Employee Onboarding in the Metaverse. How Far Have We Come?
Feb 02, 2023 Shruti Shah
In light of the humungous tech wave that has engulfed almost all industries, the Metaverse is inevitably positioned as one of the biggest disruptors. Speaking of the HR sector, thought leaders and experts are looking at unprecedented changes that are set to alter the way HR operates. Also, despite the looming recession, everyone starting from HR leaders to organizational decision-makers, are hustling to join the race. And, with tech-giants like Accenture, Deloitte, Google, and Meta exploring solutions, the Metaverse even in its initial stage is changing the landscape of hiring, onboarding, and talent retention.
In Eventcombo’s latest event focused on Employee Onboarding in the Metaverse, industry experts shared some very interesting insights on how and why HR is embracing this technology-driven transformation. Harris Fanaroff from Active Onboarding emphasized that hybrid and remote work will be a bigger part of the future and that an effective onboarding program in virtual environments is critical as it can be a deciding factor in talent management and retention.
However, the feat isn’t as easy as virtual onboarding faces many challenges such as
- An overall sense of disconnect
- Insufficient guidance to navigate through applications and documents
- Screen fatigue
- Inability to measure ROI
- Manager accountability
- Lack of interactions
The Metaverse certainly seems promising when it comes to overcoming these challenges, but for its effective implementation it is necessary to first have an understanding of how the onboarding process can change.
What changes with Metaverse Employee Onboarding?
As the Metaverse is luring companies with the potential of making recruitment easier by expanding access to talent, the following aspects will see a major turnaround.
- Immersive Interviews – Virtual reality is being eyed as a respite from non-interactive recruitment process, initiated since remote working came sweeping in. Evaluating the intellectual qualities and behaviors of candidates will become a lot easier with in-person-like digital interviews, which could set the course for engaging and communicating during the onboarding process. A negative onboarding experience can make new hires 2x as likely to look out for other jobs in the future. Guest speaker, Harris, also emphasized replacing exit interviews with stay interviews, because retaining talent while they actually work for you is more crucial than doing an interview when they have already decided to leave. The Metaverse can also elevate employee experience through immersive stay-interviews.
- Interactive Onboarding Programs – Instead of staring at a screen for hours, with onboarding in an alternate reality, new recruits can actually tour around the facility, meet the team, and interact directly with a mentor or a buddy. 56% of new hires want to have a mentor or a buddy to help them out (ClickBoarding). One of the panelists at Eventcombo’s event, Larissa Andrade, Academia Web3, explained that with growing number of hybrid/remote working employees, fostering departmental collaborations and building a connection with the company and among colleagues is imperative for which having the right social skills is highly crucial for managers. While working at a remote work-desk, it could be difficult to feel like a part of the organization and therefore a greater emphasis on employee recognition and access to senior leadership is a must. The Metaverse could only enhance the overall experience.
- New-Hire Engagement and Training – The Metaverse can breathe life to immersive virtual offices where orientations, gamification, and interaction with peers can have a new meaning. VR technology can offer simulation-like training in imaginary workplaces. Let's say for learning operations at a manufacturing unit or supervising a remote on-ground team the Metaverse can create an immersive work environment with enhanced work/learning experience. Live training can be time-consuming and costly due to repetitive activities. The Metaverse or VR can facilitate training at large scale while reusing the same virtual facilities multiple times.
- Focus on Personal Connections – The disconnect among co-workers and teams in a remote work setup is apparent and the Metaverse onboarding programs can break the chain of monotony of working in isolation. Also, virtual offices can improve employee enthusiasm and focus, stabilize working hours and enhance overall efficiency. Imagine the brighter side - within minutes one can be transported to an office environment and interact with colleagues, without actually having to commute, which saves costs for both employees and the company. Also, with galloping innovations, going forward, the Metaverse will become more affordable for small and medium organizations letting them tap into opportunities for immersive virtual employee onboarding.
- Talent Retention - Strong onboarding processes can improve new hire retention by 82% as surveyed by Glassdoor. For new recruits, understanding the company culture in the right context from the very first day of onboarding sets a precedent for how they would move forward in the future. The high engagement of employees in the Metaverse appeals dramatically to the next-gen employees. In Web3 the focus needs to be on intentional building of a community and creating a sense of connection that will drive higher retention rates.
What is the view of industry leaders on Employee Onboarding in the Metaverse?
- Rashid Ali, CEO/ Co-founder of Exarta, one of the event panelists, shared the real picture of the Metaverse. The Metaverse being in the alpha stage is seeing a rise of multiple miniverses forming a Metaverse. In the next 5 to 10 years, the technology will mature to a proportion of as close to 50 years.
- Virtual environments have already penetrated the millennials and gen Z through games, which explains why the technology development should be focused on the next-gen.
- For all the buzz around security and legal compliances, there still is a dearth of strong regulations at present. However, Web3 needs to be battle-ready to tackle hacking threats.
- Empathy and connecting with employees are the cornerstones for creating an amicable and productive environment, which leads to better talent retention – a reason why proper onboarding is significant.
Organizations are strategizing their investments in this technology that could improve and streamline employee experience to benefit all HR functions along with onboarding. Even with inherent complex web of challenges like surveillance, breach of confidentiality, and regulations, the core concept of Web3 i.e., decentralization would actually reduce possible threats or issues which Web2 faces due to power concentration among a few players.
Bringing employees together and engaging them effectively is important to keep them motivated. By helping form personal connections from the moment they are onboarded in the company, the Metaverse can open the gateway to gratifying employee experiences.