The Pivotal Moment
Currently, five generations are working together, each with its own expectations and values that need to be addressed. To retain talent and build a workforce ready for the future, companies must understand and meet the diverse needs of each generation.
What marked a pivotal moment in the labor market was the Great Resignation, which began as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when many people were forced to reconsider their priorities, work-life balance, and overall job satisfaction. Starting in 2021 in the U.S. and, gradually spreading to Europe, millions of workers began voluntarily leaving their jobs in search of better opportunities, flexibility, or careers that better aligned with their values. The labor market changed for good and these changes are crucial for employee satisfaction. Without them, the risk of losing talent increases dramatically.
Therefore, today more than ever, it’s vital to focus on providing a successful and engaging employee experience. Companies must use all available channels to connect with the different generations, ensuring they deliver the changes employees are seeking.
In a similar way to how the Digital Employee Experience and the Digital Workplace have started to define new ways of working, new technologies like VR are creating new opportunities to enhance collaboration, communication, and trainings for employees. VR can be more impactful than other digital experiences, offering a more engaging employee experience while also providing benefits such as significant cost reductions and improved employee skills.
Let’s dive into the top 5 VR applications that can help maximize employee engagement.
VR Onboarding Processes
Organizations are increasingly recognizing the potential of VR technologies to create seamless and collaborative onboarding processes. It has been proven that this part of the employee journey can be crucial for the long-term engagement, which is why it deserves a more focused approach.
Certain aspects of the onboarding process can be guided VR experiences that ensure consistent messaging for all employees. This approach makes it possible to deliver a standardized experience across various locations, with the ability to reinforce and adapt content as needed.
Onboarding experiences could be gamified, enabling organizations to create memorable moments that reinforce their values, practices, and goals while providing a unified and engaging message. By incorporating gamification elements, companies can ensure that new hires connect with their company's culture in a fun and interactive way.
Organizations can also integrate a VR presentations where top company speakers share valuable insights, regardless of their location. This provides a dynamic and impactful way to connect new employees with the company's knowledge and values, while also offering the opportunity for employees to ask questions and gain deeper insights.
A great example for airline companies would be to offer new employees an immersive experience that introduces them to the company's history, mission, values, and culture. Through a virtual tour, they could explore key areas such as terminals, hangars, aircraft cabins, and maintenance areas in any location in the world, providing a comprehensive understanding of the work environment. This hands-on, interactive approach helps new hires feel connected to the company's culture while giving them valuable insights into the day-to-day operations, all from the comfort of their own location. It's an engaging way to set the tone for their journey within the company right from the start.
VR serves as a powerful new channel for creating a memorable touchpoint in the employee journey. However, it's important to remember that when combined with in-person onboarding activities and other digital channels, VR can offer an effective and holistic approach to engage employees from all generations, making the onboarding process more inclusive and reinforcing the overall experience.
VR Trainings & Simulations
VR-powered training is not a new concept, but its potential to enhance employee engagement continues to grow. Organizations are increasingly adopting VR technology to provide more immersive and interactive learning experiences that go beyond traditional in-person trainings or simulations.
VR training allows employees to practice skills in a near-realistic environment, creating hands-on learning opportunities that would be difficult or costly to replicate in-person. This technology enables imulations that are tailored to specific job roles, enhancing the training process and making it more engaging for employees.
One exciting opportunity is the integration of AI with VR training, creating smarter and more personalized learning experiences. For example, Smart NPCs (Non-Player Characters) equipped with chatbot capabilities can engage in real-time, human-like conversations, simulating customer interactions or emergency situations. Digital Assistants can provide on-demand support during training, helping employees whenever they need guidance. These innovations allow for a more dynamic, responsive training environment that boosts employee engagement by offering relevant, real-time assistance.
For airline employees, VR can provide highly engaging simulations that prepare them for common, high-pressure situations such as emergency management (like evacuations or turbulence), handling difficult customer interactions, or coordinating ramp operations under challenging conditions. These experiences give employees the confidence and skills to navigate critical scenarios safely and efficiently.
Another key application of VR in employee engagement is its integration with corporate Learning Management Systems (LMS). VR training can be seamlessly connected to LMS platforms, allowing organizations to track employee progress, measure skills acquired, and tailor future learning experiences. This data can be invaluable for Learning & Development (L&D) teams, helping them identify talent gaps, optimize training programs, and enhance employee growth, ultimately leading to improved engagement and retention.
