Virtual technology will put COVID-19 staff back into training

Dating back to mid-February, the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out nearly 40 million jobs. Which industry did not matter, as millions of workers were either sent home, let go or furloughed until further notice. Employers shed about 22 million jobs in March and April, and the unemployment rate reached 14.7%, a high post-World War II.

In early February, the unemployment rate was only 3.5%, matching a low of half a century, and with a few workers coming back in June, the unemployment rate hit one of the highest rates since the Great Depression. By comparison, between December 2007 and February 2010, the US shed some nine million jobs, a period that covered the 18-month recession triggered by the financial crisis.

During the COVID-19 pandemic many service-level jobs today moved quickly from the office to the home office. While for many the rapid transition was sudden, the digital workplace world of today genuinely allows for a work-from - home world. In fact , it is estimated that 37% of American jobs could be done plausibly from home office, according to a scholarly NPR interview, and this compares with an estimated 4% of people who worked from home before the virus.

But a large portion of the workers lost or furloughed during COVID-19 have already started to return. Employers added 2,5 million jobs in May, most of which were recorded in a single month since 1948, and the unemployment rate dropped to 13.3%.

Retraining employees using virtual technology

All that being said, in the short term, social distancing guidelines must apply, although it is not clear how long they will last. As a result, virtual technology will continue to play a rising role not only in helping some people perform their work, but also in retraining some employees. Digital technologies such as Augmented Reality ( AR), Virtual Reality ( VR), and Mixed Reality (MR) allow for an immersive interaction between people and a real-world environment in which objects from the actual setting are viewed and enhanced by computer perceptual knowledge.

Recent data from a survey  illustrates the increased use of AR / VR across the company. Technology, manufacturing, automotive and aerospace and defense companies are prime examples of increased use of AR / VR, and training and retraining for employees is one area where AR / VR is expected to play an increasing role. The use and use of AR / VR in corporate training will improve levels of commitment and retention of information. In addition , employees can get proper training in a safer, more cost-effective format.

AR / VR offers guidance to workers through realistic and interactive experiences. In fact, for many large companies this method is gaining momentum and it offers an effective way to learn a variety of skill sets, or even to sharpen existing skill sets. It is particularly important for factory employees who have been standing idle from plants for two or three months and are now being called back to work. Studies have also shown that learning from virtual reality improves learning quality and even retention levels by 75-90%.

AR / VR may provide training in high-risk areas such as health and materials handling in a safer environment, in addition to business and soft-skills training such as company policies and procedures, and public speaking skills. For example, at a refinery in England, the oil and gas company, BP, utilized virtual training technologies to teach their employees start-up and exit procedures. When more businesses bring workers back, immersive tools such as AR / VR will be more commonly used to retrain the vital skill sets they need to perform their jobs effectively, securely and safely.