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Retention

XR in Workforce Development: A Game-Changer for Recruitment and Retention, with Lenovo ThinkReality and Transfr

Lenovo ThinkReality and Transfr discuss the importance of training solutions for workforce development

There is a truism of DE&I initiatives, that it’s hard for people to become what they cannot see.

This expression arose from the perspective of socially excluded groups accessing careers and other opportunities, but it has an even broader application in the workplace today. Many students leave education not just unprepared, but also unaware, of the range of exciting career opportunities they could explore.

That’s why Transfr’s approach to workforce development uses the Lenovo ThinkReality XR tools, to showcase, prepare, and train young people, to access new career possibilities. The ThinkReality VRX headset creates immersive simulations, while the ThinkReality A3 smart glasses provide augmented layers of information in new workplace scenarios. Together, they broaden access and address the recruitment challenges faced by a range of industrial and public-sector employers.

Tapping new talent to fill essential roles

As Transfr CEO Bharani Rajakumar explained, “our mission as a company is to get everyone on a career pathway to upward mobility. With over 300 training simulations, we help candidates acquire the baseline skills they need to be attractive to an employer. We serve a demographic we call undiscovered talent.”

In the US, in particular, there is a high demand for vocational skills, owing to an emphasis on academic degrees and a lack of a European-style apprenticeship culture. “So we work with public education institutions to provide physical access through XR technology to diverse demographics, and make sure people get the training they need,” Rajakumar continued.

The immersive experience of XR training not only provides training and practice to build skills and confidence in new career roles, but it can also open up candidates to new jobs they had never previously considered.

It creates a safe environment for trying out new career possibilities as well, as Mattney Beck, Senior Manager Product Marketing at Lenovo, explained. Because no one likes failing in public.

“People can be anxious about trying new things, putting themselves out there,” he explained. Experimenting with new skills and activities in VR derisks career exploration socially. “It gives candidates the chance to focus on the task in the module, and not feel like they’re going to be embarrassed in front of a crowd… Muscle memory gets created by repetition,and in VR you can repeat as many times as you like until you know you’ve got it right.

“Generally confidence is built by a series of small wins,” he continued, “and if people can show up with skills learned and practiced on day one, it’s amazing the sense of accomplishment that comes from that. This is a real benefit for VR that other types of training simply don’t offer.”

The future of recruitment, selection, and onboarding

In a world where digital natives frequently learn, socialise, and ultimately work remotely, the opportunity for candidates to gain literal hands-on experience across different roles has huge benefits for hirers as well.

As Rajakumar explained, “One surprising outcome has been an increase in retention. The reality is, that when folks have been through XR training during recruitment, they stay in the job longer.

“The training process itself acts as a filter and an opt-in – some people will bow out, and those who do not will enter their new job with increased confidence and decreased friction from day one.”

For a generation entering the workforce today, whose formal education and work experience has been disrupted by the pandemic, the value of this additional confidence and fit cannot be underestimated. From muscle memory to soft skills, the ability to rehearse and reach competence before showing up to a new role makes all the difference to the new hire, who effectively completes some of their onboarding and training ahead of time.

For their new manager, it’s as though they have hired a more experienced candidate, who will take a much shorter path to being productive and profitable in their position.

XR workforce development training with Transfr, leverages the hardware solutions of Lenovo ThinkReality, to create a genuine win-win for both parties to the contract.

Quelle:

XR in Workforce Development: A Game-Changer for Recruitment and Retention, with Lenovo ThinkReality and Transfr

11. Oktober 2023 0 comment

Examples

VR Training for Ensured Safety and Knowledge Retention

VR provides opportunities for employees to become familiar with a work environment before they ever set foot inside them.

Safe training and updating the skills of tenured employees is complicated. It is also costly and can be largely ineffective in imparting lasting knowledge.

Traditional training methods are simply unable to recreate the dangers and unexpected scenarios that employees are likely to encounter in the field. The objective with any workplace training is to ensure that both new and tenured employees can reduce their risk by evaluating potential dangers in otherwise safe situations. Working at heights is no exception.

