The time for change in technology based training is here.
The evolution of technological training tools, which used to be paper based and then moved to online or computer-based methodologies, has shifted to the rapid implementation of virtual reality as the go-to tool for employee training and development.
Walmart and Amazon both announced a shift from paper-based training and assessment tools to implementing virtual reality training for their respective employees.
Click here to read how Walmart and Amazon are implementing virtual reality training for their employees.
As noted in the article, virtual reality can provide effective training for employees through workplace simulations. These include complex customer service, decision-making, motivation and problem-solving scenarios. This type of training allows employees to familiarize themselves not only with what (the tasks) they must perform, along with building capacity for understanding how those tasks are impacted by their own reactions. Virtual reality training seems to offer a relatively safe environment where an error or a mistake made by the employee in training will not have a direct impact on a ‘live’ customer or colleague as an immediate result.
The article states that the benefits of this type of technology allow for training to be offered to employees on a mass scale with low cost, provided the purchase of hardware and software development has been made. Certainly, corporations like Walmart and Amazon, have significant resources which allow for the investment of this type of technology-based training. It does seem that they are leading the way for the rest of the business world to follow them into the future.
Discussion Questions:
- How does virtual reality training provide empathy training? Why is this important?
- From you reading of the article,
- identify three benefits of virtual reality training that impact employee motivation;
- identify three challenges or negative implications of virtual reality training.
- In your current work environment, what types of training programs could be replaced with virtual reality training tools?