VR is no longer a novelty.
It has shattered the boundaries of traditional training methods and has become an indispensable tool for organizations worldwide. Learning is no longer confined to the realm of click-through learning modules and dull lectures. VR has introduced an intersection where innovation meets education in the most engaging way possible.
As a result, productivity is soaring, onboarding time is plummeting, and employees are working unmatched safety standards in distribution centers – all thanks to VR.
By mirroring real-world work environments, VR provides learners with immersive, hands-on experience that directly translates into enhanced employee performance. That’s why VR has become the gold standard for warehouse training, with its influence spreading across other industries like aviation, healthcare, retail, and so many more.
We’ve only scratched the surface on some of VR’s biggest benefits for warehousing and the many ways big corporations can use the captivating content to help learners retain knowledge. From a bird’s eye view, leadership sees a training program that seamlessly scales with your organization, delivers unparalleled learning impact, and guarantees lightning-fast ROI. Sound too good to be true? The Fortune 500 don’t think so.
What Are The Top Benefits To Implementing VR Training?
Early adopters of custom VR programs have transformed their training practices and are already reaping the rewards. This is only the beginning of the satisfying sound of a domino effect, with a whopping 82% of executives at enterprise organizations expecting the metaverse to be an integral part of their business plans within the next three years. A revolutionary approach to business sustainability.
If you’re in the warehousing industry, it’s time to pay attention. All future signs point to VR corporate training. A staggering 42% of businesses are planning to use immersive technology to provide for onboarding and training purposes. The advantages of VR are undeniable, grounding its position as a long-term asset for immersive technology enthusiasts. It’s not a secret that Fortune 500 organizations have been strategically crafting training programs powered by virtual reality to outshine their biggest competitors. Now it’s your turn.
VR is no longer reserved for the elite few. With virtual reality creating new L&D standards in every industry, the market has introduced affordable ways to adopt the technology, making it accessible to organizations of all sizes.
As VR training continues to shape the future of corporate training, the question leadership teams are asking is: “Virtual Reality is here, but is it right for me?” This eBook will give you everything you need to know to join the conversation and prepare you to revolutionize your training program.
Let’s Dive In!
Top 3 Benefits of VR Training
1. Improved Safety
VR improves safety by allowing learners to practice recognizing hazards, perform safety procedures, and correct their mistakes as many times as they need – all within a controlled learning environment. The opportunity to practice performing these tasks is what makes experiential learning so effective.
Injury and death-related incidents plummet the prospects of any organization. The cost of injury per worker in 2020 was $44,000 per medically consulted injury and $1,310,000 per death. VR combats these challenges by building knowledge for employees to retain and mitigate safety risks with confidence.
By providing a controlled space for learners to make mistakes, VR promises a significant improvement in safety at your organization. Beyond that, the positive ripple effect proves to reduce turnover, boost morale, and enhance workflow efficiency. So how do these ideas play into employee performance?
2. Enhanced Performance
In the words of the legendary Mae West, “An ounce of performance is worth pounds of promises”. And let’s face it, employee performance matters when it comes to the overall success of your organization. But how do we get there? Consistency is key. VR training creates consistency in day-to-day performance and consistent performance among your employees.
VR allows organizations to measure individual employee performance during training. With VR training designed with learning principles in mind, you’ll experience a feedback-driven learning process that is nothing short of a superpower. This strategy builds long-lasting competence that pushes your organization forward. By evaluating performance through training metrics delivered on an easy-to-use dashboard, training mistakes can be caught early on and corrected before their first day on the job.
While the experiential nature of VR training provides feedback keeping employees one step ahead, it also delivers learning engagement like no other. By mastering the science of learning, VR motivates and transforms the performance of your workforce. It offers a realistic preview into their future role and gives them the tools to develop skillsets 4x faster than in traditional classroom settings.
The first step towards improving operational efficiency is investing in employee learning. Enhance your workforce’s performance and meet your organizational goals with one training tool. Everyone wins!
3. Reduced Turnover
Employee retention continues to be a legitimate concern for organizations, with 232,000 workers leaving their transportation, warehousing, and utilities industries in January 2023 alone. Why? A perfect blend of generational differences, lackluster onboarding practices, the rise of quiet quitting and job hopping, and cultural shifts induced by post pandemic aftershocks like the great resignation.
While 20% of turnover happens in the first 45 days, 69% of employees are more likely to stay with a company for three years if they experience a quality onboarding experience. That’s where the magic of VR comes into play.
New hires earn their sea legs through an accessible, tactile training experience fostered by VR onboarding. By closing the skill gaps and reinforcing standard work practices, all new hires enter their journey at the same starting point. With the confidence and knowledge gained from VR onboarding, they are well equipped to perform their jobs with competence and security.
