Are employees ready to work in the metaverse?

As technology continues to develop and become part of daily lives, will it change how businesses work? 

The ‘metaverse’ is a virtual reality space where you can create and explore with other people who aren’t in the same physical space as you. Connecting through VR and AR, you can go about a normal conversation as an Avatar in a ‘different world’.

Lenovo, a company focused on building smarter technology, has released new research that reveals close to half of employees (44%) are willing to work in the metaverse and believe that it can deliver benefits like productivity to the workplace.

Workers are ready to enter the metaverse

Looking to the future it is thought that the metaverse can be a highly immersive extension of the physical world, with its rich user interface. This could open up possibilities for businesses to create a more viable, interactive workplace.

However, there is skepticism on whether companies have the capabilities to pull it off. Two in five (43%) respondents believe their employers do not, or probably do not have the knowledge or expertise to enable them to work in the metaverse of the future.

Ken Wong, President, Lenovo Solutions and Services Group: “The pandemic challenged us all to adapt to new ways of work – forcing organisations of all sizes to evolve at an exponential pace. The metaverse presents businesses with new opportunities but also more complex technological challenges, such as the need for more computing power, better integrated hardware, and simpler and more flexible IT solutions.”

The metaverse presents a new opportunity for businesses 

51% of working adults agree that an employer’s speed of adoption of new technology is an indicator of readiness for new technological realities, such as the virtually enhanced physical reality of the metaverse.

The research found that whilst 44% think the metaverse will improve their work productivity, three in five (59%) do not think or are not sure that their employers are currently investing enough in IT to help them maximise their productivity.

“Though the metaverse has yet to be ubiquitous, organisations can get a head start with improving productivity at work. They do not have to invest significantly more capital to achieve that. Everything-as-a-service or pay-as-you-go models offer the flexibility, cost efficiency, and scalability to adapt to each company’s unique circumstance,” added Wong.

“We are just scratching the surface of the metaverse, not to mention the new economics of Web 3.0. For now, the metaverse opens up a world of possibilities for businesses, which according to our research, almost half of employees are willing to participate in. To grasp it, companies need to identify new ways to make the most of their technologies.” said Wong.