On Thursday, Walmart announced that it will begin using virtual reality headsets to train its employees in compliance, customer service and new technology.
Walmart has partnered with Oculus, to provide headsets to each of its retail stores. Each headset costs $199 and Walmart will provide nearly 17,000 of them to stores across the U.S. Employees in all departments will be required to go through the VR training.
“The great thing about VR is its ability to make learning experiential,” said Andy Trainor, Walmart’s senior director of Walmart U.S. Academies. “We’ve also seen that VR training boosts confidence and retention while improving test scores 10 to 15 percent – even those associates who simply watched others experience the training saw the same retention boosts.”
Walmart plans to provide four headsets to each of its Walmart supercenters and two units to every Neighborhood Market and discount store.
