HOW CAN VR TRAINING SAVE EMPLOYEES’ LIVES?

CEO Walmart Doug McMillon admitted that the simulation used to train his employees helped to save many lives during the El Paso shooting. Twenty too people died then. If it hadn’t been for the proper employee preparation to deal with emergencies, there would have been more victims.[1] The preparation took place in a rather unusual way, for it was based on VR simulations.

WALMART APPRECIATED VR TRAINING

Walmart employees who underwent VR training received 17,000 googles. “Active shootings” is one of the stimulations which was used by the employees of the popular network. It was embedded in a supermarket and visualized the shooting situation. It should be emphasized that this was a product far from a computer game commonly referred to as a “shooter”, but a dedicated simulation created to teach how to react in crises. Its goal was to show the aggressor’s mindset and to acquire defensive habits.[2]

According to Walmart’s management, this type of preparation is essential in the country, where only in 2019 there were up to 41 cases of mass murders. As a result, 211 people were killed [3]. The fears proved to be right because the shooting at El Paso was one of the most tragic in Texas history.

VR INCREASES KNOWLEDGE GAINING BY 10-15%

The Walmart case proves that virtual reality helps develop appropriate security procedures in a company, but the positive sides of learning in VR do not end here. BY 10-15% McMillon sees great potential in VR simulations not only in the context of increasing workplace safety. His company uses virtual reality for everyday training in various fields (from customer service to preparation for the implementation of marketing campaigns). In addition, it was noted that learning in virtual reality improved employee test results by around 10-15%.[5]

His insight is not revolutionary, because some time ago scientists have proved that people better memorize the information that is transmitted to them in VR. It turns out that immersion environments are new types of support for better results in education and training – admits Amitabh Varshney, the professor of computer science and dean of the College of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences of UMD.

A research team from the University of Maryland has proven that virtual reality can better stimulate the brain, which opens the door to further research on the impact of VR-based training modules at all levels of education – from school children, through future medical students, to senior management. As you can see, VR gives many development opportunities and it depends on us how we will use it in our everyday work. [6]

USE VR TRAINING IN YOUR TEAM

Are you a business owner and would like to use VR in training your employees? See our two proprietary simulations that you can buy now or contact us for an individual HR support simulation project.For more information, please visit the VR in HR webiste.

Bibliographie:

[1], [2], [5] Aric Jenkins, Walmart CEO: VR Training Helped Save Lives in El Paso Shooting, [LINK], dostęp dnia 11.02.2020 r.

[3] TVN 24, „Kilkadziesiąt zajść, setki zabitych. 2019 rok z niechlubnym rekordem w USA”, [LINK], dostęp dnia 11.02.2020 r.

[4] Tomasz Dereszyński, Polska Times,  „USA: Strzelanina w El Paso w Teksasie [ZDJĘCIA] [WIDEO] Kim jest sprawca? To 21-letni Patrick Crusius. Swój manifest opublikował w sieci?” [LINK], dostęp dnia 11.02.2020 r.

[6] ScienceDaily, “People recall information better through virtual reality”, [LINK], dostęp dnia 11.02.2020 r.