Seven reasons to train your employees with virtual reality

This article draws on a LinkedIn Live session we hosted on immersive technology for training. The panel was:

• Lucky Lance Gobindram, General Manager, CXR Agency
• Chris Koomen, Virtual Reality Engineer and Consultant at United VR, and former VR specialist at Air France-KLM
• Ted Nardin, Co-Founder and Lead Consultant, Employee Experience, 5th Talent International, LLC

Where traditional training falls short

Classroom sessions and manuals often fail to hold learners' attention. People forget much of what they hear, and they struggle to apply it when the real situation arrives.

That gap matters most in complex, high-risk industries such as aviation, manufacturing and healthcare. Staff there need training that reproduces real situations, so that they are competent and safe before they face the real thing.

At the same time, more companies need to train people who are spread across sites and regions. Bringing everyone to one place for every course is slow and expensive.

Seven reasons VR training works

1. Practise risky tasks without the risk

VR lets employees experience and respond to dangerous situations without real-world consequences. That reduces the chance of accidents and errors when they do the job for real.

2. Lower cost over time

There is an upfront investment in hardware and software. After that, VR reduces the need for physical training equipment, travel and on-site sessions, so programmes cost less to run in the long term.

3. Higher engagement

Trainees take an active part instead of listening passively. Interactive practice leads to higher engagement and a better grasp of the subject.

4. Training built around your process

VR content can be tailored to an organisation's own goals, equipment and industry requirements, rather than relying on generic material.

5. Realistic scenarios

Simulations can reproduce real situations closely. Trainees practise skills and make decisions as if they were on the job, which builds skill more effectively.

6. Continuous learning

Employees can return to a module whenever they need to refresh their knowledge. That suits a workplace where processes and equipment keep changing.

7. Within reach of more organisations

As VR hardware becomes more common, it is becoming affordable for organisations of different sizes and budgets.

How to get started without a $100,000 budget

A common belief is that a VR training solution needs a budget of $100,000. It does not. Starting with a focused scope and working with the right partners makes VR training affordable and easy to scale.

A practical approach is to pick one high-risk or high-cost training need first, build a module for it, and measure how trainees perform. Once the module has proved itself, extend it to other tasks and sites. CXR Agency, represented on our panel, offers customisable VR training for different industries and budgets.

Next step

If you want to see how VR could fit your training programme, talk to our team. You can try VR training modules at our Experience Centre before you decide.

First published on the Metaverse911 blog.