Technology is constantly improving and growing, with consumers coming up with their own alternate realities. This technology had first been introduced in the ’90s, however, the technology was not advanced enough at that time for VR to really take off (Gutierrez et al., 2008). This technology is being developed and even implemented in lots of industries like healthcare, real estate the automotive industry and many more (Thompson, 2022). This technology can however create great leaps in office jobs and companies.
As digital nomads are found to be between 35% and 40% more productive than office workers it is apparent that working in different environments stimulates productivity (Glass, 2022). Digital nomads are individuals travelling the world whilst working online.
Not every person is able to travel the world as they have too many obligations at home, this could be children, a family, health reasons or several other reasons (Barang, 2020). Another reason people do not become digital nomads is due to the instability, not having a home or stable paychecks.
VR and AR could however bridge this gap between stability and working all over the world and increasing productivity. According to Fox (2022), employees’ productivity increased by 13% due to people working from home.
Virtual reality can help employees create a more productive work environment for themselves increasing collaboration with employees being able to join a virtual conference room from across the world. This could be through wearing a VR set and sitting in a completely virtual meeting room or wearing AR glasses in meeting rooms that have all been modelled similarly around the world of a large corporate company where you can see your fellow employees sitting opposite you via your AR glasses (Johansson, 2021).
An implementation which is not really talked about yet online, but I can see real potential in is being able to work in different places, may it be virtually. Going to the same office or desk every time you need to work does not bring lots of inspiration. What if you could put on your VR glasses and you and your desk would be transported to a different continent or place? Imagine loving rainforests, the peace of them and you think working in a rainforest could really enhance your productivity. You could simply transport yourself and your work to a desk in the rainforest, hearing the beads of raindrops on the leaves above and around you bringing you into a distraction-free environment where you are able to unlock your hyperfocus and work a lot more productive than at home or in the office. Through this technology you would not actually have to go to these places, may it be the rainforest or on the top floor of the tallest building the Burj al Arab in Dubai the tallest building. All these different scenes and possibilities have the opportunity to create more motivation, focus and a different workspace. Whilst still having the pros of having a steady place to live and work, unlike digital nomads.
References
Barang, N. (2020, November 28). 12 Reasons Why You Might Not Want To Be A Digital Nomad. Nomad Talk | a Resource for Digital Nomads in South East Asia and Beyond. https://nomadtalk.net/12-reasons-why-you-might-not-want-to-be-a-digital-nomad-2/
Fox, J. (2022, June 2). Are Workers More Productive at Home? Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/tosv2.html?vid=&uuid=4e918e6c-3cb2-11ed-b201-794a524f7161&url=L29waW5pb24vYXJ0aWNsZXMvMjAyMi0wNi0wMi9hcmUtd29ya2Vycy1tb3JlLXByb2R1Y3RpdmUtYXQtaG9tZT9sZWFkU291cmNlPXV2ZXJpZnklMjB3YWxs
Glass, M. (2022, July 26). 15 Digital Nomad Statistics and Curious Trends [*2022 Update*]. Project Untethered. https://www.projectuntethered.com/digital-nomad-statistics/
Johansson, N. (2021, December 13). VR For Virtual Meetings: The Ultimate Guide | XR4work. Medium. Retrieved 25 September 2022, from https://medium.com/xr4work/vr-for-virtual-meetings-the-ultimate-guide-d0c9ebe634d4
Thompson, S. (2022, March 1). VR Applications: 23 Industries using Virtual Reality. Retrieved 24 September 2022, from https://virtualspeech.com/blog/vr-applications
