Analysis of "Is VR the Future of Employee Training Programs? Bank of America Thinks So"
Article: Is VR the Future of Employee Training Programs? Bank of America Thinks So
Published on October 28, 2021 - By Emma Ascott
Within the article, links to press release,
Bank of America is First in Industry to Launch Virtual Reality Training Program in Nearly 4,300 Financial Centers
by Bank of America (BoA) dated October 7, 2021 here: https://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/content/newsroom/press-releases/2021/10/bank-of-america-is-first-in-industry-to-launch-virtual-reality-t.html
I find 3 errors:
1. The bolded statements right at the top of the allwork article version allude to "executive summary" or "highlights". But look at that middle one. Remember, when you do something to get your audience’s attention (97%!), you better deserve it. In this case, BoA really does not.
2. The general hand-wave effect of statements made throughout are signalling a weak foundation. I worry about this. Who sold what snake oil to which BoA leader for this entire project to proceed.
3. A lack of needs analysis might have happened, but claiming that a “lack of evidence” is evidence for something is shaky ground. Nonetheless, BoA leaves a few hints. ("We are constantly seeking ways to implement advanced technologies that
offer better solutions for our teammates and our clients. ")
Bonus points: the headset are rolling out at 4,300 locations but called “VR”---- which is funny because you could roll out VR at an infinite number of locations with zero headsets (cough WebXR)...but I guess that memo didn’t make it around.
1. You got my attention, bold bullet
Immediately one’s hackles are raised by bullet #2.
- 97% of those who have used VR felt more comfortable performing their tasks after going through the simulations.
I mean. really. Here, I fixed it for you:
- 97% felt more comfortable performing their tasks after going through the training.
2. Hand Wave Statements
I must credit the "hand wave" phrase to my former colleague Gideon Weinstein when we used to do Master's Degree Oral Defense Examinations together. He'd say "We don't allow 'hand wave' explanations in math." This means that you can't get to a formula, for example, and instead of saying "we just solve it from here". You MUST show your work and that includes showing every step of the solution. No hand waving as if it is so obvious that we don't need to explain it.
So this article does an uncomfortable amount of hand waving. It's tucked in with weak evidence statements which I also indicate.
👋 = hand wave evidence
😔 = weak evidence, could be improved with more specificity
Whether helping a client through a difficult moment or picking up on cues from a person who didn’t even realize they needed help understanding their accounts, the life-like 👋 simulations made possible by VR are highly effective👋 at helping employees 😔 build and retain 😔 new skills and 😔 better connect 😔 with clients in real life.
Currently, we offer five training modules but are slated to roll out a total of 20 different VR simulations that will help our teammates practice a wide range of skills such as 😔strengthening and deepening relationships😔 with clients and 😔 listening and responding with empathy. 😔
We began piloting the VR program in 2019 and 😔after seeing its success in driving employee engagement and knowledge retention, 😔 [notice that they *could* tell you more about this success but they do NOT. So there are no claims of "better" here. We could guess that the VR learning was "equal" to other forms of learning.] 👋 it became clear👋 this was a program we wanted to extend to more employees.
👋We know VR is a highly effective,👋 immersive learning technology that helps teammates to be 😔 more engaged 😔, ["more engaged" is really questionable wording for VR, it often seems to mean "we cut off all vision except what we want you to see and we dominate the sounds with what we want you to hear, so you are forced to pay more attention to the training." See more engaged from the PwC report for further explanation of how this is problematic.] 😔 better prepared 😔 [what is "better"?] 👍 and develop new skills more quickly. 👍 [yes, agreed, quickly is the right word here IF there are enough headsets] It’s an 👋 intuitive tool 👋 [would the 12 think so?] 👍 that allows teammates to practice client interactions on their own time and at their own speed in a realistic environment. 👍 [OK, that appears to be true!]
👋VR has shown early promise for replicating real-life scenarios and giving our teammates meaningful practice and confidence. 👋Following a successful pilot with 400 employees, 97% of the participants felt more comfortable performing their tasks after going through the simulations. By giving employees the tools to be more prepared and confident in their roles, 😔 we can create a better overall experience for both our employees and our clients.😔 [that's a reaching statement, but this isn't research, so...]
At Bank of America, we pride ourselves on being a great place to work,
and that includes providing best-in-class learning programs and
meaningful career growth opportunities. VR is one of the many ways we
are using world-class technology to increase skill development, support
internal mobility, and ensure all teammates have access to the resources
they need to grow in their current roles and build new skills. 👋VR has a
long list of benefits, 👋but there are many other learning formats and
advanced technologies that can be useful for training, depending on the
need.
Not hand waving but just somewhat poor writing/editing
At least twice, the article nearly word-for-word copies itself. Erp. I could be fussy, but that just seems suspect.
3. Lack of needs analysis
My designer buddies would recognize what a needs analysis or gap analysis is. It's also the "A" section of the ADDIE design process. It means that training must solve a problem. If there is no problem, don't design training. This article is not specific on what the problem was prior to the decision to use headsets. Admittedly, they are a business talking about a business decision so it is unlikely that they'll say "our previous training was poor."
The other flag that is noticeable is that BoA keeps justifying this decision along the lines of wanting to be first:
Bank of America became the first major financial services firm to launch virtual reality training for its employees.
In early October, Bank of America became the first financial services firm to launch virtual reality (VR) training in all of its nearly 4,300 financial centers nationwide.
Bank of America is the first financial services firm to launch virtual reality (VR) training in nearly 4,300 financial centers nationwide, making this the latest in our long-standing investment in the success of our people. Currently, we offer five training modules but are slated to roll out a total of 20 different VR simulations that will help our teammates practice a wide range of skills such as strengthening and deepening relationships with clients and listening and responding with empathy.
We are constantly seeking ways to implement advanced technologies that offer better solutions for our teammates and our clients.
At Bank of America, we pride ourselves on being a great place to work, and that includes providing best-in-class learning programs and meaningful career growth opportunities. VR is one of the many ways we are using world-class technology to increase skill development, support internal mobility, and ensure all teammates have access to the resources they need to grow in their current roles and build new skills. VR has a long list of benefits, but there are many other learning formats and advanced technologies that can be useful for training, depending on the need.
As a business, they can use that language. But it weakens the use of this article as "evidence" and some will try to do that.
Thus, I wrote this piece and will pass it out whenever needed.
Remember, I'm for virtual reality for learning. And I do entirely predict that the learners here with BoA will be able to learn the soft skills presented to them. Yes.
But when it comes to pass there are no learning gains (aka, it is not BETTER than, say, e-learning) for 50,000 employees over 4,300 financial centers, which leader is going to be OK with the cost of ~12,000 headsets and the cost to develop that training?? This is a major investment on a leap here.
Over time, the cost to develop VR training and to own VR headsets will drop. Yes.
Over time, any apparent "learning objective gains" by VR will normalize (the novelty effect will wear off). Yes.
So can/should BoA continue with VR? Yes. Sure.
That's not the problem.
It is thinking that XR is new, amazing, and solves world peace in the training realm.
That's the problem.
Because it does not.
I'll stay vigilant and call out bad uses of XR when I see them.