Traditional training methods require trainees to be put into a dangerous situation without knowing how they will react, or they rely on classroom simulations and e-learning courses to illustrate the dangers of working at heights in the field. Both leave employers with either unsafe or ineffective training options: Passive classroom training methods have lower retention and recall rates, and real-world field training comes at a high risk of injury to the trainee and/or trainer.

Using virtual reality (VR) training solutions, employers can leverage the fully immersive and photorealistic virtual environments to train employees and effectively gauge both skills competence and emotional reactions.

A trainee may be familiar or even proficient with equipment and procedures at ground level, but employers need to ensure that knowledge recall and decision-making is efficient when the trainee has to face the added pressure of being at the top of a skyscraper, standing atop a ladder, or simply working on the second story of your facility. VR removes all risks of a real fall, allowing trainees to familiarize themselves not only with the tools and tasks required for the job but also the environment in which they will be required to perform the work.

VR Training vs. Legacy Training

Emerging research continues to demonstrate the effectiveness of VR training. A 2020 PwC study found that employees can complete VR training four times faster than in-person training and 1.5 times faster than e-learning training. Employees also retain knowledge of what they learned at a rate of up to 80% one year after the training, compared to 20% just one week after traditional training.

Further VR scenarios can elicit true emotional reaction to trigger the fight, flight or freeze reflex. For training in a hazardous fall risk scenario, trainees can experience the very real sensations of falling or getting close to a fall.

Knowing your employees’ capabilities and reactions before they are put into a real-world situation allows for a better understanding of where additional time needs to be spent to minimize skills gaps, reduce stress and avoid critical errors.

While VR training methods are new to many industries, some sectors have been using immersive training methods for decades out of necessity. Astronauts and airline pilots must train in flight simulators before ever getting into the real thing, largely because of the risks and difficulties of the work.

VR scenarios now make it possible to create a digital twin of any environment or equipment at a fraction of the cost of a simulator—making it possible to recreate a wide variety of scenarios and provide more accessibility than ever before.

Possible use cases for VR training include:

New employee onboarding;
Facility and working environment familiarization;
Equipment location and identification;
Emotional evaluation (e.g., testing for fear of heights, claustrophobia, motion sickness, etc.);
Standard operating procedures;
Advanced skills training;
Hazard identification;
Inspection procedures;
Maintenance procedures;
Safety procedures;
Compliance training; and
Skills and environment screening.

Cost Benefits and ROI of VR Training

VR training methods provide high ROI by reducing costs of instructor training, equipment and employee downtime. These training methods save actual classroom time as well as time that would typically be spent assembling and disassembling training props or taking equipment out of production.

The efficiency of existing operations is high, as high-value equipment and more tenured employees can remain in the field rather than be used to train new hires. Furthermore, employees can gain experiences in a matter of hours that could otherwise take years to accumulate in the field, thereby helping them to be more prepared and better equipped for their duties regardless of experience.

Other savings that are difficult to quantify include eliminating fall risks during training, saving in early screening and eliminating investments in employees who will ultimately not be able to be put into the field.

Within the virtual environments, you can create a limitless number of scenarios. You can also redirect training based on feedback and results with more focus on special areas of need.

Training Benefits Unique to VR

Locational Awareness: VR provides opportunities for trainees to acquaint themselves with a work environment before they ever set foot inside them. Someone who has never visited an oil facility or been suspended from a skyscraper cannot predict skill recall or emotional response to that hazardous environment.

Knowledge Transfer: Bridging the knowledge gap continues to pose a challenge a more baby boomers retire and the workforce continues to be rocked by the Great Resignation. The technology can help to ensure that institutional knowledge is not lost; instead, it can be captured in a virtual scenario. VR is also a useful recruiting tool to attract the next generation of talent.

Playback and Analytics: Digital training methods allow the trainer to assess performance on the spot. They also afford trainees the opportunity to see specific examples of mistakes or best practices. VR even allows for data analysis to identify trends and pain points that can guide future training to better focus on trainees’ needs.

