learning in the safest method possible.

VR Training provides a 360-degree environment in which learners have sound and visual experiences, bridging the gap between virtual and real life. 

The student responds and reacts to the situations created by the gadgets. Traditional training that was difficult, expensive, and dangerous may now be delivered in a far safer, more effective, and faster environment.

When practical training is integrated with narrative and curriculum produced by subject matter experts, it creates a holistic experience that improves retention while shortening the learning curve. As a result, job performance, team collaboration, workplace safety, and costs improve.

Benefits of VR Training for Businesses

Virtual reality in the workplace is redefining training rules. It has numerous advantages, not just in terms of training but also in terms of business in general. 

The combination of corporate training and experiential learning is effective, and it is assisting many businesses in upgrading their competitors.

The following are some of the advantages that businesses are utilizing, which result in cost savings, improved employee engagement, and increased operational efficiency.

Customer Service Improvements

Service quality is a wide word that encompasses a variety of factors. A well-prepared employee can approach consumers with empathy and emotion. 

Virtual Reality training provides on-demand practice learning for customer-facing employees.

Another crucial part of customer service is communication ability. Agents will be more equipped to manage all types of clients, from frustrated to interested, if they are given fake circumstances based on real-world experiences.

Vr training allows workers to develop critical thinking while evaluating the big picture of what clients require. Customer service agents in financial institutions, for example, meet challenging consumers. 

In less than six months, firms may boost customer satisfaction scores by 10% with virtual reality training.

Onboarding Time Saved

Every company wants the new hire to assist as soon as possible. This corporate aim can be achieved through VR training. 

It creates realistic virtual settings that can be easily recreated in the real world, allowing new employees to pick up their expertise fast.

United Rentals is one such example. Employees might stroll across multiple construction sites using a virtual reality platform, cutting down on travel time. 

Overall, the training duration was cut by 40% without compromising the course’s effectiveness.

Employee Turnover is Reduced

VR in training can give prospective employees a realistic view of the job position. This will aid in the employment of qualified candidates, resulting in a higher retention rate. 

With VR headsets, potential employees may get a sense of the environment, culture, and workplace before joining the team, ensuring that they are properly prepared.

Existing employees, as well as new hires, can be instructed on new products, refreshers, and other training that demonstrates the organization’s learning and growth path. This will keep staff engaged and pleased, resulting in a lower turnover rate.

Reduced Incident Costs

Preparing people with safer workplace regulations is the best strategy to provide a safe environment. Employees do not retain a standard rule book, and the material read lessens over time. Vr training has been shown to improve information retention. Experiential learning’s interactive scenarios equip employees for any situation, good, poor, or dangerous.

Companies that have used VR training

Virtual reality training isn’t a brand-new concept. It’s employed in industries where simulation training is required, such as piloting a plane or traveling a ship. 

Other industries are taking advantage of the benefits of VR for business, thanks to the improvement in technology.

Some instances of companies that have effectively implemented VR training are shown below.

-ExxonMobil

VR is being used by ExxonMobil for safety training. Putting on the safety equipment and headphones, as well as acquiring the controllers, is the first step in learning how VR works.

Learning through the virtual vehicle is a difficult lesson mastered easily and safely for oil and gas operators. 

The learner can board the loading tanker to deal with a variety of VR-created scenarios, ranging from simple chores to the most difficult situations. 

As a result, the person improves his or her ability to solve problems and make decisions more quickly. This equips them to work efficiently and safely.

-KFC

With locations all over the world, it’s critical to maintain consistency in taste by using the correct ingredients and cooking procedures. KFC has been using VR to train employees and get them to practice so they can get to the point where the taste developed is oh-so-good.

-Walmart

Walmart employees received training on the new software that was enabled for in-store pickup choices. The purpose was to maintain uniform pickup standards across all locations.

Employees were almost trained on the new tech even before it was tried to install by offering them a virtual world and scenarios based on the new technology. 

This allowed them to remove disruptions in normal business operations while also greatly reducing the time required to train new personnel.

Conclusion

It has become imperative for businesses to implement new to remain competitive. Virtual reality for business is a cutting-edge technology that has aided companies in adapting to rapidly changing working conditions.

VR training has shown to be a great tool for providing immersive training that keeps people highly skilled, engaged, and productive just when you need them to perform at their best.