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How can virtual reality make onboarding more engaging compared to traditional methods?
Virtual reality transforms onboarding from a mainly passive experience into an active and participatory process. Thanks to immersion, the user’s attention is more focused, and the new work environment becomes explorable: newcomers can move around, perform actions, and follow their curiosity, going beyond the simple reception of information. New knowledge is therefore experienced rather than merely transmitted. This makes the experience more engaging and, at the same time, more effective, because what is experienced first-hand tends to be remembered more strongly.
What advantages does VR offer in facilitating the understanding of corporate culture and core values?
Through VR experiences, newcomers can immerse themselves in scenarios that reflect the organisation’s values and behaviours. It is not just about listening to descriptions of concepts such as “collaboration” or “putting the customer first”, but about experiencing them directly – for example, interacting with virtual colleagues who solve a problem together or make decisions consistent with those values. Exploring virtual spaces also helps convey culture: observing how environments are structured provides cultural cues similar to those picked up when entering a real office.
How can VR improve safety and knowledge retention for new employees?
The experiential learning typical of virtual reality enhances memorisation: experiencing procedures first-hand and having to carry them out in realistic contexts increases the level of retention. Furthermore, the possibility to repeat experiences several times and test oneself in scenarios simulating unexpected events or emergencies can help build confidence in one’s own skills.
What added value does VR bring in creating empathy and a sense of belonging for newcomers?
Virtual reality can help foster a sense of belonging right from the early stages of learning about the organisation. Experiencing typical workplace situations or “walking” through virtual spaces strengthens identification. Moreover, VR can be used to experience situations from different perspectives – for example, taking on the viewpoint of a customer or a colleague from another department for a few minutes. This kind of role-shifting nurtures empathy and contributes to feeling part of the organisation.
How can VR support more inclusive, accessible, and scalable onboarding?
Virtual reality can make onboarding more inclusive and accessible in several ways. For example, it allows access to contexts that would otherwise be difficult or impossible to visit (remote production sites, restricted areas, hazardous environments, overseas offices). This makes the experience scalable, since anyone – regardless of location or role – can take part in it.
On the inclusivity side, VR offers many opportunities: the personalisation of the experience can be adapted to the needs of people with disabilities (subtitles, audio descriptions, simplified interfaces), and it can also be a tool for raising awareness. Some experiences, in fact, allow users to directly experience situations of bias or exclusion, encouraging greater awareness and promoting inclusive behaviours.