Hazardous Scenario Simulation: VR allows trainers to introduce simulations into the training that would be impractical or dangerous for trainees at their current level of knowledge and experience. VR provides important hands-on experience without the risk and costs associated with real-world learning.

Unlimited Use: Once a VR environment has been created, it can be used and reused on an almost limitless basis. This greatly extends the potential for training and knowledge acquisition while at the same time reducing the time and cost of off-site training.

Enhanced Proficiency Training: VR allows workers to undertake proficiency training before entering a work site, with details that match the actual environment they will be working in.

Improved Engagement: VR fully engages the senses and prevents employees from being distracted by outside influences, thus maximizing their learning engagement and retention.

Quelle:

https://www.ehstoday.com/safety-technology/article/21255004/vr-training-for-ensured-safety-and-knowledge-retention

24. August 2023 0 comment

Examples

Virtual Reality Training for Improved Knowledge Retention

For a trainer, what would be the goal of every training session? Better understanding of concepts and skills and the learners’ ability to replicate acquired knowledge in real-life scenarios? Quite right!
And this can be achieved only if we ensure that the learner is able to retain the knowledge. In other words, we can say that a training session that allows better knowledge retention opportunities will be able to achieve its goal of effective learning.

The learning capacity of every learner varies. Agreed, one solution may not work for everyone, but at the same time it is important to deliver learning sessions in formats that provide learning experiences which enable better understanding and, in turn, better knowledge retention. When it comes to digital training solutions, virtual reality training proves to be a highly effective method for creating a lasting impression.

How does virtual reality training help with knowledge retention?

Training in virtual reality places the learner in a virtually simulated environment that could be a replica of the real-world or a fictional scenario. In doing so, a training environment is created that triggers multiple aspects of effective learning.

Experiential – From a learner’s perspective, what yields better learning outcomes, reading and observing how to operate a forklift or practicing how to do it? Surely the latter. When it comes to skills like operating a forklift or learning to drive an automobile it is experience, the feeling of having ‘been there and done that’, that creates first-hand experience and learners know how to act and react in similar real-life conditions. This equally holds true in almost all other aspects of learning and training where experience helps learn and remember way better than just observing and reading.

In a virtual environment, a learner gets first-hand experience on how to operate a forklift.

Practical – Learning by doing always helps drive home the point and promote knowledge retention to a far greater degree than merely observing, listening or reading. And this can apply to just about any subject, any field of expertise and at any level of training. Be it school subjects, soft skills training in a corporate set up, healthcare skills, defense training, machine operation, the list is endless. What’s more, there are no time or geographical boundaries here. Through virtual reality learners can roam in pre-historic times as well as places on the other side of the world and gain practical experience, all while sitting in one place.

Participation-based – Immersive learning method like virtual reality allows learners to participate in a range of activities for an enriching learning experience. Take for example tasks like practicing healthcare procedures, handling customers in a retail store, supporting clients in a banking set-up, providing training to new recruits in tools’ handling, an onboarding procedure etc . Be it in the form of trainers or co-participants, the presence of virtual humans brings about realism in the learning session, enhances experiences and promotes better understanding of concepts.

Being a part of a healthcare procedure provides better understanding of the procedure.

Distraction-free – The fact cannot be denied that in the present times there is no lack of distracting elements and this often leads to divided attention. For proper and clear understanding of a subject it is important to have a distraction-free environment which definitely helps in knowledge retention but also improves the efficiency of the session. When training in a virtual environment, the headset cuts off the learner from the surrounding distractions and immerses them in the subject of interest, creating a hundred percent devoted session.

Realistic and relatable – To perform in the real-world, training must be such that the learner can relate it to real-life scenarios. It is only then that acquired knowledge can be applied at the appropriate instance. How does a fire-fighter learn to act and react on the job? Learning and practicing in a realistic virtual set up presents the trainee with possible hazards and offers opportunities to react to each and witness the result. Mistakes can serve as learnings and promote improved performance.

Practicing fire-safety drills in VR provide a realistic setup, with zero-risks attached.

