Back in the 1950s, cinematographer Morton Heilig developed the Sensorama. Roughly the size of two washing machines stacked on top of each other, this early example of virtual reality (VR) technology offered users a simulated motorcycle ride through New York City, including the smell of petrol fumes and pizza.
Six decades later, similarly immersive experiences – albeit without the odours – can be delivered by a portable headset that can almost fit in a shoebox.
Such convenient access to simulations where workers can experiment and familiarise themselves with different scenarios in a controlled environment seems ideal for employee training and development. Uptake, however, is patchy.
In some industries VR is already common – flight simulators to train airline pilots are an obvious example. It is also used in sectors where workers need to learn how to operate in hazardous environments, such as the oil and gas industry. But many companies and organisations are still trying to figure out how best to use VR for training.
A key benefit is that it can really make an impact, says Bernadett Koles, associate professor and academic director at France’s Iéseg School of Management. “VR is great to give people more confidence in experimenting, in trial and error, without the actual consequences of failure.”
She says it is particularly effective for training service staff, as they can quickly learn to deal with difficult customers.
US retailer Walmart is one company that uses VR in this way. “Associates use it to role-play real-life scenarios like showing empathy to a customer who is having a tough day or delivering groceries inside a customer’s home,” says Jimmy Carter, a spokesperson for the company.
Staff have, he adds, “told us these experiences help them feel more confident and prepared to interact with customers”.
However, numerous hurdles continue to slow wider adoption of VR for staff training. Factors such as cost, logistics and unrealistic avatars all conspire to put companies off.
Headsets may be smaller and less expensive than they once were, as well as able to operate wirelessly, but they are still not cheap. The Meta Quest Pro headset, for example, costs just under £1,000 (€1,170). But more expensive still is the content.
Taking soft skills as an example, where people take courses to improve their ability to communicate and to deal with others, “there are many off-the shelf solutions”, says Alexandra Ruhl, UK head of metaverse technologies at professional services group PwC. “But if a company wants something more specific, then bespoke content needs to be developed, which is still expensive.”
VR hardware and software “require[s] a lot of investment . . . it requires maintenance and competence. You need people who can build these [environments]”, says Shirish Srivastava, professor of information systems and operations management at Paris-based HEC business school. Further, if cloud-based technology is being used, or a third-party provider, privacy and security are another consideration.
And while some VR avatars are high quality, unrealistic ones can be off-putting. Filippo Rizzante, chief technology officer at Reply, a digital services consultancy, says a cartoonish environment can distract users from the learning content.
But such environments and avatars, he adds, are a “technical compromise” because “running a realistic environment costs a lot” both in terms of computing resources and energy consumption. That in turn also raises the question of sustainability.
There are also other practical problems. Koles says that headsets can cause motion sickness, and are still not always the ideal fit, especially for women. And where companies have thousands of employees, the logistics of a mass rollout can be complicated.
In the long term, however, VR’s role in upskilling employees could grow significantly, especially if VR headsets become ubiquitous among consumers.
Derek Belch, founder and chief executive of Strivr, a VR training company that has worked with US retailer Walmart, sees a correlation with job type. “Where a frontline worker is an end user, [VR] adoption is much more significant,” he says. “But where the knowledge worker is an end user, it’s not as significant.” That will change, Belch thinks, because of the growth of soft skills training, although proving the return on investment is a challenge.
Widespread use of VR for training will take time, he adds, but Apple’s launch of an augmented reality headset and Meta’s continued investment are significant. “Meta is certainly going to push very hard on the consumer side,” he says. “Consumer ubiquity is coming in the next three to five years.”
Ruhl suggests that if a headset can be used in other contexts, such as for meetings or other collaborative work, then there is a wider case for investment. Generative artificial intelligence could also bring down the cost, as “it allows users to tailor the training to their specific needs . . . within minutes, rather than having to build a bespoke module”.
Meanwhile, companies are also assessing the possibilities of so-called augmented reality. This technology – where digital images and information are displayed over the user’s actual surroundings – can be used for fixing live problems in real time, says Kamran Malik, global people advisory services learning and digital engagement leader at EY, the professional services firm.
He cites manufacturing and heavy industry as examples. “You may have a problem with a piece of machinery, AR can literally take you through what to do,” he says.
Andy Lancaster, head of learning at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, says that because AR, enabled by devices such as smartphones and smart glasses, can improve proficiency and productivity by providing guidance and support in the moment, “it offers immersive solutions that are transferable to most workplaces, using technology that is already familiar to staff. That has huge benefits in speeding [up] adoption”.
However, VR is a different proposition, and while many companies continue to develop and experiment with immersive training, Belch wonders whether the biggest barrier of all “is just basic human laziness”.
“That sounds a little harsh but it’s true,” he says.
“People pick the path of least resistance in life, and the resistance to change is very real. This is a very different way of doing things and a different way of thinking. It requires change management.” – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2023
