We recently caught up with our friends at VRCraftworks– an immersive agency specialising in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and 360 content.
It’s fascinating to hear how quickly the technology is moving – imagine trying on the new trainers you want to buy, without leaving your home. Or stepping into your new home extension before the work has even begun.
And it wasn’t long before we got onto the subject of employee engagement and EX and how virtual reality is opening up a whole new world of possibilities.
Jack, we’re seeing more examples of VR replacing video in internal comms strategies – especially at events. What do you think VR can offer that video can’t?
Video’s great, but this is the difference between showing people something new vs them actually experiencing it. Not only is it more fun, exciting and engaging, it also helps the retention of information.
We tested this with one of our clients. They needed to deliver training to their employees, so decided to split them into two groups. The first group used traditional training methods – videos, classroom work and a lotof PowerPoint. The second group used virtual reality.
After their training, each group was given a test. Whilst the VR group had said they enjoyed the training more, there wasn’t actually much difference in the scores. However, when the test was repeated 6 months later, the group who’d used VR scored significantly higher than those who had used the traditional training methods.
Wow, that’s a great result for VR! So, are you finding VR is increasingly being used for training?
Yes, another great example is when I worked with a defence company. Their induction training had always consisted of two weeks intensive classroom training. They had a lot of important processes and procedures that they had to include – but two weeks of PowerPoint and online tests just wasn’t landing. So, we created a new programme using VR and a number of ‘Bandersnatch’ (choose your own adventure) style scenarios. This meant employees could actually see the consequences if policies and procedures weren’t followed, rather than just being told, do this, or don’t do that.
And VR isn’t just being used in training and comms is it? We’re hearing stories of employers using VR in recruitment now.
Absolutely, a big Pharma company ran a recruitment drive and used AR to show potential employees what it actually felt like to work there. There was a tour, as well as information on their values and the overarching purpose there.
VR is being used across the entire employee lifecycle now.
You’ve mentioned recruitment and employee inductions – I’d love to hear more about how else VR and AR is supporting employee engagement.
I guess there are two examples that immediately spring to mind.
Firstly, there’s a well-known coffee chain who used a Facebook AR experience for a whole number of employee initiatives. They used it to show how to make all the different types of coffee (training using AR), they used it for reward and recognition (you’d be given rewards for completing tasks) and they used it to share interesting facts about the brand and its history – all helping to build brand awareness, which employees went on to share with their customers.
Secondly, there’s another leading drinks brand, who have sub-brands all over the world. They use their AR app like a more digitally advanced version of ‘who’s who’. You can spin a globe and filter down into different regions, into the sub-brands, all the way down through to the teams where you can ‘meet’ the individuals working there. It was a really fantastic way to bring people together, as well as helping employees know, who does what, and from where, across the whole world.
The possibilities really are endless, but do these immersive experiences mean employees need special equipment, headsets and consoles to be able to get involved?
Not at all! This technology is more accessible than ever before. You don’t need fancy headsets or special games consoles – if you prefer, you can simply use your smart phone and a cardboard headset! And with 5G around the corner, it’ll open up new opportunities to be able to stream quickly and easily straight off your web browser.
If you’d like to hear more please visit the VRCraftworks website or contact Jack Maddalena at jack.m@vrcraftworks.com.
Left to right: Nick Slack (Head of Development), Peter Maddalena (Managing Director), Jack Maddalena (Sales and Community Manager)