Surveys and results are repeatedly being carried out to gauge the effectiveness of VR training and the outcomes are very promising. According to a recent PWC report, VR learners are more focused and more confident in applying their learnings in real-life scenarios, compared to classroom training and traditional eLearning. And this cannot be achieved without efficient knowledge retention.

Quelle:

Virtual Reality Training for Improved Knowledge Retention

12. Oktober 2021 0 comment

Knowledge Research

How Immersive Learning Can Increase Employee Engagement and Retention

The days of hiring rock star employees and keeping them for decades are long gone, as evidenced by Akumina’s 2019 “Millennial Manager Survey,” which found that 40% of millennial managers have had four or more jobs since high school and that 75% of millennials believe changing jobs regularly has helped their careers.

While job-hopping may benefit workers in some ways, the practice is detrimental to the companies that serve as stepping stones on the path to greener pastures. For starters, turnover is expensive. Work Institute estimates that turnover costs employers 33% of an employee’s annual salary. If an employee who earns $60,000 per year decides to leave, this statistic suggests, the business will need to fork over as much as $19,800 on recruiting and training costs to replace that employee. Turnover can also negatively impact productivity and the customer experience, further damaging the bottom line.

Making matters worse, many companies are experiencing hiring freezes and budget cuts in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many are also fully remote right now, which may bode poorly for employers, as a Gartner survey found that employees who never work remotely are 13% more likely to show “high intent to stay with their current employer.”

In the past, companies could usually retain workers by increasing salaries. Unfortunately, this practice is no longer guaranteed to work. A 2019 survey by The Muse found that 58% of young workers are willing to switch jobs for training and learning opportunities or an improved work/life balance, ahead of compensation. In other words, while money may help increase employee retention, it’s not always enough.

To reduce attrition, companies must rethink the employee experience and adapt to changing employee expectations along their entire journey. Offering more engaging and innovative learning and development (L&D) programs is one of the most effective — and often overlooked — ways to invest in employees and keep them from moving on.

How L&D Can Boost Employee Retention

The sweet spot for L&D is aligning employees with the organization’s specific goals and expectations — while providing them with the skills they need to do their jobs and empowering them to be on track to advance. Finding this sweet spot and putting it into practice can be effective in improving retention.

By providing continuous training and learning opportunities for employees, organizations can enable them to be more effective, more capable of adapting to change and more apt to stick around for these three reasons:

1. Elevating Workplace Performance

An L&D program identifies skills gaps and provides workers with the knowledge and feedback they need to perform at a higher level. It can reduce or eliminate negative performance reviews while increasing an employee’s self-confidence. For example, a sales professional may use L&D to identify weaknesses in his or her sales process and as a result, close more deals — leading to more consistent returns and stronger overall outcomes.

2. Increasing Engagement

One of the top reasons employees leave an organization is due to a lack of engagement — emotional and energetic commitment to the organization and its objectives. L&D programs keep employees motivated, interested in and prepared for their jobs, and focused on continuous improvement.

Innovative L&D programs can also influence and nurture a strong company culture. For example, if a company has a goal of having a people-centered culture, it’s important that its employees (both new and old) have training and development opportunities that clearly outline and reinforce this goal. L&D programs keep employees motivated, interested in and prepared for their jobs.

3. Empowering Advancement

Another reason employees leave is because they don’t feel like they have the ability or opportunity to advance at the organization. L&D programs empower employees, helping them grow, discover their true value and build the skills they need to advance.

The value of L&D in empowering employees’ advancement cuts across all industries and roles. Office employees may be looking to learn how to build and nurture leadership capabilities so they can take on more management roles, while frontline workers may be looking for reskilling or upskilling opportunities so they can stay sharp as new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) automate certain functions of their role.

L&D programs that address these opportunities are a key differentiator for organizations, offering an employee experience more clearly focused on personal growth and career advancement. Such a structured program is also preferable to the alternative: an employee who asks for a promotion before he or she is ready and then doesn’t receive it — which can foster resentment and negatively impact self-esteem.

