Posts

Image by Arturs Budkevics

Workforce Development: Using AR and VR to Strengthen Your Company

/ /by

The 21st Century has seen enterprises across all industries scramble for the latest technologies and team-building strategies to enhance workforce development. For a good reason: It’s no secret that efficiency begins with an efficient workforce.

Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have become popular powerhouses for employee training, recruitment, and several other HR processes. These new technology waves have made it easier to evaluate employees’ performance, test their knowledge, improve training and strengthen their teams.

What are AR and VR Technologies?

Simply, augmented reality is a highly interactive experience of a real-world environment. It enhances objects in the real world by computer-generated perceptual information. Think Snapchat filters, Pokemon Go, and even Waze.

Virtual reality, a similarly interactive experience, is a simulation of a completely different environment from the real world. The computer-generated simulation of a 3-D image or environment can be interacted with in a seemingly real way. For a truly immersive sensory experience, users must wear appropriate electronic equipment, such as a headset and gloves fitted with sensors.

Using AR and VR in Recruitment: A Two Way Street

Companies are deploying AR/VR technologies in their recruitment processes to maintain a competitive edge in the market. They need the best talent the labor market has to offer, and these technologies can help filter candidates by the most relevant skills. However, it works both ways; the best talent will look for the best and most inspiring work opportunities. And VR, in particular, helps candidates experience work environments remotely.

Recently, Lloyds Bank implemented VR into its assessment process for the Graduate Leadership Program. During the screening process, Lloyd’s asks candidates to solve puzzles in a simulated environment. Based on their results — which clearly demonstrated their strengths and weaknesses — the company more easily made recruitment decisions.

By providing a simulated view of the company, AR and VR can play another vital role in the recruiting process. After all, prospective employees can spend considerable time commuting to and from, as well as being in, a company’s workplace during the interview process. Virtual reality-based simulated environments can reduce that time and expense by providing candidates with a virtual yet holistic understanding of the working environment and team they could join. With AR and VR, a candidate can now be sitting in Shanghai as they gain a genuine feel for a company’s culture in Manhattan.

Gamification for Job Applicants

In today’s ultra-competitive job market, it’s never been more important to use innovative ways to engage with the best talent in a limited pool of qualified workers.

The use of gamification has proven to stand firm against the traditional application process since it offers something new, exciting, innovative, and — perhaps most importantly — efficient. Gamification significantly increases the interactivity of the recruitment process. Consider this, rather than gather essential candidate information through manual forms and resumes — such as qualifications, experience, and skills — a gamified approach can interactively reveal this information.

Innovative augmented reality platforms have grown to serve this growing application in recruitment screening. ActiView, for example, uses AR technology to help recruiters detect various behavioral habits and attributes required for the job.

AR and VR for General Training

Once employees are on board, training them can be costly, time-consuming, and ineffective. Virtual reality (VR) can help orient employees with all the technical skills related to their roles. By providing an immersive environment for new employee induction and training, new team members can familiarize themselves with new processes without wasting resources. Additionally, companies naturally expect employees to become more efficient in their roles with time. VR can help speed up these processes, and workforce development in general, as they get new employees more engaged and efficient faster.

For example, the hands-on training experiences opened up by VR allow employees to enter an immersive environment and gain experience using and navigating complex machinery and technical parts within a training room. By eliminating the boundaries between the real and virtual environments, employers take advantage of both realities in one setting — generating efficiencies and enabling faster learning.

 

corporate trading trade-off

 

As the graph above shows, the trade-off associated with traditional corporate training is offset by VR technology and immersive training. As illustrated, one-on-one expert mentor training is indeed an effective method. However, it’s time-consuming and expensive, which hinders a company’s ability to scale. On the other hand, reading a quick manual and watching a 2D video might be cost-effective. But precedent shows us this is the least effective training method.

AR and VR for Safety Training

Many industries, more than we initially imagine, operate to some degree in unsafe environments. This is particularly true within plants and facilities with heavy-duty machinery, chemicals, and life-threatening procedures. Virtual reality can play an essential role in facilities where safety is key.

