Here’s what your avatar’s first day of work will be like
Welcome to your virtual office in the metaverse
How virtual workplaces can improve communication
For most people,remote workingduring the pandemic has been characterized by alt-tabbing between communications apps and videoconferencing platforms such as Slack, Teams, and Miro. And there is certainly a lot of room for improvement there.
Academic studies have found thatcollaborative workbetween colleagues suffers when they work remotely. Exchanges over email or Slack increasingly replace real-time in-person conversations, hampering communication.
Google itself has claimed thatinformal chatsat coffee machines and lunch tables on its campus were responsible for innovations such as Street View and Gmail. But, with remote working, this kind of serendipitous encounter all but disappears.
And of course, there are costs to remote working, in terms of individual wellbeing too.Stanford researchershave found that so-called “Zoom fatigue” is driven by a combination of intense eye contact, lack of mobility, self-consciousness about one’s own video feed, and the cognitive demands of needing to give exaggerated feedback to signal understanding, agreement, or concern.
Technological advances mean solutions to these problems related to remote working are becoming possible. Collaboration software such as Meta’sHorizon WorkroomsandMicrosoft Mesh, which allow colleagues to meet as avatars in VR or take part in a real-world meeting as a photo-realistic hologram, are already available.
The metaverse 1.0 will no doubt see organizations creating persistent VR workplace environments, in which employees can interact in real time as embodied avatars. VR versions of office spaces can be designed to encourage chance encounters and corridor chats.
Imagine, for example, if going from one remote meeting to another involved leaving the conference room and crossing a bustling virtual atrium. That might sound far-fetched but bear in mind that Korean PropTech company Zigbang has already opened a30-floor VR officecalled Metapolis. Employees choose an avatar and navigate to their desks via elevators and corridors. When they meet a colleague’s avatar, their webcam and mic are activated so they’re able to have a conversation. The webcam and mic then turn off automatically as their avatar walks away.
Meanwhile, the ability to use and read body language and actively participate in group discussions by scribbling post-it notes or drawing on a virtual whiteboard should make remote meetings in VR more engaging and less sedentary. They require much more active use of the neck, shoulders, arms and hands than a typical hour on Zoom.
How to work as an avatar
It seems likely that a new set of workplace norms will emerge as the metaverse develops. Team games, includingvirtual bowling nightsandvirtual ping-pong tournaments, might supplant Zoom drinks as the default remote working social event.
When it comes to hiring, meanwhile, VR could bring distinct benefits.“Blind” auditionshave been shown to significantly increase the representation of female musicians in symphony orchestras. It follows that interviewing as an avatar might diminish the effect of bias –-unconsciousor otherwise –- against people on the basis of their gender, age, or appearance.
Just as custom “skins” (outfits) are a feature of many MMOs, in the virtual world of work, there may well be demand for creativity in virtual fashion and accessories too, as people seek to express theirpersonal brandwithin the constraints of professional dress codes for avatars. Gucci has already soldvirtual hats, handbags, and sunglasseson the MMO platform Roblox.
Young people have been theworst affectedby the disruption COVID has caused to the job market. While some struggled with working productively from a shared house or their parents’ homes, others were scammed into joining companies thatdid not even exist.
Nonetheless, the pandemic has also brought exciting glimpses of how remote working might evolve. Due to public health concerns and climate pressure, the latter is here to stay. As it develops into the metaverse, it will continue to bring capabilities that are concentrated among younger people to the fore.
This article bySam Gilbert, Affiliated Researcher, Bennett Institute for Public Policy,University of Cambridgeis republished fromThe Conversationunder a Creative Commons license. Read theoriginal article.
Story byThe Conversation
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