Passive Versus Active Learning

Before moving forward with an L&D program, decision-makers should assess the different types of learning methods available to employees. Many organizations are still utilizing outdated and ineffective techniques that center around passive learning.

In a passive learning model, people receive information from training modules or instructors and are asked to internalize it (e.g., reading handbooks, watching videos or listening to presentations). While this approach may give some employees basic knowledge and terminology, it may not actually teach them how to execute new skills.

On the other hand, active learning asks learners to engage with the material, employing techniques like group projects, role playing, peer teaching, debates and (at it’s best) Immersive Learning experiences. Active learning requires learners to think critically and actually practice executing new skills on their own.

Another key difference between the learning models is in how they assess learners and give them feedback. Passive learning assessments tend to have questions that test memory and recall, not skills proficiency. Active learning not only provides immediate feedback to learners as they practice, but it also provides key moments of reflection, so learners can solve problems on their own and figure out how to improve.

Immersive Learning: Taking L&D to the Next Level

There is a growing body of evidence that advocates for expanding beyond traditional learning methods like PowerPoint presentations and video tutorials. More and more organizations are now leveraging immersive learning, which involves using virtual reality (VR) to engage employees and have them learn by doing. This approach is based on decades of neuroscience research and can increase employee engagement and knowledge retention while cutting training costs and time.

Here’s how it works: Virtual reality places employees into lifelike scenarios, where they practice new and/or challenging skills in an environment that’s realistic and safe. These scenarios can include everything from practicing soft skills for deescalating a high-pressure moment with an upset customer to training employees on how to use a new piece of machinery to ensuring that teams can execute the right elements and steps of a safety protocol.

Since organizations can customize modules to reflect the needs of the organization, immersive learning can provide any employees with a scalable, “flight-simulator” experience where they can engage in this active, learning-by-doing training approach. In addition, learners can receive immediate feedback if they answer questions incorrectly, which also helps them learn skills and retain information. As a result, immersive learning is able to increase a learner’s perceptual fidelity; provide unlimited mental “reps”; and, as a result, increase engagement and overall knowledge retention.

Through VR-enabled immersive learning, companies are creating impactful learning opportunities that resonate with employees and push them to new heights — increasing engagement, retention and performance across the entire business. The future is here, and it’s immersive. Through VR-enabled immersive learning, companies are creating impactful learning opportunities that resonate with employees.

Quelle:

How Immersive Learning Can Increase Employee Engagement and Retention

1. Dezember 2020 0 comment

Knowledge Research

How virtual reality can help improve employee retention

Why It Matters

At the Indiana Department of Child Services, CIO Kevin Jones tackled a persistent problem with new technology — and launched a data-centric transformation.

An Indiana state agency is taking a futuristic approach to an age-old challenge: employee retention.

The long-term vision for the Indiana Department of Child Services was to build a culture around business intelligence and data analytics to aid in better decision-making. Central to the effort is consolidating data silos, replacing a legacy case management system, and building new processes that better support the organization’s goals, said department CIO Kevin Jones in a presentation at the recent MIT Chief Data Officer and Information Quality Symposium.

The undertaking was significant, especially given the budgetary constraints of a state government agency. Jones needed a use case that would serve as a quick win to showcase the potential for data analytics and decision-making.

Attention quickly turned to staff turnover at the agency, which was increasingly problematic, with nearly 50% of staff leaving within their first two years of service.

As a classically trained systems engineer, Jones knew VR could assist on a number of fronts:

Help job candidates better understand what they were signing up for before accepting a position.
Assist human resources in making better informed hiring decisions.
Function as an immersive training platform for existing employees.
Provide the department with a baseline of performance metadata to evaluate employees, key processes, and core objectives.
Set the stage for further success in the department’s transition to a data-driven organization.

“The program has been a tremendous asset in showing what data can do and how it can enable transformation,” Jones said.

“Why are our people leaving?”

The Indiana Child Welfare Services agency employs around 5,000 people and was hiring around 1,500 new workers a year, but high levels of attrition were costing the agency close to $72 million annually.

