The ability to replicate high-risk, low-frequency interpersonal situations in the security of a virtual world enables employees and managers to develop their skills in areas such as public speaking and communicating uncomfortable information. As a kind of sales skill, VR training provides realistic practice in the ability to make mistakes in a safe environment. The training offers mental repetitions in dealing with a variety of sales scenarios, from listening to the right hints about the product to dealing with objections.
Learning new skills has never been easier, but in our increasingly automated business world workers are under growing pressure to remain relevant. Today, this pressure extends beyond hard technical skills. With technological advances that automate multiple tasks, there are increasing opportunities for workers to look beyond technical skills to drive value creation through their human skills. Companies provide immersive learning experiences with AR, VR and artificial intelligence to help employees develop their human skills.
More and more organizations are asking their employees to deliver values as human beings. Soft skills like: conflict resolution, teamwork, and leadership are important but can be difficult for employees to develop, especially when they are working remotely, making many traditional training programs unsuitable.
Soft skills can help eliminate liabilities and toxic work cultures and enable organizations to lead the way in productivity and innovation. Such skills are a core competence expected of managers and managers and are important for effective collaboration with others.
„The larger the number of employees who undergo VR training, the more cost-effective it becomes„
With the increasing frequency of remote work, VR is likely to become a coveted platform for many soft skills training programs, from executive development to onboard hiring. VR-based training will help the next generation of workers develop the basic soft skills needed to be useful and employable in any organization. Developing entrepreneurial skills using artificially acquired VR experience is today feasible and creates a real alternative to traditional approaches to soft skills training with significant benefits.
The PwC study found that managers who participated in VR training had 40% more confidence in the application of the skills they had learned than classroom learners. Their level of trust exceeded that of managers using eLearning by 35%.
More than 72% of learning and development leaders across industries and more than 35% of respondents used VR skill simulations to help employees navigate challenging workplace scenarios in the areas of customer service, conflict resolution, sales, timely and critical diversity, and inclusion training, harassment and bedside care, and health care workers. The H & R Block customer contact center data shows that two 30-minute VR sales sessions saved 4,119 hours of average processing time (171 days). This combined with a 10 percent reduction in overall performance equal to 3 months of on-the-job learning resulted in performance improvement.
With many employees accessing mobile and desktop devices from home or office, VR programs can be more attractive and cost-effective to complete than alternative programs. For example, KFC has developed a VR experience model on an escape room to teach new employees how to roast chickens in less than 10 minutes, and ExxonMobil has developed VR training for technicians and operators on oil and liquefied natural gas platforms.
New technologies are available to facilitate immersive learning and enable organizations to develop the much-needed skills in an increasingly automated world.
The larger the number of employees who undergo VR training, the more cost-effective it becomes. A PwC study estimates that 37.5% of learners equate VR training with costs equivalent to those in the classroom, and 50.0% of them equate it with costs equivalent to poor learning.
„Research by PWC found that employees learned soft skills four times faster in class, were 27.5% more confident in applying skills, and focused 4x more on their e-learning colleagues”
These general estimates provide a good starting point for determining whether VR is an option for a specific training requirement. The technology should become more accessible, including the possibility of multi-participant immersion which is perfect for teaching soft skills because it can train a large group of people at the same time. Taking the predictions into account, new technologies such as voice and body recognition are to be integrated into VR experience to improve its realistic effects.
Virtual reality is the best way to conduct training on sensitive topics. It takes a lot of work upfront, but we would say its scalability gives it a promising future as an educational tool. Have a look at what RTE has to offer.
