How Virtual Reality Is Revolutionizing Reskilling And Upskilling
VR can elevate employee training through interactive, true-to-life scenarios
Posted on 05-05-2021, Read Time: Min
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How do you give your employees opportunities to grow their existing skills and develop new ones? Well, with virtual reality (VR), you can reskill and upskill your workforce like never before through hands-on, realistic learning activities.
What Are Reskilling and Upskilling?
Reskilling and upskilling have the same meaning of learning new skills, but they have different purposes. Reskilling trains an employee in an entirely new skill or set of tasks to prepare them for a different role within their organization. Upskilling, on the other hand, advances the learner’s expertise in the same role they currently hold.
While organizations can reskill and upskill their employees through traditional methods, future learning technologies, such as VR, can elevate this training through interactive, true-to-life scenarios.
VR is used across several training topics to reskill and upskill employees, including:
While organizations can reskill and upskill their employees through traditional methods, future learning technologies, such as VR, can elevate this training through interactive, true-to-life scenarios.
VR is used across several training topics to reskill and upskill employees, including:
- Soft Skills Training – Soft skills training covers topics such as coaching and mentoring, handling conflict, and providing feedback. VR has become an increasingly popular tool for soft skills training because it simulates realistic interactions in a stress-free environment.
- Technical Training – Technical training is specific to an organization’s processes and includes tasks such as product assembly, pallet stacking, and equipment repair. With VR, learners are given digital re-creations of complex objects that they can explore holistically and take apart just as they would in real life.
- Safety Training – Safety training ensures employees are kept protected while on the job by training them in tasks such as maintenance and equipment repair. VR provides a risk-free environment where learners familiarize themselves with their organization’s safety protocols and practice safe habits when working with equipment.
The Importance of Reskilling and Upskilling Your Employees
Reskilling and upskilling employees benefit both the organization as a whole and the employee on an individual level.
On the organizational level, reskilling and upskilling are beneficial because they allow organizations to promote employees from within. This leads to less turnover and a shorter onboarding cycle since the employee is already familiar with the processes and structure of the organization. This way, the training can be solely focused on the specific tasks of their role rather than informing them on the organization’s history, values, etc.
For the employee, reskilling and upskilling are important because they teach them how to perform their current job functions in the most efficient way possible. In addition, employees are given the opportunity to align their new skills for potential promotions across different business units.
Reskilling and upskilling employees are critical to the success of an organization because they boost the bottom line by increasing employee productivity, engagement, and retention. When an organization invests in the development of their employees, each individual becomes a critical asset to the long-term success of the organization.
On the organizational level, reskilling and upskilling are beneficial because they allow organizations to promote employees from within. This leads to less turnover and a shorter onboarding cycle since the employee is already familiar with the processes and structure of the organization. This way, the training can be solely focused on the specific tasks of their role rather than informing them on the organization’s history, values, etc.
For the employee, reskilling and upskilling are important because they teach them how to perform their current job functions in the most efficient way possible. In addition, employees are given the opportunity to align their new skills for potential promotions across different business units.
Reskilling and upskilling employees are critical to the success of an organization because they boost the bottom line by increasing employee productivity, engagement, and retention. When an organization invests in the development of their employees, each individual becomes a critical asset to the long-term success of the organization.
Five Benefits of Using Virtual Reality for Reskilling and Upskilling
Reskilling and upskilling with VR come with the following five benefits:
- Create a safe learning environment – VR can simulate any real-life environment, allowing learners to take risks and learn from mistakes without damaging real-life equipment or affecting other employees or customers.
- Realistic technical skills practice – With VR, learners can perform technical tasks, including assembling products, operating complicated machinery, or making detailed repairs to equipment.
- Collect key training metrics – VR allows organizations to collect key training metrics, including how many times a learner repeats an activity, their body movements, and retinal eye tracking. With these metrics, organizations can pinpoint where improvements to the training need to be made and areas where learners need more instruction.
- Scalability – VR is scalable across any location. As long as learners are provided the equipment and materials they need, they can access their VR training program from anywhere at any time.
- Improve employee retention – With VR, learners perfect their skills before actually working on the job, instilling more confidence within them and creating more long-term employees.
Examples of Reskilling and Upskilling With Virtual Reality
Reskilling with VR – Caption: A member of the Immersive Learning team at Roundtable Learning is working through a VR activity.
In order to reskill warehouse employees, this experience teaches learners how to properly stack boxes on pallets. During this VR activity, learners experience all the real-life sights and sounds of the warehouse and have the opportunity to correct mistakes before stepping foot in their real work environment. This experience reskills employees by teaching them job functions relevant to their new role.
An example of upskilling with VR is training field technicians to set up a safe workplace and understand how to utilize multiple tools. Not only does this experience teach learners the basics of their role, but it also teaches them how to react in the event of an emergency, such as water filling the manhole or a gas leak. This way, employees can enhance their current understanding and gain new knowledge in their current role.
VR allows organizations to reskill and upskill their workforce with ease. Through hands-on activities completed from a safe environment, both learners themselves and their organizations can reap the benefits of reskilling and upskilling with VR.
Author Bio
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Jeff Suchan is Account Executive at Roundtable Learning. As an account executive, Jeff builds relationships across a diverse client base by providing new ideas to solve their current business challenges through future learning technologies. Connect Jeff Suchan |
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