Feeling safe, comfortable, and confident in the workplace is necessary to create a productive and professional work environment. However, violations of employee privacy, consent, and comfort occur frequently as a result of gender, racial, and sexual harassment and discrimination.
According to the EEOC, there were a total of 98,411 charges of workplace harassment and 27,291 charges of sexual harassment between the years of 2018 and 2021. Of these charged alleges, 78.2% and 62.2% of these were filed by women for sexual harassment cases and all cases of harassment, respectively. These numbers highlight that not only is workplace harassment an ongoing issue in dire need of attention, but that it disproportionately affects women.
As of current, most states have taken legal action to help ensure workplace harassment and discrimination does not go unnoticed nor unpunished. Under California law, taken from the National Conference of State Legislatures:
“Employers can’t discriminate based on race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity or expression, age (40 and older), sexual orientation, or military or veteran status, unless a permissible defense applies.”
State laws typically emulate the current federal civil rights laws in place, but many provide “additional protections against employment-related discrimination” (NCSL).
While a case of workplace harassment negatively affects the company — both monetarily and reputably — harassment most harshly affects the victims. It is not uncommon for victims of harassment to suffer from subsequent mental health issues, such as anxiety, depression, PTSD, drug and or alcohol abuse, eating disorders, and more. The prevalence of workplace harassment and discrimination and their effects on the victims and the company showcase the need for well-developed formal trainings, aimed at tackling the issue at its root.
Many companies already have mandatory employee and supervisor trainings conducted to help mitigate the harms caused by harassment and discrimination. However, a lot of them lack the luster that keeps users’ attention and effectively changes behavior.
The development of virtual reality (VR) has transformed what it means to live new experiences. With this new technology, users can interact with three-dimensional simulations in a more “life-like” way, using helmets and headsets. Fortunately, in a world that is riddled with underperforming trainings for workplace safety, virtual reality helps bridge that gap.
VR allows users to understand the breadth and depth of various perspectives. By simulating life-like realities, VR has the capability to increase understanding more effectively than other two-dimensional formats. A study conducted by PwC in 2021 highlighted some of the best impacts of using virtual reality for soft skills training. Because of these immersive simulations, VR speeds up training by four times and VR learners are four times more engaged than their 2D e-learning counterparts.
As VR continues to develop, we see its important effects in a variety of spaces, even beyond the workplace. A study conducted by the University of South Australia found that VR can more effectively teach kids how to respond in natural disaster events. Professor Delene Weber concluded, “VR has enormous potential to teach children about emergencies. As digital natives, they are engaged by technology, so when it’s immersive — as it is with VR — they can experience events realistically, yet within safe parameters.”
Creating safe environments to train skills for real life events is extremely important to combat workplace safety issues in the future. Sisu VR is a new up-and-coming VR company that capitalizes on the benefits of learning through VR in the context of workplace safety trainings. Sisu offers two products: Mindglow Active Shooter Response training, which provides training on identifying firearms and effective concealment and escape tactics, as well as the Empower Now Program, which provides an empathy-based framework to prevent harassment, bullying, and discrimination in the workplace. Using VR in this capacity will be instrumental in promoting a safe workplace.
Try out a demo with Sisu VR today!