The problem, Jones said, was that no one could get to the heart of the retention issue, most assuming it was salary-related. Using the evidence-based processes and data analytics model he was promoting, Jones’ team conducted surveys and collected data on departing employees to find out why they were leaving.

As it turned out, salary wasn’t at the top of the list. The primary reasons had to do with supervisor dissatisfaction and job responsibilities that didn’t match up to expectations, particularly around the experience of going into homes to assess clients’ living conditions and the impact they had on a child’s situation.

Using the Accenture Virtual Experience Solution, a virtual reality training system tailored for human services, Jones’ team was able to create a process that helped job candidates better understand what they were signing up for before accepting a position.

The system allowed candidates to simulate the experience of role-playing different scenarios in the field, including how they’d react in difficult home situations.

“It enables them to experience the emotion of being in there, seeing a mom high on drugs and a boyfriend who is drunk and a baby with a visible bruise,” Jones explained. “It lets them see if they can decide to leave her in the home or remove her from the home and justify the decision.”

VR not only helps potential employees discover if they are well-suited to the role, it assists HR in weeding out unsuitable candidates by providing a window into their behavior before initiating a formal offer.

Building better profiles

For existing employees, the simulations function as an immersive training platform, giving department veterans a chance to observe their own responses and providing opportunity for greater self-awareness, including potential bias.

By capturing metadata from these seasoned employees’ VR simulations, the team has the ability to create a baseline profile of someone most likely to stay in a child services role over time.

Beyond that, Jones’ team integrates the metadata with the agency’s case management system to start building analytics models and create business intelligence. The integration also allows a candidate’s simulation to be overlayed with one from a long-time employee to better evaluate their potential for the job as well as for overall group performance review and feedback.

“As we send people through simulations, we can see patterns in what they did and how those decisions affect the case,” Jones says. “It allows us to build a predictive case management plan that will transition 30 years of effectiveness and efficiency to a person who’s been here for 30 days.”

Piloting big results

Since implementing the VR program, the agency has managed to significantly reduce staff turnover. In one area of the state where the agency was experiencing 53% turnover, it put 119 people through the VR simulation, which reduced the number of job offers extended to 59 individuals. Of that number, 32 people accepted the post, and 26 remain employees today.

That meant the agency was able to reduce turnover among first-year employees in that region from 53% to 19%, Jones said. Overall, the agency is experiencing a little more than 19% staff turnover compared to the 50% it was dealing with 18 months ago, and VR is a huge part of that success story, Jones said.

For staff development, the VR experience has served as a way to deliver more efficient and effective training to existing employees while increasing their self-awareness. Almost half of those participating in the VR training (47%) said they were better equipped to reflect on how their own bias might impact decisions, 29% among more seasoned employees.

At the same time, 55% of overall participants said the training helped them better observe, inquire, and interpret behavior, and 81% confirmed it helped establish more realistic expectations of home visits.

“Let’s use data”

At a macro level, the success of the VR pilot has given the organization tangible proof points that evidence-based, data-driven processes can transform decision-making. Employees now have an understanding of the enterprise performance modeling Jones is committed to, and the gradual changes in culture have paved the way for the replacement of the legacy case management system, now slated for March 2021.

“It’s gotten us to the point where all the data we’ve been capturing on VR, employee sentiment, and all of our case management data is going to be on a single platform,” one purpose-built for enterprise performance management for an organization focused on child welfare, Jones said.

“It’s given our entire organization the ability to say ‘Let’s use data’ and stop talking about how `I think’ or how `I feel.’ It showed us exactly what we needed to do while solving the staff turnover problem.”

Quelle:

https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/how-virtual-reality-can-help-improve-employee-retention

27. Oktober 2020 0 comment

Knowledge Research

Study: Virtual Reality Training Better for Retention

The results are in – and the winner is virtual reality training.

According to a recent study by the University of Maryland, virtual reality training is more effective in recall accuracy than traditional desktop CBT (computer-based training). With a median recall accuracy percentage of 90.48 percent for immersive HMDs – head-mounted (virtual reality) displays – compared to desktop display’s 78.57 percent, the long-awaited study has further validated the efficacy of virtual reality training as a learning tool over traditional e-learning methods.

