American businesses shell out a staggering $200 billion annually on corporate training, yet sadly, only 10% of that investment translates into meaningful results.
The main culprit behind this epic waste is the skill transfer gap—trainees struggle to apply what they’ve learned to their actual job roles. To address this issue and many others, VR corporate training offers a powerful solution.
Virtual reality offers an immersive learning environment that mirrors real-world situations. Employees can learn by doing, ultimately gaining practical experience in a safe and controlled setting. Using this system, companies like Bank Of America report up to 97% confidence among trainees in applying their newfound knowledge.
In this ArborXR guide, we’ll introduce you to virtual reality corporate training, its benefits, and some exciting use cases.
What Is VR Corporate Training?
VR corporate training involves using virtual reality technology—headsets, controllers, and more—to create hyper-realistic virtual environments where employees can learn, interact, and practice essential skills hands-on.
These virtual environments can be precisely tailored to nurture specific skills. For example, you might have a firefighting simulation for safety training or a high-pressure customer service scenario for customer interaction skills.
Benefits of VR Training for Businesses
Enhanced Engagement
VR creates an immersive and interactive experience that keeps trainees engaged and motivated. This heightened level of participation leads to a deeper understanding of the material and a stronger desire to learn.Mater Education teamed up with PeopleTech Revolution to conduct a pilot VR training program. Out of 61 participants, 57 enjoyed it, and 47 (77%) felt more engaged with VR content than with traditional training methods.
But it’s important to remember that VR alone doesn’t guarantee engagement. In our conversation with Michael Wynn from Bank of America, he emphasized that VR doesn’t automatically make a training session engaging. Bad training content is bad, regardless of the medium.
You need to make sure you’re investing in the right content for your training initiatives.
To help you get it right, we have an article packed with tips on creating impactful training content yourself. Plus, our XR directory is a great resource for finding trusted XR developers and ISVs in your industry who can deliver top-of-the-line VR training content and even guide you through the implementation of your training program.
Better Knowledge Retention
Traditional learning methods (especially lecture-based ones) tend to be heavy on theory and light on practice. This is a big problem for lots of learners. Their overall understanding suffers due to the lack of hands-on experience, and their retention rate drops drastically due to a lack of engagement.
VR training tackles this problem by making learning interactive. It allows trainees to practice and apply their knowledge in a realistic setting, fostering stronger memory connections.
This approach is supported by research, too. A study conducted by researchers at the University of Maryland found that people demonstrate better information retention following learning sessions in virtual environments than they do after traditional teaching methods.
Safe and Controlled Training
VR corporate training offers a safe and controlled environment for employees to tackle high-stakes scenarios without any risk of injury or damage. For example, employees can practice surgery on a real patient or handle costly spacecradt hardware.
Speaking of spacecraft hardware, MDA Space uses VR to train employees on how to take apart and reconstruct complex machinery without the risk of injuries or destroying million-dollar equipment.
Scalability
VR corporate training slashes costs to the bone after the initial investment in hardware and content. Trainees can skip costly travel to specific locations and access training content remotely. Plus, you can scale effortlessly using the same materials for thousands or millions of trainees.
VR training isn’t just cost-effective—it’s also a time-saver. For example, UPS achieved a 75% reduction in training time, cutting down from 8 hours of traditional mentor-led training to just 2 hours. This means you can train more people in less time, boosting overall efficiency.
4 Areas Where VR Corporate Training Shines
1. Public Speaking Training
Public speaking can be nerve-wracking, even for seasoned professionals. You can use VR corporate training to create realistic presentation simulations, allowing employees to practice their delivery in front of a virtual audience.
This safe, judgment-free space allows employees to:
- Identify areas for improvement
- Learn to manage their anxiety
- Refine their presentation skills.
So far, more than 50 universities and Fortune 500 companies—including Vodafone, Accenture, Stanford University, and Imperial College Business School—have partnered with VirtualSpeech to create training modules around soft skills like public speaking and communication.
2. DEI Training
More and more organizations are turning to Virtual Reality (VR) for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training. Two notable examples include Cornell University and Mayo Clinic. Cornell University’s “Everyday Inclusion” training module places employees in various virtual scenarios to experience and learn about the impacts of unconscious bias firsthand. It’s perfect for providing a safe space for discussing sensitive topics and developing stronger DEI practices.
Mayo Clinic’s “A Day in a Lifetime” VR module trains nurses on handling issues like discrimination and racism. Nurses experience different virtual scenarios, making decisions that have consequences.
Both modules are effective because they tie emotion to the learning experience. By giving trainees a front-row seat to experience the effects of unconscious bias, they’re able to develop the empathy needed to actively combat it.
3. Mindfulness Training
Mindfulness training can help your employees manage stress, improve focus, and enhance overall well-being. And guess what? VR can play a big role here too.
Organizations like Dropbox, Teneo, and Saudi Aramco have partnered with Solas VR to create immersive mindfulness training experiences in 3- or 6-DoF. These sessions include stunning nature scenes, soothing sounds, and guided meditations for breathing exercises and calming rituals.
4. Workplace Safety Training
The last application we want to cover (although there are plenty more) is workplace safety training.
Companies have started using VR to simulate hazardous situations, analyze employee reactions, and reinforce safety protocols—all in a safe, controlled environment. ISVs like FreeRangeXR specialize in developing high-impact safety training content covering concepts like:
- Confined Space Entry: Learn safe entry procedures and hazard detection.
- Fall Protection: Practice safe work habits and proper use of fall protection equipment.
- Fire Suppression: Master fire extinguisher use and incipient stage fire response.
- CPR: Administer CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) protocols with proper techniques.
- Lock Out/Tag Out (LOTO): Practice safe procedures for isolating energy sources before equipment maintenance.
Manage Your VR Training Fleet With ArborXR
Excited about how top companies are embracing VR for training and the results they’re getting? You should be. But as you gear up to invest in headsets, start thinking about a VR device management platform (MDM) to help you manage them.
With a dedicated VR MDM like ArborXR, you can:
- Track headset locations and user activity effortlessly.
- Install and update apps across all headsets in one go without the hassle of manual setup.
- Power down all headsets remotely whenever needed.
- Curate the training experience by controlling what users see.
- Monitor usage stats, pinpoint areas for improvement, and gauge overall program effectiveness.
Start with our 30-day free trial and get access to demo training apps from top ISVs instantly. Don’t wait—sign up today.