The Virtual Reality Advantage: The ROI of VR

By Next World

For many organisations, offering hands-on learning and practical training can often be a challenge – and for some, it is impossible to do this in the workplace.

This is why Virtual Reality training has been extensively adopted across a diverse range of industries including construction, manufacturing, aviation and healthcare. For example, our Working at Heights Virtual Reality training package can safely induct and train employees to gain confidence to work at heights in a stress-free environment, with the freedom to make decisions without life-threatening consequences.

With the virtual reality industry growing from $7.9 billion in 2018 to $44.7 billion by 2024 as well as the lowering costs of hardware and content development, virtual reality training is becoming easily accessible with a promising ROI.

ROI OF VR TRAINING

The real question stands…if organisations use Virtual Reality, do they see a return on their investment? The ROI of Virtual Reality training is significant for an increasing number of organisations as well as individuals. Virtual Reality has now developed enough that organisations shouldn’t be asking how much it would cost to implement VR, but how much it is costing you not using the technology.

More confident to undertake work safely

Virtual Reality training provides the ability to learn in an immersive, low-stress environment, giving employees the ability to actually apply the learning on the job. A study from PwC stated that learners who were trained with VR were up to 275% more confident to act on what they learned after training – a 40% improvement from classroom learning and a 35% improvement over e-learning. Next World clients also felt 74% better prepared and more confident to undertake work after completing our Virtual Reality Learning Experiences.

Emotionally connected

When emotions are involved, people generally connect, understand and remember things more profoundly. Employees training with virtual reality felt 3.75x more emotionally connected to the content than classroom learners and 2.3x more connected than e-learners. With employees being more emotionally connected, Next World’s Virtual Reality training found an 83% associated enjoyment via VR learning as well as an 84% enhancement in learning outcomes.

More focused

Today learners become quite distracted and overwhelmed while training in the workplace, with smartphones being the leading cause of distraction. However, virtual reality training allows for users to be significantly less distracted as they are fully immersed in the experience, with no interruptions resulting in improved focus. According to PwC’s recent study, virtual reality trained employees were four times more focused during their training compared to employees who conducted e-learning training. Similarly, Next World’s Virtual Reality Learning Experiences sees engagement levels increased by 92%, demonstrating the positive ROI virtual reality training provides.

Business ROI

Virtual Reality training does not only see an immense ROI for the individual, but also sees a ROI for the organisation.

Faster to train

Employees conducting Virtual Reality training courses can be trained up to four times faster than in the classroom. What would take 2 hours to learn in a classroom, can be learned in only 30 minutes using Virtual Reality training. This is a massive ROI, allowing for more information to be retained in a shorter amount of time. Although there may be extra time needed for first-time learners to review and be taught use of the headset, VR learners still complete training three times faster than classroom learners.

Workers Compensation

With increased learning outcomes through VR training, safety awareness is also increased. This results in a reduced number of accidents – creating significant savings and reducing harm. This results in a decrease in insurance premiums, reduce injuries and overall safer workplaces.

The innovation brands

Having a brand that is perceived as innovative attracts new clients. Being an innovative brand increases revenue by 11% compared to businesses that are not innovative. Customers are more likely to value innovation, therefore are more likely to buy on this value.

L&D efficiency and effect

Virtual Reality training is also a cost-effective training solution allowing learners to access training remotely, significantly reducing travel and accommodation costs. Through using Next World’s Virtual Reality training, Burke Shire Council found a great ROI including the reduced cost benefits, eliminating the need to fly employees to the nearest town to conduct training.

Virtual Reality has also proven successful in assisting to decrease re-work costs and create improvements in the productivity of employees. This leads to a 20% gain in productivity and 20% reduction in re-work costs.

VR is perfect for blended learning processes to boost employee’s knowledge retention and engagement. The success of VR to date makes it easy to imagine a day in the near future when all employees receive their own training headset on the first day on the job. We are already seeing this shift to VR training with every school in Queensland owning a VR headset. Now that is a truly new way of working.