As the study’s abstract reads:

“Virtual reality displays, such as head-mounted displays (HMD), afford us a superior spatial awareness by leveraging our vestibular and proprioceptive senses, as compared to traditional desktop displays.”

The study’s findings are particularly important for employers in high-stakes verticals, where skills and safety training for workers represents a critical aspect of how those businesses function.

Put in the context of a standard grade scale, at 90+ percent recall, VR training would score in the A-range, while desktop computer training, at a shade below 79 percent, would be stuck back in the C’s.

When managing operations at a construction site, manufacturing plant, oil and gas pipeline, or other heavy industrial environment, a workforce recalling their training and performing their tasks consistently at an “A-level” would mean substantial gains in productivity, efficiency and, perhaps most critically, fewer mistakes that eat away at the bottom line or in worst-case scenarios, could even open the door for potential fines and litigation.

When talking about the ability of trainees and users to retain important information, it’s easy to see how these kind of numbers – an almost 12 percent improvement in median recall and an 8.8 percent improvement in overall recall accuracy – can make a sizable positive impact for enterprise users of VR training technology.

“This data is exciting in that it suggests that immersive environments could offer new pathways for improved outcomes in education and high-proficiency training”, said Amitabh Varshney, professor of computer science at the University of Maryland (UMD) and co-author of the study.

Beyond the findings, the UMD study itself is notable as data on the effectiveness of virtual reality training has been somewhat hard to come by, due to the newness of VR training, the number of variables involved in testing, and the difficulty in arranging for true “apples-to-apples” comparisons of the two learning methodologies, VR and CBT. But the research is finally catching up with the technology and the story it’s telling is a compelling one.

“By showing that virtual reality can help improve recall, it opens the door to further studies that look at the impact of VR-based training modules at all levels – from elementary school children learning astronomy to trauma residents acquiring the latest knowledge in lifesaving procedures,” Professor Varshney continued. “We believe the future of education and innovation will greatly benefit from the use of these new visual technologies.”

It won’t surprise you to learn that we at PIXO VR agree.

Thinking about how Virtual Reality Training could transform your business’ workforce?

Quelle:

Study: Virtual Reality Training Better for Retention

19. Juni 2020 0 comment

Knowledge Research

7 Key Elements Of VR Training To Boost Employee Engagement And Retention

Are you considering a VR training program for your workforce? In this article, I share 7 key elements of VR and reveal how it can be used to improve the employee engagement and retention seen at your company.

Adopting VR Training To Boost Employee Engagement And Retention

Today, when it comes to employee satisfaction in the workplace, employees consider professional development as important as the job they are doing. It’s important for companies to invest in their training programs in ways that distinguish them from the rest, and let staff members know they are valued.

VR training is an effective way to do this. This learning approach brings many advantages that help to boost employee engagement and retention, which are some of the hardest goals to achieve during training. As the hardware gets more affordable, companies are taking note and beginning to successfully incorporate VR into their training programs. Employees see companies that adopt cutting edge technology as those that are invested in their future. Read on to learn more about how VR can improve your training program and the benefits that can be gained by your employees.

1. Cost-Effectiveness Of Scalable And Measurable Hands-On Experience

VR brings the distinct advantage of providing learners a hands-on, immersive experience in a repeatable and scalable training program. Live demonstrations incur facilitator costs with each session, and there is no way to guarantee the learners of the previous session are getting the same quality of instruction as the next. With VR, you can uniformly train your entire team with one Virtual Reality course an infinite amount of times at no additional cost. You can be sure that all your employees are taught a particular procedure the way you intend while testing the mastery of certain skills with assessments throughout the training, thus improving employee engagement and retention. VR is also free from traditional live training costs that come in the form of physical training equipment and instructional supervisors.

