A recent report by Gartner says that 25% of people will spend at least one hour in Metaverse for work, shopping, education, or entertainment by 2026. Although the Metaverse may not be able to duplicate the real-world environment, it will create a new world of communication and interaction valued by employees.
Employee onboarding is one area where HR can leverage Metaverse and provide an engaging experience for new employees. Accenture’s Metaverse onboarding platform is a forerunner to how organizations would engage with new employees. The company has recently developed an Enterprise Metaverse named “Nth Floor,” where it created digital twins (avatars) of its offices as well as a virtual campus known as “One Accenture Park” and introduced new hires to the Metaverse as part of the onboarding process.
Similarly, Mondelez India, a confectionary major, recently adopted Metaverse to onboard new hires where they may explore the digital versions of the company’s various locations and manufacturing facilities by transporting themselves virtually. Many other companies are on the metaverse bandwagon, and this is not without reason since it has great potential and could be a viable business solution for the future.
Onboarding Opportunities and Possibilities in Metaverse
With each passing day, talent is becoming tougher to acquire, and employers must redefine employee onboarding experiences to ensure future success. With Metaverse onboarding, there is an opportunity to transform onboarding into a virtual reality experience where the new hires may meet people within the company, know more about the culture and values, and understand people in a much better way.
For instance, instead of a three-hour presentation, new hires can be given a virtual tour of the facility, meet their seniors in a shared virtual room, envision and operate a manufacturing unit, and participate in leisure activities. Notably, the automotive giant BMW collaborated with Nvidia and used Digital Twins to create Omniverse, a simulated environment of complete manufacturing operations, thereby lowering the production planning time by 30%.
Likewise, there are certain possibilities that companies are usually considering while putting together an employee onboarding program. These might include:
Reward-based Orientation Programs
A reward-based orientation program can be one of the most innovative ways to welcome new employees where they receive virtual rewards for completing various onboarding tasks. Metaverse can supplement the gamification process by personalizing and customizing the onboarding checklist for each employee. Recently, Zee announced the making of “Zeeverse,” which is set to be launched in the next six months and will enable their viewers to meet their favorite stars over Zeeverse as a reward. A similar model can be applied to onboarding programs where new employees may be rewarded with a meeting with a big star over Metaverse.
Welcome Area and Introduction
A simulated welcome area can be developed where the HR heads or top management executives congratulate and greet the new employees. Moreover, a 360-degree tour of the entire office space can be conducted either trainer-led or without trainers. This may help the new hires understand the context and enhance the value of the first-day experience.
Gamification of Organizational Stories/Journeys
Employers may experiment with gamified and interactive environments with Metaverse to enable the new employees to gain a self-paced familiarity by demonstrating the history and culture of the company. These immersive narratives can help tell the organization’s complete journey, vision, and milestones and may include short and interactive games such as virtual escape rooms or treasure hunts with quizzes based on case studies or the company’s journey.
The Potential of Metaverse Onboarding
Undoubtedly, Metaverse is an intuitive solution that empowers employees to remain connected. Nonetheless, the question is will it be able to unfold and revolutionize the onboarding process? Let’s find out.
Strengthen and Maintain Personal Connections
Introducing new hires to their colleagues is essential to onboarding, primarily if the new employee works remotely. Although it may appear paradoxical, the Metaverse can help foster human connections, and the potential for human connections is one of the main drivers for metaverse adoption. Lately, Hyundai Mobis used “ZEPETO” to design their employee onboarding experience in the Metaverse to build up mutual trust and bond among the employees.
Since remote employees may go months or years without meeting colleagues, they can leverage Virtual Reality to meet other workers and communicate in ways different from emails or instant messaging.
Streamline the Learning and Development
In the new normal, training sessions have undergone significant changes. The face-to-face engagements have devolved into one-way communication in which candidates are passive recipients. In this scenario, Metaverse onboarding and training come to the rescue since a digital space that allows the employers and trainers to speak and interact with the new hires is everything needed to create a seamless experience.
Minimize Onboarding Costs and Enhance Efficiency
Metaverse has the potential to save money on the onboarding process. Because live training takes time, VR can be more efficient for onboarding experiences than individuals providing it live regularly. HR can use Metaverse to create training once and then reuse them with a large number of employees.
Furthermore, because VR provides many scaling options, learning experiences can reach a level of speed and quality unattainable with traditional methods.
Promote Talent Retention
A 2019 study by the University of Nottingham suggests that VR training methods are far more effective than the traditional PowerPoint techniques. This backs up the notion of the effectiveness and advantages of using Metaverse in onboarding and training the staff and affects the engagement and retention levels of the employees. In other words, the use of VR technology in onboarding and training is directly linked to attracting and retaining talent and dramatically appeals to current and future workers.
Final Thoughts
As organizations consider strategic technological investments to improve employee efficiency and streamline the experience, it is crucial to determine the extent of HR processes that can benefit from this digital disruption.
The Metaverse is no exception, as competing visions of dystopia and utopia are at the brink of any new technological wave. For instance, a recent survey discusses continuous employee monitoring and surveillance concerns in Metaverse adoption. According to the study, the employees consider it a breach of privacy, which might lead to employee anxiety and a sense of mistrust from employers, resulting in decreased productivity and morale. On the other hand, companies do need a rock-solid strategy to manage the complex web of regulations and compliance. Given such challenges, business leaders need to understand the repercussions of the actions taking place in the Metaverse.
Although the full range of emerging risks and benefits cannot be anticipated while it is still in its nascent stage, it is apparent that Metaverse will prove to be an intriguing new dimension of employee experience. There’s no denying that the HR gamut has exceptionally high potential to transition itself into this space, and even though the process is complicated, the early adopters have a competitive advantage over others.
As we move closer to widespread adoption, more opportunities will come into the picture as the technology has enormous potential for making the remote and hybrid workplace more engaging and collaborative!
Like Steve Jobs said, “there are downsides to everything; there are unintended consequences to everything.” The Metaverse is undoubtedly evolving, and whether organizations can capitalize on these developments quickly enough remains to be seen.
