Effective employee onboarding is something many companies struggle with.
Gallup recently found that only 12% of employees have a good onboarding experience. A little more than 80% of employees feel overwhelmed by the volume of information they’re expected to absorb… and it doesn’t help that it’s spread across up to six different platforms.
This chaotic setup makes it very hard for new hires to absorb important info, which leaves many feeling frustrated and disengaged. As evidence, companies with strong onboarding processes see 50% better new hire retention rates than those without.
In this ArborXR guide, we’re exploring a modern solution to these common onboarding issues—virtual reality (VR) onboarding. We cover what it is, how it works, and why it can provide employees with a more engaging and effective onboarding experience.
What Is Virtual Reality Onboarding?
Virtual reality (VR) onboarding uses immersive VR technology to train and integrate new employees into your company. There are many engaging ways to implement VR onboarding, depending on what your typical onboarding process includes.
For example:
- Virtual Office Tours: New hires can explore a virtual version of the office, get to know different departments, and understand the company culture.
- Real-World Scenarios: Employees practice job-related tasks, like customer interactions or equipment handling, in a risk-free VR environment.
- Interactive Training Modules: VR can offer hands-on training for specific tasks or tools, allowing new employees to learn by doing rather than just watching or reading.
For example, Bank of America uses VR to immerse new hires in a digital twin of their company.
This allows them to learn about the company’s history and employee benefits in a relaxed, realistic setting. They also offer more than 40 VR training simulations to help employees effectively adjust to their new roles.
Benefits of Virtual Reality Onboarding
Better Job Performance
VR onboarding provides a hands-on, realistic way for new hires to learn the skills and knowledge they need for their roles.
For example, new customer support employees can repeatedly practice difficult virtual customer interactions until they feel confident in real-world situations. At Bank of America, 97% of employees who trained in VR felt highly confident applying what they learned.
When new hires are confident in their abilities, they adjust more smoothly and reach full productivity faster.
Improved Retention
VR onboarding helps new employees get comfortable in their roles without feeling overwhelmed, making them less likely to leave the job. For example, the Indiana Department of Child Services saw a 31% increase in employee retention after implementing a VR onboarding program.
Increased Engagement
VR allows employees to participate actively in the onboarding process.
The immersive aspect of VR makes onboarding more enjoyable and memorable, helping new hires connect better with the company culture and their roles. Employees who are more engaged feel more confident and satisfied with their jobs.
For example, STRIVR piloted a VR training program across 200 training academies for retail associates and saw a 30% increase in employee satisfaction.
How to Implement a Virtual Reality Onboarding Program
1. Define Objectives
When implementing VR onboarding, the first step is clearly defining what you want to achieve.
- Are you looking for new hires to develop specific skills during onboarding?
- Do you want them to understand your company culture better?
- Is your goal to shorten the onboarding process?
Your objective will shape every aspect of your VR program—from the content and structure to the metrics you’ll use to measure success. That means you need to be very strategic when defining these objectives.
Begin by evaluating your current onboarding process to identify gaps and areas for improvement. Collect and analyze key metrics like:
- New hire retention rates
- New hire satisfaction (1 day, 14 days, 30 days, 60 days)
- Time to productivity for new hires
- Training completion rates
You can benchmark these against past performance and industry standards (where data is available) to spot onboarding weaknesses. You can also supplement this quantitative data with qualitative data from new hires.
2. Work With Expert ISVs
Once you’ve set your objectives, start looking for independent software vendors (ISVs). It might seem silly to talk to developers before you have a clear picture of what your program will look like—but there are a number of reasons we recommend this approach:
- Guided Implementation: The best ISVs don’t just develop and sell XR software. They’re also experts in structuring XR initiatives (like VR onboarding programs) around specific goals and requirements. Many will be able to help with end-to-end implementation support, which takes a ton of pressure off of you.
- Content Creation: Onboarding content is almost always fully custom. So, you’ll need to partner with an experienced ISV who can understand and refine your objectives and create content that aligns perfectly.
Are you looking for ISVs to assist with content and guided implementation? Our XR directory has some amazing, vetted options. And if you’re looking for help deciding which ISVs are best suited to your needs, you can always reach out to our XR solutions specialists for help with:
- Finding content creators who match your goals.
- Provisioning and configuring headsets at scale.
- Choosing the right headset and hardware for your needs.
3. Find an XR MDM
Chances are, your VR onboarding program will require multiple VR headsets. That means you need to prepare an effective way to manage them right from the start. Without a proper management system, you might:
- Need to set up and configure devices individually
- Have difficulty tracking inventory
- Be unable to monitor and control what users are experiencing in the headsets
These problems can seriously hinder your program’s success.
Plus, traditional MDM platforms fall short when it comes to VR headset management. Many don’t support headsets, and the ones that do struggle with limitations like restricted content size and poor in-app control. You can check out our MDM guide for a deep dive.
That’s why it’s important to look for VR-specific MDM solutions like ArborXR. Here’s a glimpse at some of the features that help ArborXR make XR device management simple and powerful:
- Remote Device Access/Management: Track device locations, manage settings, shut down devices, wipe data, and control user experiences—all from a single remote dashboard. You can also use kiosk mode to restrict users to a specific onboarding app.
- Content Management Tools and Direct Links to ISVs: Easily sideload content and updates to all your headsets at scale, manage it through a dedicated library, and use release channels for effective version control. If you work with our ISV partners, you can also receive content directly from them within ArborXR.
- Analytics and Experience Monitoring: Use usage analytics to track how long employees engage with onboarding content. Depending on your VR headset, you can also cast what they’re seeing to a remote dashboard to monitor their experience in real time with Remote View.
4. Launch a Pilot Test
Start with a pilot test before fully rolling out your VR onboarding program. This lets you try it out in a controlled setting, test its effectiveness, and make any needed tweaks before full implementation.
Here’s how this process typically works.
Select a small, diverse group of new hires for the pilot. If the onboarding is role-specific (like for sales), include people from different levels, such as managers, reps, and SDRs. For company-wide onboarding, mix participants from various departments and levels.
Run the test with this group and gather feedback on and refine general aspects like:
- Ease of use
- Engagement
- Content relevance
You should also conduct periodic assessments before, during, and after the pilot to measure its effectiveness against your initial goals (the ones you set in step #1). Based on the feedback and results, make improvements and test again if needed.
And finally, prepare for a full rollout once the pilot shows positive results.
5. Measure Success
The pilot test isn’t the only time you refine and adjust your program. Even after full implementation, you need to monitor if the program is meeting its goals continuously.
To do this, track metrics related to your initial objectives. For example, if your goal is to reduce onboarding time, measure the average time it takes for new hires to complete the process. Or if you aim to improve employee engagement, use surveys or feedback forms to assess engagement levels.
Also, make sure you collect the necessary data at every stage of the program’s lifecycle. You can only gain meaningful insights by comparing data from before, during, and after implementation.
If the program isn’t performing as expected, be prepared to revisit and improve it.
Transform Your Workforce From Day One with ArborXR
VR onboarding offers an immersive and engaging experience that can boost job performance, improve retention, and increase new hire engagement. In this article, we’ve outlined five steps to implement it successfully.
However, the real impact comes when you can effectively manage all your headsets. That’s where ArborXR comes in. We offer a seamless solution to remotely manage your headsets, control user experiences, and handle app installations and updates.So why wait? Sign up for our free 30-day trial and see the difference for yourself.