For example, in the firefighting industry, VR-based training on new challenges has been massively beneficial. Specifically, it curbs training accidents and helps eliminate underperformance while demonstrating real-life scenarios. Trainees can apply the lessons learned anywhere an associated risk is part of the job spec.

Employers and organizations can provide a virtually created life-threatening or risky situation within an immersive environment to trainees. There, they can learn best practices and remedies and be better prepared to take on the challenge in real-life.

AR and VR for Team Building

Business managers, HR specialists, and young entrepreneurs have long since recognized the importance of building and maintaining company culture. Themes have shifted towards connectivity, embracing differences, inclusivity, and team-building strategies. Now, more than ever, they have turned to remote options to sustain a culture in a forced work-from-home environment.

When planning an in-person team-building event, of course, there are many options — from bars to restaurants to bowling alleys and pub quizzes. In these relaxed environments, team building can take many forms with different goals. Of course, these venues also come with their own sets of challenges — especially during a pandemic.

On the other hand, virtual reality is a notable and powerful team-building tool where anything is practically possible. Hang out with the team in virtual gathering rooms where everyone can join in playing games, get competitive and collaborate — from anywhere. The Rec Room is an excellent example of a multipurpose VR-based gaming resource. The platform provides companies with access to thousands of user-generated and custom gaming events that enable team building.

Workforce Development in a Nutshell

Ultimately, AR and VR eliminate the workforce development challenges faced — from recruiting to team-building — in a pre-technological world.

To strengthen your company, start leveraging the immense capabilities of AR and VR today.

 

Photo: insung yoon

#WorkTrends: Improving Work Culture with VR

/, /by

Newsflash: We may be unintentionally undermining our working relationships. Remote working has brought with it some vexing challenges, including distractions, Zoom fatigue, and even incivility. Taken out of physical context, we tend to misread and misinterpret each other. And that can have some troubling side effects.

How can we repair this? To find out, Meghan M. Biro invited Robin Rosenberg, a clinical psychologist and the CEO / founder of Live in Their World (LITW) to #WorkTrends. Robin is using VR technology to improve and strengthen our work relationships, face-to-face or not.

Even on a good day, we may not be as clear as we mean to be on text and emails, according to Robin. And while on video, “bodily cues or facial cues can help you decode what’s going on,” information can still get lost. Even the size of the video screen can be a distraction, noted Meghan. And a tiny delay means we don’t really see people’s reactions as they happen. All can create tension — the opposite of what we need.

With VR, Robin and her team are teaching us how to read each other better and get along again. It’s a particularly valuable tool in improving empathy among workforces when it comes to diversity, as participants learn not only how to authentically walk in each other’s shoes, but “in their feet,” noted Robin.

VR doesn’t need to be expensive and can be remote (a Youtube 360-type experience). Given how effectively it expands our understanding of each other, it may come to be a standard operating procedure in terms of how we tend to our work cultures.

Listen to the full conversation and see our questions for the upcoming #WorkTrends Twitter Chat. And don’t forget to subscribe, so you don’t miss an episode.

Twitter Chat Questions

Q1: Why do some organizations struggle with incivility in their work cultures? #WorkTrends
Q2: What strategies can organizations use to help improve remote working? #WorkTrends
Q3: How can leaders use Virtual Reality to improve culture? #WorkTrends

Find Robin Rosenberg on Linkedin and Twitter

Photo: Patrick Schneider

Five Industries Poised to Thrive Post-Pandemic

/ /by

The spread of Coronavirus has sent shockwaves across the global economy. With such a devastating human cost to the pandemic, the imposition of lockdowns has successfully limited the spread of the virus, albeit at the cost of production.

In the coming weeks and months, the world will return to varying degrees of ‘normality.’ But is the same true for various industries? It’s certain that different sectors will recover at different rates. No doubt, some will need more time to regroup and return to normal operations.

For other industries, the opposite could be true. Certain technological fields have been experiencing unprecedented growth even in this time of isolation, and both history and current trends indicate that other industries may be set to boom in the months after COVID-19 as well.

While many of us will remember the crash of 2008, the circumstances behind the current market crash will be unprecedented for the vast majority. So let’s take a look at what industry recoveries may look like after the pandemic, and explore which sectors might thrive following the return to ‘normality’.

