VR Working at Heights

03:42 runtime
Warehousing, Safety & Compliance
October 2026

Overview

What You'll See in This Demo

This demo shows how a Fortune 10 retailer uses VR to answer one question before hiring for a demanding role: is this person comfortable working 90 feet in the air? In the client’s new automated facilities, some roles require climbing up to 90 feet to do part of the job. Before VR, candidates learned about the role through a facility walkthrough, SOPs, and photos, and some only found out they were afraid of heights partway up the ladder. That turned into a rescue call and a stopped system. The VR working at heights simulation puts candidates in a harness and headset and has them make the full climb while their feet never leave the ground. Facilitators watch how each person reacts, and candidates get an honest look at the job before day one. Now part of the client’s pre-hire process, it leads two to three out of every 10 candidates to decide the role isn’t the right fit.

Whether you’re in talent acquisition, operations leadership, or safety and L&D, this approach shows how VR can work as a realistic job preview that protects your people, your uptime, and your hiring investment.

Key Learning Objectives

Give candidates a realistic preview of climbing up to 90 feet before they accept the role

Gauge each candidate's comfort and reaction at height in a safe, controlled setting

Help candidates self-select out of roles that aren't a fit, and toward other roles in the operation

Prevent on-the-job freezes that trigger rescue calls and pull extra crews off the floor

Protect uptime by avoiding stoppages that turn a 20 to 30 minute fix into an hour or more of lost picking

Go beyond walkthroughs, SOPs, and photos with an experience people can actually feel

FAQ

Common Questions

Can VR be used for working at heights training?+

Yes. VR can recreate the physical and mental experience of working at height without anyone leaving the ground. In this program, the goal wasn't to teach fall protection procedures. It was to let people find out how they react at 90 feet before that happens on a real ladder. The same kind of simulation can also be paired with procedure-based training when a role calls for both.

What is a VR realistic job preview?+

A realistic job preview shows candidates what a role actually involves before they commit to it. Most previews rely on videos, photos, or a facility tour, which show the job but can't make you feel it. A VR job preview puts candidates inside the hardest part of the role, so both the candidate and the employer learn whether it's a fit before the first shift.

How does a VR job preview reduce hiring costs and downtime?+

For this client, a mismatch didn't show up in an interview. It showed up 90 feet in the air, with equipment stopped and a rescue underway, sometimes with fire and rescue called in. Now two to three out of every 10 candidates decide in VR that the role isn't for them. That means fewer mis-hires, fewer emergency calls, and systems that stay online instead of going down for an hour or more.

Is VR realistic enough to test someone's comfort with heights?+

Yes. Candidates wear a harness and a headset, and even though they can feel their feet on the ground, their mind reacts as if they're climbing. Some people make it to the top with no issue. Others get partway up and realize the role isn't right for them. That reaction is exactly what the preview is designed to surface, safely.

What other roles could benefit from a VR job preview?+

Any role where the environment itself is the hardest part to explain: elevated work, confined spaces, cold storage, loud or fast-paced production floors, or equipment-heavy jobs. If new hires regularly leave or struggle once they see the real conditions, a VR preview can show them those conditions before anyone commits.

How do we explore building a VR job preview or working at heights program for our organization?+

Every program Roundtable Learning builds is custom-designed around your roles, your facilities, and the moments where new hires struggle most. Watch the demo to see what's possible, then connect with our team to talk through what a solution could look like for your organization.

Transcript

Video Transcript

00:00 | Climbing 90 Feet on Day One

You have to climb up to 90 feet in the air. They would start climbing the ladder, and suddenly at that time they would realize, “Oh, I’m afraid of heights.” They would freak out, and it would turn into a rescue mission for that team on site.

00:12 | Simulating What It’s Like to Work at Heights

So in this project, we developed a program to simulate what it’s like to work at heights. This was for a very large retail client of ours.

00:24 | The Challenge: Climbing Roles in Automated Facilities

They came to us with a problem. In their new automated facilities, they have roles where you have to climb up to 90 feet in the air to perform a certain part of your job function. What they were finding is that folks applying for this role would start climbing the ladder, and suddenly at that time they would realize, “Oh, I’m afraid of heights.” They would freak out, and it would turn into a rescue mission for that team on site.

00:56 | Building a VR Working at Heights Simulation

So what we did is build a VR program that would simulate that experience. You’re in a harness, you put on the headset, and suddenly you’re climbing up to 90 feet in the air.

01:08 | How VR Tricks the Mind

With the use of VR, it’s playing such a trick on your mind that even though we’re standing and can feel our feet on the ground, I start climbing and my mind thinks I’m climbing.

01:19 | Using VR as a Job Preview Tool

At that point, we can gauge the user’s reaction. Are they okay climbing up? Can they make it to the top? We’ve had people go through it, get partway up, and start freaking out. So it’s been a great job preview tool to figure out: is that person a fit for that role, or should we be finding them another role within the operation?

01:39 | How the Role Was Previewed Before VR

The previous training was done with a facility walkthrough. They have some SOPs and some pictures that they operate from.

01:51 | The Real Cost of a Bad Fit: Downtime and Rescue Calls

The big challenge prior to this training was that if they hired that individual, the first time they went out on the job and figured out they weren’t a fit, something had gone wrong within that warehouse and with that equipment. That equipment has stopped running and producing revenue for that facility. The individual would go out there, start climbing, freeze, and call for help. So from a dollar and time loss standpoint, that equipment is going to be down for an extended period of time because folks need to be called in. In some cases, it was calling fire and rescue, because they may not have the ability internally to rescue that person if they’re frozen. You’re calling in extra crews for help, and that’s creating a commotion within the warehouse. On top of that, a system that, in a best-case scenario, would be back online in 20 to 30 minutes is now going to be down for at least an hour, if not more, instead of picking a customer’s or store’s order. That time loss and loss of productivity was a training challenge that needed to be solved, which is why VR was such a great solution for it.

03:12 | Results: VR in the Pre-Hire Process

Now they’ve implemented it as part of their pre-hire process. Anywhere between two or three people out of 10 coming in will go through the program and say, “I’m not a fit for this.”

03:22 | How to Get Started with Roundtable Learning

If this project is relevant to you, or you want to learn how VR can be used in your organization, reach out to us. You can find us on our website, roundtablelearning.com. You can reach out to us on LinkedIn, and we also have a number of use cases on our YouTube channel under Roundtable Learning. So reach out to us there.