A New Era for HR - How the Industry Is Leveraging the Metaverse’s Infinite Possibilities

Jan 13, 2023 Shruti Shah

While the global Metaverse market size was estimated to be 63 billion USD back in 2021, a whopping 45.4% of market revenue was accounted for by North America itself.  As per forecasts, the market is expected to register a CAGR of 43.2% during the period of 2022 to 2030, then why is the biggest tech-job layoff by Meta linked with Metaverse failure? Will the Metaverse also take the fall for the impending recession expected in 2023 and further layoffs? Or are there greater possibilities yet to be explored and understood?

Haven’t we all pictured HR industry in the Metaverse with visuals of bots and virtual employees replacing humans? Interestingly, just a few months back it seemed too early to assert the possibilities of this technology even with the simultaneous high-velocity rise of AI and ML. In the present day, the Metaverse is already preparing to unquestionably augment all working models going across geographical boundaries.  

With the Metaverse integration, the HR industry will undergo a modular shift and become a game-changing facilitator of all HR processes. Facebook (Meta) Metaverse for recruitment of more than 10,000 people in Europe is already underway, and it makes a statement for the future evolution of the HR industry. 
 

Metaverse Is Already Here
The transition from Web 1.0 to 2.0 was smooth and almost obscure, with people adopting it in day-to-day lives as if nothing had changed. Even though the Metaverse is in its interim phase, things are quite different with the Web 3.0 transformation and it is destined to bridge the gaps in technology and real-life experiences and become a dominant facet of technology.  

Companies like Facebook (Meta), Microsoft, and NVIDIA have jumped on the Metaverse bandwagon and are much more advanced in developing an immersive digital world for significant HR features and models. While Accenture ranks among the top ten Best Companies to work for in the Fortune 500 list, at present all the thunder is stolen by their venturous stride towards onboarding employees in the Metaverse.  

How Can the HR Industry Leverage the Metaverse?
1. Boosting Remote Work Efficiency - Remote working has become a norm and widely accepted practice for all professionals today. More than 85% of the remote workforce wants to continue working remotely forever and nearly half of US employees (49%) are experiencing virtual meeting fatigue. The Metaverse will not only resolve this but also improve sensory modality and increase attention with immersive presence in meetings and conferences especially in hybrid and remote work cultures. A person can do a hand-shake, work on a project together, or share documents by hand with a person sitting virtually beside him, no matter where one is geographically placed. Apple has invented a virtual meeting platform that would enable physical hand movements for more interactive meeting sessions.  

2. Augmenting Cross-Boundary Hiring - Hiring across boundaries can be simplified with promising opportunities that come with the Metaverse. In context of hiring off-shores, all current technologies still face glitches like trust, performance monitoring, and policy implementations. The Metaverse can redefine the complete hiring process from shortlisting, interviewing, and selection to complete onboarding, training, and development without HR professionals worrying about geographical boundaries and limitations. Leading tech megacaps are putting money into the idea of proposed immersive workspaces in the Metaverse to provide more hands-on experience in upskilling employees through simulator-based training. 

3. Prioritizing Mental Health - Remote working came with the disadvantage of a steep rise in mental health concerns due to isolation and no engagement with managers or co-workers. The burnout caused by inability to unplug from work, lacking workplace inspiration, missing a supportive environment led to as high as 75% of HR leaders acknowledging their people are experiencing burnout.
The HR industry is at the threshold of discovering path-breaking and pioneering solutions through the Metaverse which can address the mental health of employees with high-functional immersive working spaces. When the employees and workforce in Metaverse are able to work/interact like they would in physical office spaces, HR professionals will be equipped with solutions to pro-actively assist employees on areas that impact mental health like appraisals, harassment, etc. 

4. Virtual Workplaces - Building a virtual workplace or headquarters in virtual reality already sounds astounding. Moreover, it is highly interesting to know that the Metaverse technology is being explored with options for engaging without requiring specific headsets or VR tools while providing access from any device, even mobile phones. This would give a new meaning to a virtual workplace where a person need not stay glued to his work desk to stay in the Metaverse. New employee onboarding and virtual office tour offered by Deloitte demonstrate just some of the numerous possibilities the Metaverse can offer around immersive experiences. 

5. Recruitment Fairs, Events, Meetings - Although an effective alternative during the pandemic, virtual recruitment fairs missed the core attribute of face-to-face interaction and exploration of human intellect. However, if hosted in the Metaverse, the HR professionals can tap and engage potential leads personally, invite suitable candidates, and explore the other talent pools while saving substantial costs of organizing fairs at multiple geographic locations.
As nearly 79% of working professionals believe virtual meetings are equally or even more productive than in-person, immersive meetings can work as a catalyst to elevate the employee experience. 

6. Equitable Workspace - Virtual workspaces in the Metaverse can provide an accessible and equitable environment for the employees with no disparity based on their geographical placement. An in-office like infrastructure, work opportunities, and better access to data will be available to all. Whether a new mother is planning to return to work after maternity leave, or someone is looking to make a big switch in their career, the Metaverse can offer open opportunities of seamless synergy between all HR collaterals. Implementing policies and compliances, and adopting reformative changes can become faster, parallelly at all locations promoting an unprejudiced work culture. 

The concept of the Metaverse is riveting and can open untrodden yet strategic possibilities for an immersive experience in an alternate digital verse.
The technologies for remote work management have significantly handled and stabilized the disruptions in the past two years. With a collective movement by all tech giants across the globe, the Metaverse will only expand the possibilities while adding a personalized human touch which is missing in the current tech infrastructure, especially in the HR industry. 

Redefine interacting and establishing connections beyond events into perpetuity - https://bit.ly/3GGe6kH