Collaboration Technology

Since the arrival of Coronavirus, shares in Zoom, a video conferencing app, have leaped over 120 percent. Elsewhere, Slack’s collaborative platform has experienced a seismic rise of 25 percent in share price.

As global lockdown measures have forced the world to work from home (WFH), remote collaboration tools have experienced a profound rise in popularity. Given the circumstances, some may assume that the collaborative technology industry is experiencing a bubble that will inevitably burst once governments allow workers to return to their offices. However, for many companies, the pandemic has acted as a large-scale road test for WFH readiness — which, for many decision-makers, will have proved that a transition towards more remote work is possible.

The benefits of WFH are far-reaching: companies can save money on in-house supplies, servers and utilities, while workers can eliminate their commute and work in a more comfortable environment.

With future developments in the fields of augmented reality and virtual reality promising to make remote collaboration even more immersive, it’s reasonable to expect more businesses to embrace technology to enable WFH initiatives after the virus. Collaboration technology is undoubtedly set to flourish over the coming years.

Healthcare

The pandemic has also prompted widespread investment in global healthcare. $120 billion pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly recently joined forces with a biotech startup in a bid to fight the threat of Coronavirus. “We’ve never moved at this pace before,” explained Eli Lilly’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dan Skrovonsky.

The COVID-19 outbreak has reaffirmed the need for investment in both healthcare equipment and pharmaceuticals. While the industry is understandably volatile as world health services struggle to keep up with demand, it’s a safe bet that many governments will look to secure their future against future pandemics faster.

Expect to see plenty of investment in life-saving protective equipment and vaccinations in the months and years following Coronavirus.

Online Gaming

With millions of people unable to work due to the outbreak, it’s not surprising to see that online gaming has surged in terms of usage. With very few alternative ways to kill time while in isolation, more money is being spent on buying and accessing video games.

In China, the first nation to experience widespread isolation measures, players spent over two billion yuan (around $280 million) on one of the nation’s leading mobile games, Glory of the King, in a single day, marking a 50 percent increase year over year.

Coronavirus has caused the world to slow down somewhat, allowing time for people across the world to discover, or recapture, an enthusiasm for online gaming. With reports of Nintendo Switch sales more than doubling in March compared to the same time last year, along with increases in Playstation and Xbox sales, it’s fair to expect the burgeoning user base to continue to find time for video gaming long after the end of international lockdowns.

Remote Learning

Online learning is another industry that’s flourishing during Coronavirus-enforced isolation. In March, over 27.5 million hours was spent on Cornerstone Learning  — indicating that users are choosing to invest their newfound free time wisely.

Thanks to a widespread transition among businesses offering more WFH options for employees, many of us will leverage online education platforms well after the Coronavirus pandemic. It’s also fair to expect more usage from employees who have found themselves between jobs due to the crisis, and are looking to pick up new skills as they re-enter the job market.

Automakers

Counterintuitively, car manufacturers could perform exceptionally well following coronavirus as well. It’s reasonable to expect sales to fall following such a disruptive event, but Seeking Alpha notes that following the 2002 SARS outbreak, it was actually the automotive industry that recovered fastest.

The logic behind the rise in car sales is relatively straightforward. When the public believes that commuting on public transport isn’t safe, the demand for automobiles will rise.

The months following Coronavirus could see a rise in road traffic as people return to work reluctant to put themselves at risk of infection. It may also be some time before people fully regain their comfort with taking public transportation — and sharing their space with other commuters — following a prolonged period of isolation.

Virtual Reality Adds New Dimension to Employee Recruiting

/ /by

Virtual reality has generated a lot of headlines in recent years. For HR departments, the most talked-about use case for VR is employee training, where the technology can decrease costs while improving performance. But early adopters of the technology are seeing quick wins by incorporating VR into their employee recruiting process. They’re recording and distributing everything from 360-degree virtual office tours to immersive first-person “day in the life” VR videos, and enabling potential hires to meet future co-workers virtually.

