If you don’t know already, we have started a podcast!
In the Podcast, we unpack all the latest cutting edge office tech, hardware and software that businesses are starting to implement.
In one of our latest podcasts, we covered a whole range of topics, including ways we think the Metaverse will change the future of business.
Below we have highlighted the five ways we think the Metaverse will affect you and the way you work.
1. Training
VR will change how we train and develop our skills within the workplace. For example, with VR, trainees in the construction sector could interact with their digital surroundings and visit places that look exactly like what they will encounter on a real construction site.
Learning and training in the Metaverse will undoubtedly disrupt education and make training and degrees more accessible. Everyone will have access to visual, hands-on learning and can gain a qualification for almost any job.
2. Mental Health
Virtual Reality (VR) is already used to treat mental health conditions. People affected by phobias, addiction, depression, and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) already use VR as a safe space to treat their conditions.
However, more commercial use of VR could spell potential risks. Mental health conditions could be exacerbated because of VR in a similar way to how the internet and social media currently affect people. Facebook and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t have the best track record with online safety and mental wellbeing, which could spell trouble for the Metaverse when it comes to people’s mental health.
3. Efficiency Vs Effectiveness
The Metaverse promises to produce imaginative and creative new ways for people to collaborate and work online. However, businesses will need to ensure that the Metaverse doesn’t lead to burnout from employees spending long hours immersed in virtual worlds.
Hybrid working will no longer be about the home-workplace split, but more about achieving maximum effectiveness between the virtual and the physical world of work. HR will need to develop new hybrid working policies to ensure that healthy Metaverse working practices are in order. This will make sure people are not only being efficient but effective as well.
4. Work From Home
Remote work currently means missing out on a lot of the perks of the office. Meeting new faces, in-person collaboration, chats in the office kitchen. However, these can all be achieved from your own home with the Metaverse. The Metaverse will allow us to create virtual environments where we can interact in immersive ways using virtual reality.
Unlike physical offices, working from home will undergo rapid change in the next 5-10 years, adding a new dimension to remote working. 2D video calls will change to 3D, immersive spaces. Businesses will need to innovate and deliver a work from home experience as it becomes a tool to attract the best employees. The Metaverse will also allow businesses to widen their catchment area for employees, as they will no longer need employees to be within travelling distance from a physical office.
5. Exercises and Leisure
Devices such as stationary bikes (Peloton) can interpret speed. Smartwatches capture heart rate. Even mobile phones can detect if you are walking or climbing stairs. Cameras have been capturing body motion since the days of the Nintendo Wii. These are just a few examples that show how we are already translating exercises from the real world into VR.
So, even with current technology, amazing things are possible in the Metaverse. In the Metaverse, we will only be limited by our imagination as to how we exercise. You could race your bike in the Tour de France. You could even attend a virtual dance class on Mars. These are just a few fitness-related experiences that the Metaverse could bring to your living room.
And… We’re Live!
The Tomorrow’s Workplace, Today podcast is now available wherever you get your podcasts.
Take a deep dive into the future advancements of technology and how they will affect you and your business no matter the size, sector or service, as we envisage tomorrow’s workplace, today.
We hope you enjoy it.