Onboarding new employees is a critical step in preparing them for their new job. It also can be key to retaining talent, as a recent report by SHRM notes that half of all hourly workers leave new jobs in the first four months. Many organizations solve the onboarding challenge by relying on eLearning for policy, procedures, and other topics, but this approach often is not effective and does not truly prepare new employees. What about familiarizing new employees with an organization that has multiple buildings? Or showing them how to navigate a large warehouse, hospital setting, or manufacturing facility?

A 360-degree virtual reality tour is an alternative solution for onboarding new employees. With 360 VR photos and video, organizations can design fully immersive and interactive tours that not only familiarize new employees with their surroundings but also teach them areas of importance in the context of their job roles. In this session, you’ll look at an example of a university that sought to help distance students and new students familiarize themselves. The session will break down this example and discuss how this project was designed, including things to consider when getting started, the design process, and all the hardware, software, and technology used to implement it. Finally, you’ll look at some feedback and the value it added to the onboarding experience.

In this session, you will learn:

• How to get started with a 360 virtual reality project
• About the design process for creating 360 VR tours
• About cameras, software, and hosting platforms
• About delivery to smartphones and headsets

Audience:

Designers, developers, and managers

Technology discussed in this session:

Samsung Gear 360 camera, 360 photo/video stitching software, nadir and zenith patches, Oculus Go, VR headsets similar to Google Cardboard, and several WebVR hosting platforms