The benefits to using VR as part of the recruiting mix are many. Millennials, who make up more than a third of the workforce, are known for valuing experiences over “stuff.” Giving them an informative and interesting virtual look at a potential job is more memorable and valuable than a branded T-shirt or stress ball. The perception of a company is also changed by incorporating VR. According to a 2016 Greenlight VR study of 1,300 adults, more than 71% of respondents said using VR made companies seem “forward-thinking and modern.”

Particularly for older or more established companies, the incorporation of VR both in recruiting and on the job is a major positive. A case in point: Walmart’s VR-equipped mobile RV, which is traversing college campuses to promote jobs at their eCommerce divisions.

Research Successful VR Recruitment Efforts

Using VR at an exhibition booth at a career fair is a great way to drum up visitor traffic. A Samsung Gear VR or HTC Vive headset is guaranteed to generate curiosity among passersby. Simply having the technology is not enough, though. Recruiting departments need to nail their VR presentations and justify using headsets.

Toyota High System, for example, does guided VR tours of their offices. Presented at college job fairs, these VR experiences transport students hundreds of miles away to the Toyota division’s headquarters, allowing them to virtually immerse themselves in all the benefits of working at the company. They also include in their app a virtual tour guide, who introduces the VR viewer to employees in multiple divisions. There simply is no other way, outside of actually visiting the company, to get a better sense of the company culture and workforce.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, meanwhile, has re-edited some of their VR training videos into recruiting videos to use at college job fairs. Besides garnering more visits to their booth, the VR experience also showcases a day in the life of an inspector at the organization. For college students, who may not have much familiarity with the day-to-day job responsibilities of inspectors, it’s a great opportunity to accurately ascertain what it would be like to be employed by the USDA. Plus, many things are just easier to show using VR video rather than describing them verbally. The experience is similar to job shadowing — but without having to physically travel anywhere.

Plan What You Want to Highlight

Before diving in to VR, you’ll want to first plan how to best showcase your company. What is the focus of your VR experience? It could be to highlight all the amenities at your workplace, such as fitness centers and catered dining options. It could be to meet employees, in which case you could do POV recordings with employees or have a guide interviewing them in VR. Or it could be to highlight a job function, in which case you’ll want to focus on the more interesting or appealing parts of a position. Regardless, you’ll want to storyboard your videos ahead of time.

Edit With the Viewer in Mind

A lot of VR applications are showcased at job fairs or recruitment events. You likely won’t have a lot of time with each candidate, so keep your VR videos short and focus on putting the most important material first. You never know at what point a job candidate will remove the VR headset, so don’t save the best features for last.

You can also do either passive VR or active VR: Passive VR involves the candidate watching videos passively, while active VR has the user interacting with the virtual environment. They could, for instance, look at a piece of equipment, which then initiates a video showing how that equipment works. The number of booth visitors you anticipate and likely amount of time spent with each candidate can dictate whether you choose to create passive or active VR — with the former being the best fit for shorter time periods or large numbers of viewers.

Distribute VR for Maximum Impact

There are a number of different VR headsets you can use for displaying your VR application, everything from the high-end HTC Vive (used by Toyota High Systems) to the mobile but very immersive Samsung Gear VR (used by the USDA) to the lower-cost but easy-to-brand Google Cardboard. Just like when you consider VR app length, the number of visitors and length of visits you anticipate will dictate your headset choice. (Google Cardboard is good for large numbers of viewers, while HTC Vive and Gear VR is better for smaller, more concentrated meetings.)

But it’s also important to remember that every iPhone or Android smartphone now has the capability to show 360-degree video apps. So that same VR experience you show to candidates on an HTC Vive or Gear VR can be distributed to their phones — which not only is a nice takeaway item, but also allows them to show others the VR experience you’ve spent time carefully crafting.

Creating VR: The Time Is Now

Ultimately, we’re moving away from asking whether you use VR in recruiting to exploring how you should use VR in recruiting. With so much weight now given to facets of a job beyond pay and day-to-day responsibilities — such as cultural fit and workplace environment — VR is becoming the best way to show these areas to candidates regardless of their location. Virtual reality doesn’t have to be the main focus at your recruiting events, but it’s increasingly becoming an important arrow in the quivers of recruiters.