Playful First Steps: Virtual Reality and Gamification to Ease Employee Onboarding

Effective onboarding of new employees ensures efficient integration, productivity, and retention. The user study presented in this paper explores the potential of Virtual Reality (VR) to support learning and skill development in onboarding processes, addressing a gap where traditional approaches might lack VR’s immersive and engaging attributes, potentially limiting knowledge retention and transfer. While VR's benefits in educational and training scenarios are known, direct comparisons between VR and conventional onboarding methods in industrial settings remain sparse. In response, we compared a VR-based onboarding prototype to a traditional tutor-led approach to ascertain its effectiveness. In this study, 46 new employees were divided into two groups. The experimental group underwent VR onboarding, while the control group experienced the traditional method. The results show that the control group achieved a higher overall learning success than the experimental group. On the other hand, VR onboarding was rated as more entertaining, and participants said they would be more likely to recommend it to others. Our findings suggest that incorporating VR, especially with preliminary hardware training, can lead to enhanced onboarding processes and more openness to XR technology integration within companies. Considering these findings, harnessing VR for engaging and impactful onboarding experiences could signify a transformative shift in how companies train and integrate their workforce, indicating a future where immersive technologies play a central role in education and professional development.