Accenture Buys 60,000 VR Headsets: VR for Onboarding and Training

Accenture has set the record for any company's largest virtual reality deployment after announcing a distribution of 60,000 Virtual Reality (VR) headsets for employee training and onboarding. Looking at the past few years, we can confidently say that VR is now more affordable, accessible and ready to be adopted in training and onboarding across industries. Accenture is just the latest large corporation to join other giants such as Walmart, Bank of America, and delivery company UPS in embracing XR training.

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Who’s Accenture anyway?

Established in 2001, Accenture has grown to become one of the worlds largest employers as a leading global consulting and technology company. As of 2021, over 629,000 people work at locations around the world. Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture, said Accenture hired 54,000 new employees in the last quarter alone.

Accenture will use virtual reality in its training and onboarding process to create a more human connection between employees that transcends location through shared experiences.

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Why is onboarding important?

An effective onboarding process familiarizes workers with their position, policies and culture, and the company offers. Additionally, it gets employees involved, creating committed employees dedicated to its success and retaining new hires. Did you know research by Glassdoor found a strong onboarding process improves new hire retention by 82% and productivity by 70%?

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Industry adopting virtual reality

Accenture isn't the only large company embracing VR. Bank of America (BoA) is also deploying virtual reality to provide access for 50,000 employees. BoA will use virtual reality learning modules to train soft skills by simulating client interactions, difficult conversations, empathy etc.

Bank of America's VR adoption follows a successful pilot programme of 400 employees, with 97% of participants feeling more comfortable performing their tasks following the VR training.

Walmart and UPS are two of the earliest VR adopters. Walmart and UPS began using VR in 2017 to create artificial scenarios for learning in a safe environment and using complex and dangerous machinery. UPS uses VR to train delivery drivers in road safety and is expanding their training to additional departments after the success of their drivers.

Virtual reality has become a serious tool for learning. VR can be used in dangerous, expensive and difficult scenarios, and soft skills like empathy; it's not just about gaming anymore!

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Summary

The difficulty of talent acquisition has strengthened the need for employees to be onboarded and trained correctly. VR has the potential to impact how we learn, teach, train and lead in ways that were unimaginable just a few years ago. The possibilities are endless with virtual reality.

If your company needs help implementing or understanding how best to use VR as an educational tool to enhance your learning and development, contact us today! Our team will work closely with you to design immersive learning experiences that fit your budget requirements while still meeting all of your goals.

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