VR Corporate Events
Corporate events in VR spaces are also gaining popularity as a powerful way to engage employees across the globe. Unlike traditional conferencing tools, VR events create a sense of presence that helps attendees stay focused and immersed, eliminating distractions and ensuring a more impactful experience.
As VR events continue to evolve, they are being integrated with broader digital workplace solutions to enhance the overall employee experience. Key features that are revolutionizing VR corporate events include:
- Live streaming with real-time virtual production: VR events now allow for seamless live streaming with high-quality production, enabling businesses to broadcast speakers, presentations, and real-time content across global teams.
- Scalable events: VR events can now support scaling, enabling businesses to broadcast to multiple virtual instances simultaneously. This makes it possible to engage large numbers of employees in a seamless experience, regardless of location.
- Enhanced avatar expressions and reactions: By adding realistic avatar expressions and emotions, employees can interact more dynamically, providing live feedback and creating a more engaging and social event atmosphere.
One great example of a VR corporate event for airlines companies is a Virtual Aircraft Tour. During a global launch, employees across the world could enter a virtual hangar, where they get to explore a newly unveiled aircraft. This immersive experience allows them to walk through the cabin, examine the interior and exterior designs. Offering such an engaging and interactive experience, generates excitement and strengthens employee engagement. It also brings employees together, no matter their location, and helps them connect to the company's innovations in a memorable and impactful way.
VR Collaborative Spaces
Creating virtual spaces for collaboration is another powerful application of VR technology that, when applied in the right contexts, can greatly enhance employee engagement. While VR has been used for meetings for some time, the concept of a VR Workplace goes beyond traditional meetings, enabling employees to conduct creative research and collaborative work within an immersive virtual environment.
For airline companies, this could mean creating virtual environments for team meetings, or even cross-departmental collaboration. For example, a team of ground crew employees based in different airports around the world coming together in a VR space to collaboratively solve complex logistical challenges or discuss new procedures for safety protocols. They could interact as if they were in the same room, examining digital models of aircraft or baggage handling systems, all within a virtual setting that feels more connected than a traditional conference call.
In a VR Workplace, the focus of employees is sharpened, as they are fully immersed and free from distractions like mobile phones, notifications, or emails. This heightened concentration makes VR an ideal tool for sessions where attention is crucial, such as agile daily meetings or strategic planning sessions in airlines. Unlike traditional desktop conferencing systems, where attendees might easily get distracted with other tasks, a VR environment keeps participants engaged and fully present.
However, to create a truly effective VR Workplace experience, new tools need to be integrated. Features such as note-taking, content sharing, and dynamic collaboration boards will need to be added to overcome the current limitations of VR devices. Additionally, seamless integration with digital workplace platforms like Office 365 is essential to ensure that VR can function as a cohesive part of the broader digital ecosystem.
VR Recruitment
VR Recruitment is the final, but by no means the least impactful, application on our list of game-changing tools to maximize employee engagement. VR application in recruitment processes is transforming how companies evaluate candidates' technical skills, soft skills, and decision-making abilities, making hiring more efficient and engaging for all involved.
For airlines, this technology can offer a tailored recruitment process that immerses candidates in realistic, high-pressure scenarios. For example, a candidate applying for a cabin crew position might enter a VR platform and be greeted by an avatar that explains the dynamics of a simulation and its objectives. The simulation could recreate an in-flight emergency, such as sudden turbulence or a medical crisis, requiring the candidate to assess the situation, communicate effectively with passengers, and collaborate with team members to resolve the issue. This approach evaluates their ability to remain calm under pressure, follow procedures, and provide excellent customer service.
At the end of the simulation, the system generates a detailed report highlighting the candidate's strengths and areas for improvement. This provides recruiters with objective insights into their analytical, organizational, and interpersonal skills, enabling informed decisions about potential hires.
By integrating virtual reality into recruitment, airlines can not only enhance the candidate experience but also streamline their talent selection processes. This approach represents a significant step toward modern, efficient hiring practices while fostering a stronger connection with future employees from their very first interaction.
With VR technology more accessible and affordable than ever, and standalone devices offering seamless usability, the tools are ready to revolutionize employee engagement. Modern organizations have a unique opportunity to embrace VR as a transformative channel, enriching the employee journey and redefining how they connect, train, and collaborate in the workplace.