High cost and slow use of virtual reality for employee training

Back in the 1950s, cinematographer Morton Heilig developed the Sensorama. About the size of two washing machines stacked on top of each other, this first virtual reality (VR) example offers users a simulated motorcycling ride through New York City, including the smell of Gasoline smoke and pizza. Six decades later, the same immersive experiences – albeit without the smell – can be provided by a portable headset that can almost fit in a shoebox.

Such convenient access to simulations where workers can experiment and familiarize themselves with different scenarios in a controlled environment seems ideal for employee training and development. However, uptake is patchy.

In some industries, VR is already common – flight simulators for training airline pilots are a clear example. It is also used in areas where workers need to learn how to operate in hazardous environments, such as the oil and gas industry. But many companies and organizations are still trying to figure out the best way to use VR for training.

Bernadett Koles, associate professor and academic director at France’s Iéseg School of Management, says the main benefit is that it can really make an impact. “VR is great at giving people more confidence in trial and error without the real consequences of failure.”

She says it’s particularly effective in training service staff because they can quickly learn how to deal with difficult customers.

US retailer Walmart is one company that uses VR in this way. Jimmy Carter, a spokesman for the company, said: “Associates use it to role-play real-life situations such as showing empathy for a struggling customer or delivering groceries to the door. customer’s house”. Employees “tell us that these experiences help them feel more confident and ready to interact with customers,” he adds.

However, numerous barriers continue to slow the wider adoption of VR for employee training. Factors like cost, logistics, and unrealistic avatars all contribute to companies failing.

Headphones may be smaller and cheaper than they used to be and can work wirelessly, but they still don’t come cheap. For example, the Meta Quest Pro headset costs just under £1000. But more expensive is still the content.

Using soft skills as an example, in which people take courses to improve their ability to communicate and deal with others, “there are so many solutions available,” says Alexandra Ruhl, head of metaverse technology in the UK at professional services group PwC, said. “But if a company wants something more specific, it needs to develop separate content, which is still very expensive.”

VR hardware and software “required”[s] a lot of investment. . . It requires maintenance and capacity. You need people who can build these [environments]Shirish Srivastava, professor of information systems and operations management at the Paris-based HEC business school. Furthermore, if cloud-based technology is being used or a third-party vendor, privacy and security are also a consideration.

And while some VR avatars are high quality, unrealistic avatars can be frustrating. Filippo Rizzante, chief technology officer at Reply, a digital services consulting firm, says animated environments can distract users from learning content.

However, he adds, such environments and avatars are a “technical compromise” because “running an actual environment costs a lot” both in terms of machine resources. calculation and energy consumption. That also raises questions about sustainability.

There are also other practical problems. Koles says headphones can cause motion sickness and aren’t always ideal, especially for women. And where companies have thousands of employees, the logistics of mass deployment can be complicated.

However, in the long run, VR’s role in upskilling employees could increase dramatically, especially if VR headsets become popular among consumers.

Derek Belch, founder and chief executive officer of Strivr, a VR training company that used to work with US retailer Walmart, found a correlation with job type. “When frontline workers are end users, [VR] adoption makes much more sense,” he said. “But when knowledge workers are end users, that is not as important.” Belch thinks that will change as soft skills training grows, although proving a return on investment is a challenge.

Widespread use of VR for training will take time, he added, but Apple’s launch of augmented reality headsets and Meta’s continued investment is significant. “Meta is definitely going to be a huge push on the consumer side,” he said. “Consumer popularity will come within the next three to five years.”

Ruhl suggests that if the headset could be used in other contexts, such as for a meeting or other collaborative work, there would be more investment cases. Innovative AI can also reduce costs because “it allows users to tailor a training program to their specific needs. . . within minutes, instead of having to build a separate module.”

Meanwhile, companies are also evaluating the possibility of so-called augmented reality. Kamran Malik, global people consulting services lead and digital engagement leader at EY, a professional services company, says this is the technology where digital images and information are displayed on user’s actual surroundings – can be used to troubleshoot live issues in real time. He took manufacturing and heavy industry as an example. “You can have a problem with a piece of machinery, AR can literally guide you on what to do,” he said.

Andy Lancaster, head of training at the Chartered Institute of Human Resources and Development, said that because AR, powered by devices such as smartphones and smart glasses, can improve proficiency and productivity. By providing guidance and support at the moment, “it offers rich solutions that can be delivered to most workplaces, using technology that employees are already familiar with. That has a huge benefit in speeding up [up] adoption.”

However, VR is another proposition, and while many companies continue to develop and test immersive training methods, Belch wonders if the biggest barrier “is just basic human laziness.” ” or not. “It sounds a bit harsh but it’s true,” he said. “People choose the path of least resistance in life and it is very real to resist change. This is a very different way of doing things and a different way of thinking. It requires change management.”