2. Teaches Topics Where Theory-Based Approach Falls Short

Some training content can only be taught using a hands-on approach, particularly when the learner will be implementing the new information in a highly stressful environment. Accessing a learner’s proficiency with this type of information during training is a challenge if it is taught in a classroom or via other theory-based methods. How well a learner performs these tasks in a theoretical setting is not an accurate predictor of how well the learner will behave in an actual situation where there is a tremendous amount of pressure and chaos.

VR impacts employee engagement and retention here as well, as it recreates nearly an identical environment to which learners will be performing tasks in real life. This allows them to practice and learn from their mistakes without causing any real-world harm. In these virtual environments, learners must take all variables into consideration in order to complete the needed action, just as they would in reality.

STRIVR, A VR training company, has created a mine rescue training program in which the participant must make judgments based on ever-changing variables, like how much oxygen is available, in order to make the best decision possible based on the present situation. Learners successfully demonstrate their ability to perform these vital skills before ever being put into the field in harm’s way. Even live training would fall short at producing all of the factors one must take into account during an emergency, and the dangers of even attempting to replicate it would be significant.

The aviation field was one of the first industries to adopt VR training, using Virtual Reality to prepare their pilots for emergency procedures that would be too dangerous and costly to mimic in real life. While a mistake in the VR training could be a great learning moment for pilots, a mistake made in the real world could cost them their lives.

3. Free From Distraction

Learners tend to be easily distracted. VR has the ability to cut out any possible diversion and keep employee engagement high during your training. While your learner is wearing the VR headset, you are in complete control of what they pay attention to. Learners can’t glance at their phone every few minutes or daydream as they can in traditional training, in turn also increasing employee retention due to the heightened focus.

4. Memorable

VR technology can stimulate multiple senses at the same time, increasing the level of realism for the user. Your brain comprehends what you are seeing and hearing very closely to how you would perceive it in the real world. In an article published by Education Psychology Review, the authors explore how memory is anchored and strengthened with multi-sensory input. VR haptics add additional layers of sensory feedback, richening the experience. Through the use of controllers and wearable technology (like gloves, shoes, vests, or bodysuits), users get to feel aspects of the virtual environment through their sense of touch. Learners report their VR experience as feeling like something that actually happened to them, which concretes it in their memory and positively impacts the overall employee retention.

5. Makes Your Employees Feel Adequately Prepared For The Job

With low employee engagement and retention, an employee may not feel adequately prepared in their job role. This will often lead to an increase in frustration, and they will ultimately be more likely to quit. Employee turnover is one of the most costly factors for a company, and many cite an inadequate level of training as their reason for leaving. By allowing employees the ability to do the job in the virtual world, they will feel prepared to tackle their role in the real world.

Walmart has begun equipping each of its stores with VR headsets and an evolving Virtual Reality training library. Current topics range from Black Friday scenarios to a Pickup Tower simulation. Walmart US Academies Senior Director Andy Trainor has enjoyed the increase in employee confidence and retention that VR training has created, as well as the increase in training test scores. Interestingly, it has been shown that when associates who have not participated in VR training observe associates who have, they show improvement in customer relations skills.

6. Faster Than Traditional Methods

Companies across many industries have also turned to VR thanks to the proven decrease in training time needed to produce employees that are ready for duty. United Rentals, an equipment rental company, experienced a reduction in the time it takes to train their employees by half. With this learning approach, you have the ability to offer more employee engagement in a shorter period of time while also seeing improved employee retention with reduced training durations.

7. More Effective Than Traditional Methods

VR is more memorable than live training, which is another key reason it enhances employee retention. According to STRIVR, a company that creates VR learning experiences, learners who use VR retain 75% of what they are taught while methods like presentations have only a 10% retention rate.

Conclusion

When it comes to using VR training, there are many methods available that will allow you to boost your employee engagement and retention. VR training is quickly becoming one of the most powerful learning technologies and should be considered a major advantage for your company’s corporate learning strategy. If your company is ready to incorporate innovation that will enhance your employee engagement and retention, consider a VR training approach.

Quelle:

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https://elearningindustry.com/vr-training-employee-engagement-and-retention-boost-7-key-elements

16. April 2019 0 comment