Recently, I had the pleasure of chatting with someone whose organization has been using virtual reality to train workers to handle dangerous situations. When we spoke about the ROI, he mentioned that each time they put a worker through the experience, his organization saved $7000, largely owing to the fact that they no longer had to fly people around to specialized training centers, put them up in hotels, and hire in-person trainers. Then he mentioned another fantastic stat -- each person who used the VR experience in their home office resulted in a savings of 900 pounds of carbon.
The environmental benefits of using VR for training haven’t been discussed much, but in some situations, they can be massive. Think about how much time some employees spend on the road, visiting training centers, flying or driving and polluting the world. In addition to saving money and allowing employees to stay at home with their families and friends, not constantly moving folks around benefits the planet.
Many organizations have defined goals as it relates to sustainability, and during Covid, when everyone was grounded, those were easier to achieve. But now that the world is opening up again, we have to try and resist the urge to go back to the way things were before. Using VR for training is just one way companies can cut back on travel costs and the environmental impacts of moving people around all the time.