The Latest Trend in VR Training: Off-The-Shelf Content
As XR training continues to shape innovative business models, technology has become central to learning and development. The digital revolution within warehouses goes far beyond automation. It’s reshaping the ways adult learning can impact an organization.
Let’s talk about XR training’s hottest trend: off-the-shelf (OTS) VR content. With VR’s more accessible, organizations are embracing the “buy over build” strategy of off-the-shelf VR content.
It’s hard to disagree with the popular catchphrase; time is money. And custom VR training, although curated for specific needs, can be a lengthy process. Choosing off-the-shelf content doesn’t compromise the quality of your training; it simply gets what you need into your hands sooner. It’s like craving artisan baked goods from your favorite local shop because you want two things: quality and convenience. The same applies here. If you had the time to bake it yourself, you would!
Off-the-shelf ensures that innovation doesn’t have to come with a hefty price tag. As VR gains traction in various industries, accessibility is improving and growing. OTS training is perfect for organizations looking to train their employees in foundational topics. Considered a “straight out of the box” solution, off-the-shelf training offers convenient, on-demand training programs created by expert instructional designers and XR developers.
There’s more! XR training programs bring the added bonus of real-time performance measurement and evaluation, which means you don’t need custom programs to enjoy the perks. Training management systems like Mercury XRS are ready to support your OTS VR content, capturing valuable data that tells a story. From completion rates to training errors, Mercury paints a vivid picture of progress. Integration with any learning management system (LMS) allows for seamless reporting, analysis, and delivery of OTS VR content.
Innovative learning solutions shake up the status quo – but that doesn’t mean it’s here to replace traditional training. In fact – blended learning solutions that incorporate XR training are the most common and effective ways to adopt VR technology. Off-the-shelf training helps organizations meet their goals while building a library of training content that nurtures an innovative company culture.
Now, what you came for…
The secrets of easy VR adoption to jumpstart innovative training practices at your organization.
3 Easy Ways to Adopt VR Training
1. Onboarding with VR Training
Imagine the excitement, engagement, and motivation an organization can inspire by allowing new hires to onboard through virtual reality. By adopting VR for your onboarding, you can set your organization apart from others and stand out to new hires as a forward-facing, tech-savvy organization on day one.
VR technology takes the onboarding experience to a new level by helping learners orient to their new environment, learn the procedures of their role, and absorb the company culture by immersing them in a realistic, sensory-rich simulation. This is especially true for the digital-native younger workforce, whose learning experiences are deeply rooted in digital technology.
VR creates an innovative onboarding process that invites new hires to explore their new environment safely and familiarize themselves. For example, an Off-The-Shelf warehousing overview allows new hires to immerse themselves in a realistic warehouse environment to help them adjust to their new role or preview a job they’re applying for. This level of realistic exposure to the job also helps weed out employees that may be subject to turnover.
While getting new hires up to speed, it’s almost inevitable that production slows down. From the new hire to the training supervisor and the co-worker filling the gap – each salary is a further cost to the organization with a slower pace of work. VR delivers a consistent training experience so that your incoming workforce can operate from the same starting point. An onboarding program is a first impression without re-dos. VR is a great way to not only leave an unforgettable mark of opportunity, but truly effective learning outcomes.
2. Safety Training with VR
Safety is the most obvious and favored use case for VR as its track record of influence speaks for itself.
We all know safety skills are non-negotiable, but training employees while keeping them out of harm’s way is no easy task. When adults learn safety in VR, they experience life-like exposure to threats through virtual simulations that help them retain knowledge on prevention and maintaining safe standards of work.
The best part? Off-the-shelf safety training can be universally utilized, making it a game-changer, especially for environments like warehouses and distribution centers where workers are most susceptible to safety incidents.
And while the last thing a new hire will describe themselves as is injury-prone, warehouse workers are the most susceptible workforce to safety incidents. Whether it’s preventing slips, trips, and falls, along with other safety protocols, VR equips employees with the skills they need to operate efficiently and mitigate risks.
3. Shipping & Receiving in VR
Shipping and receiving are complex, time-sensitive tasks that rely on human skills that can be honed to perfection in a virtual learning environment. VR guides learners through the intricacies of daily operations, allowing them to practice decision making, fine-tune organization skills, and enhance workflow without disrupting the flow of actual goods.
From picking and packing to scanning, sorting and loading, VR provides an immersive training experience where every detail matters. You can even practice proper lifting techniques, building a solid foundation for success.
Is VR for My Organization? OTS vs. Custom Content
Off The Shelf
Let’s start with off-the-shelf training. OTS will open doors for your organization by minimizing economic risks associated with integrating innovative training solutions. With an accessible entry point, you can quickly build your own library of XR learning content. The people at your organization will be thrilled!
It’s a fast-paced world we are living in, so the convenience of quickly delivered XR training is a game changer. Once you’ve built your library of OTS content, you’ll have a clear understanding of what you want to customize and where your essential investment should be focused.
