Virtual tours have become an increasingly popular tool for businesses and organizations looking to showcase their spaces and bring them to life. Traditionally used by real estate agents and vacation rental platforms for marketing purposes, the potential applications for virtual tours go beyond simply showcasing spaces.
Imagine having a 1:1 interactive 3D model of your space for virtual training and ongoing facility management. As the world shifts towards a hybrid approach to the workplace, businesses of all sizes are turning to virtual tools to enhance their training and facility management strategies. From small and growing businesses looking to attract top talent to large enterprises seeking to streamline virtual training and remote facility management, virtual tours can help drive innovation and efficiency in any organization.
Attract Top Talent With 3D Virtual Tours
Today’s job market is more unpredictable and competitive than ever before–not for job seekers though, but for employers trying to fill open positions. And in today’s tenuous economy, employers need to find faster and more cost-efficient ways to hire and bring new staff on board. And because hiring great people is key to the growth of a business, the speed with which our people go from novice to contributor can be a big competitive differentiator.
Despite all of that, many companies ignore the impact of not having an effective and cost-effective onboarding program and continue dumping more and more time and money into recruiting. What’s worse is that after hiring and onboarding, it’s equally important to be sure the people you hire are likely to stick and stay.
Did you know that 90% of new hires make their decision about whether they want to stay or go within the first 6 months of employment? So if you’re going to the trouble and expense of recruiting and hiring, creating an onboarding experience that makes them want to stay makes good business sense.
Over the past year, more and more large corporations have begun finding unique ways to create more user-friendly and innovative onboarding experiences using virtual tours.
Virtual tours give new employees a snapshot of their new workplace before ever being physically present. Corporate candidates can virtually visualize their new career with your company – looking forward to their first day in the workplace, perfectly comfortable already knowing the layout and the setting through the virtual tour.
User Onboarding and Virtual Training
Integrating 3D Virtual Tours into virtual training programs can provide new employees with a comprehensive introduction to your facility and its operations. Its how to make virtual training more engaging. This method of onboarding is both engaging and safe, as new workers can familiarize themselves with the space from the comfort of their own office or home. In addition to allowing them to virtually walk around the building and get a sense of the layout, 3D Virtual Tours can also include multimedia tags to label equipment and provide relevant information, as well as embedded training videos on how to use specific equipment. By including important procedural safety rules and WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System) materials, virtual tours can help make onboarding faster, more effective, and more efficient without disrupting normal workflow.
Safety First
One of the major benefits of virtual training is the ability to provide new hires with a comprehensive introduction to your facility without disrupting daily operations or introducing unnecessary risks. This is especially useful in high-capacity or high-risk environments with dangerous machinery, where in-person tours may be difficult to plan and manage safely. Virtual tours allow new employees to familiarize themselves with the space without interference, and the added benefit of including multimedia labels, informational text, videos, photos, or links to web pages allows for more detailed explanations of dangerous machinery without exposing those unfamiliar with the facility to injury. Overall, virtual training with 3D Virtual Tours can be a safer, more efficient, and more effective way to onboard new employees in a variety of environments.
Get all the Info – the First Time
In-person onboarding can be a fast-paced and overwhelming experience for new employees, particularly when multiple people are being onboarded at the same time. This can make it difficult for new hires to ask questions or fully understand everything they are being taught. The person giving the tour may also be rushed or forget to cover important details, leading to gaps in knowledge.
Multimedia tags in virtual tours provide new hires with the ability to revisit and review information that they may not have fully understood during the initial tour. They can re-read text, re-watch videos, take notes, and know exactly where in the tour these resources were mentioned, allowing them to use them effectively on the job. In addition, virtual tours can include frequently asked questions to provide new hires with the information they need without having to ask for it. This helps to ensure that new employees have a comprehensive understanding of their new workplace and are prepared to succeed in their roles.
Training Made Easier and More Effective
For businesses that require equipment training, onboarding new employees can be a time-consuming process. However, virtual tours can make this process more efficient by integrating job or task-specific lessons. With virtual tours, new hires can review the location of different machinery and access multimedia tags to visit webpages with quizzes or lessons or watch videos that explain how the equipment works. This flexible approach to onboarding allows new employees to learn at their own pace and when they are most receptive to new information, resulting in more effective training. Studies have shown that this type of flexibility can improve the effectiveness of onboarding and training.
Save Time and Money
Virtual training environments can save time and money by eliminating the need for travel, whether it is sending training staff to field offices or flying new hires to the corporate headquarters. While in-person meetings are important for creating an inclusive workspace and providing hands-on training in certain industries, incorporating virtual training into onboarding can free up senior employees to focus on their own duties and allow new hires to learn the ropes at their own pace. This can be especially beneficial for industries where safety is a concern, as remote visits allows for a safer and more thorough introduction to the job without the risk of injury or feeling overwhelmed. Additionally, virtual training can be more cost-effective as it reduces the need for travel and accommodations.
Virtual tours have the potential for saving businesses of all sizes time and money, increasing the effectiveness of training, and can be used again and again, freeing up your veteran staffers and management to do their work.
Eliminating the risk factors, virtual tours have the advantage of bringing new hires up-close-and-personal with even the most dangerous machinery, allowing your current staff to continue working and your facility to keep operating, making the onboarding process less intrusive and a lot safer. As the workplace adjusts to this new normal, virtual tours are the next frontier in the training and onboarding process.
Start Virtual Training With Virtual Tours Today
3D Virtual tours offer a unique and engaging employee onboarding solution. If you are interested and are looking to learn more or are ready to use 3D Virtual Tours for virtual training in Ottawa, Montreal or Toronto, contact our team to schedule your scan.