VR: A NEW ERA FOR EMPLOYEE COMMS

If your team is like mine, then it’s made up of colleagues who are spread across the U.S., and in some cases, the world. As companies grow and remote workers increase in number, it can become more difficult for an employer to keep in constant communication with everyone.

The trend toward remote workers will only increase. According to the “2017 Virtual Vocations Year-End Report” and an article written in Small Business Trends, 20-25 percent of U.S. workers telecommute at least part of the time. It also indicates that the number is increasing among young professionals — an overwhelming 80–90 percent of professionals want to work from home at least on a part-time basis.

This got me thinking about the future of employee communication. This is where I see virtual reality making a significant impact. If we can “put an end to distance on how we work,” like Accenture predicts, then virtual reality will be a crucial tool.

VR doesn’t have to be an isolating experience; it can be a social one. You can actually hold business meetings in virtual reality with your team and feel like you were there in person with everyone. I know this because I’ve done it. I’ve demoed a VR software product called rumii— a leading VR meeting, collaboration and conferencing software that connects remote teams through virtual reality — and had a meeting with some remote colleagues. It made me rethink my view on the future of internal communications.

This article originally appeared in PRSA Tactics and Strategies.