Alex Howland is Co-Founder and President of VirBELA, building immersive virtual worlds for events, learning and work.
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Research shows that humans have an emotional need to associate with and be accepted by members of a group, whether it's a religious affiliation, an athletic team or work colleagues. It's more than just being aware of other people — we long for acceptance, attention and support of the group members, and we want to give them our time. This intrinsic motivation drives us to spend more time with this group, and we may even begin to copy their behaviors or attitudes, especially those exhibited by the dominant members of that group.
So, it's not surprising from a psychological standpoint that many workers have struggled with a feeling of isolation as they work remotely during the pandemic. Not only do they lack the small, daily interactions with team members in a regular workplace setting, but they also don't have a chance to spontaneously bounce creative ideas back and forth or join informal conversations among colleagues.
The dilemma for these companies and their teams is meeting the emotional needs of workers who can't be together in the same space and finding ways to recreate those serendipitous, creative and collaborative moments, which is more difficult when employees aren't running into one another in the office breakroom or when walking down the hallway. One solution to these challenges can be found in virtual worlds, much like those in popular video games (except without the bloodthirsty zombies).
We're in it together.
As someone who creates virtual worlds, I've seen firsthand the benefits these types of environments can have for employees and business leaders. Virtual workplaces let participants interact with each other in a setting that allows them to move freely, have group or individual conversations, design their own avatars, and interact with other people in a more spontaneous way. Such virtual worlds can also provide greater flexibility for employees. They can move to a quiet space to work alone. They can hold meetings. They can meet with the boss one on one. They can ask quick questions of a nearby colleague, or they can even go for a walk outside with a co-worker and just decompress.
Virtual worlds allow teammates and leaders to better support team members who may be approaching burnout. The all-hands-on-deck mentality present in the early days of the pandemic has morphed into emotionally and mentally exhausted workers. In a virtual world, team members have a feeling of social presence with one another, allowing for empathy building — a sense of "we are in it together."
In addition, virtual worlds allow leaders to "show up" for employees. "Managing by walking around" is made possible in the virtual environment, allowing leaders to check in with employees more frequently and provide a safe place for them to pop in for a quick question, guidance or even an opportunity to vent.
At the same time, virtual worlds promote team member accountability. With greater visibility to each other's work, team members can motivate one another, model the values of the organization and easily identify social loafers. Work becomes more visible. The virtual environment becomes the playing field.
Virtual reality becomes second nature.
While some companies like Twitter have stated their employees can work remotely forever if they want, other companies are requiring workers to return to work. For example, Epic has stated that collaboration and creativity are suffering with the remote arrangement. That move has prompted backlash, and many employees say they don't feel safe enough to return amid a pandemic. Some companies have even opted for a hybrid approach: allowing employees to work partially from home in virtual worlds and partially in the office.
In my experience, the switch to working in a virtual world is much like moving into a new physical office. At first, employees will be very cognizant of the space they are in. There will be excitement, worry and maybe even people getting lost for a minute. But quickly, the space becomes second nature, and our company has found that people feel present in a way very much like the "real world." This allows employees to focus on the work and the team.
At our organization, we always suggest companies new to virtual worlds do an "orientation" on campus before moving in. This way your employees can begin to feel comfortable with their new surroundings, learn to navigate the environment and maybe even play a few games together on campus before work begins. We find that this kind of introduction to the technology relieves new users of any anxiety that could come along with working on a new platform, especially those employees who aren't as savvy with a computer.
As many companies plan to keep employees working remotely during the pandemic — and some even after the pandemic is history — virtual worlds can provide an important bridge between remote workers and the traditional workspace. Such virtual settings can fill the intrinsic motivation to spend more time with the group, while providing a safe and collaborative environment where innovative work gets done — and the zombies are kept at bay.
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