Custom VR Training Content
Custom VR training content is like a fingerprint of your business. With any product, learning solution, or experience, nothing quite compares to the uniqueness and tailored approach of custom VR. With custom programs, you can craft training content to meet the specific needs of your business and reflect your brand identity.
VR is most effective when it comes to mastering complex or detailed tasks, so if you’re looking to make VR training a staple of your organization, it’s wise to start planning those custom programs. While the timeline for custom development is longer than OTS, VR has the capability to mirror the unique qualities of your training environment, taking your training to a whole new level of effectiveness.
So, where does your organization fall in the timeline of deciding between the two?
There are so many use cases that can go either way, so let’s explore the different situations where OTS or custom may be the best fit.
Undecided? Start Small!
Interested in VR but don’t want to go all-in? We get it! Custom projects deliver incredible results, but they involve a significant commitment. There’s no need to risk it all when OTS offers the same level of excellence without the high stakes.
With off-the-shelf VR, your decision-making has more than one leg to stand on.
- Lower-priced entry point: You don’t have to break the bank to get started.
- Rapid learning: VR learners get up to speed for their jobs 4x faster than traditional learning methods.
If you’re undecided about whether or not it’s the right time to adopt VR, you should first consider what kind of training you need. Is it universal or unique to your organization? For example, techniques like pallet stacking is universal, so there’s no need to reinvent the wheel. That’s where OTS VR is a great fit.
What can you expect from OTS that Custom VR can’t compete with? Speed. In as little as two weeks you can be up and running with OTS VR training content, offering a quick and easy way to dip your toes into the world of VR.
Already Went Custom? Expand Your Library!
Congratulations on being a trailblazer in the world of virtual reality training! You went custom, so now you have zero doubts about the future of VR and you’re ready for more. So – what’s the problem?
Maintaining a vibrant learning culture means keeping the content flowing and avoiding disruptions to the new flow of energy VR has brought to your organization. The last thing you want is for a good thing to end.
You’ve already got the equipment and your workforce is eagerly awaiting their next virtual learning experience. Build an expansive library of VR content and introduce foundational skills with ready-made VR content.
If you’re looking to enhance what you are doing with VR, OTS is easy to integrate into your existing program. Keep the momentum going and take your VR training to the next level!
Impatient? Get a Quick Fix!
Whoever said “patience is a virtue” wasn’t running an organization in 2023. With distribution centers operating at warp speed, there’s no room for delays if you need to keep up with the demands of e-commerce.
Do you have concerns that needed to be addressed yesterday? If your challenges are spilling over the brim, impatience will eventually make itself known. Luckily, your urgency may be the key to your future success.
OTS is the ultimate plug-and-play solution that delivers instant results. While custom takes anywhere from 3-9 months to develop, off-the-shelf content allows businesses to cut corners and improve their existing training program without sacrificing speed or effectiveness.
“I Don’t Buy It… Show Me The Proof!”
I’ll believe it when I see it… said every person with reasonable doubt about something new. Innovative ideas can sometimes come across as idealistic, and you want tangible evidence before committing to VR.
VR hasn’t made its way into your training ecosystem just yet. Maybe your organization is slow to adopt new technology, or for practical reasons – you want to see it work first. You’re not impatient; you simply understand the value of time. If you want results now, there’s a faster, more accessible way to adopt VR.
Off-the-shelf is your low-risk entry point to transform your training program with immersive technology. You can drive results with OTS as soon as two weeks from the time you give the green light. Once you adopt VR, everything else speeds up, too. Walmart reported 54% reduction in training time using VR training content – not to mention a 10-15% increase in employee performance.
Positive user feedback is leading VR’s corporate training accomplishments. It is the upswing of learning impact and re-skilling that keep organizations thriving. In a recent employee survey, 90% of VR users reported an increased understanding of policy and procedures. But the results aren’t just business reports. Researchers from University of Maryland confirm that people remember information better when they learn through virtual reality platforms.
Still Not Convinced?
VR is more than just a shiny new toy in the tech world. It has become central to learning and development. Virtual reality training enhances onboarding and reduces accidents and turnover – saving your organization time and money.
Want to deliver measurable results? VR is the ultimate learning tool for corporate training. As learning technology continues to advance- VR bridges the theoretical concepts of high-risk tasks with the real-life consequences of performing them.
Immersive learning is driving innovation in the booming warehousing industry, acting as a key player in front-line employee performance. Whether you decide to pursue a custom training program or shop off-the-shelf content, adopting VR will open new doors of possibility in your organization.
Empower your workforce and reap the benefits! The headsets are here to stay, and your workforce will thank you. At Roundtable Learning, we partner with clients to bridge the gap between existing training strategies and the future of learning. Learn more about your next steps for adopting VR.
