The arrival of the metaverse will necessarily impact the professional world. To what extent? First answers.
Obviously, when he speaks, we listen. And for Bill Gates, the cause is heard. In two years, three at the most, our business meetings will take place in the metaverse. "I predict that most virtual meetings will move from 2D camera grids [...] to the metaverse, a 3D space with digital avatars [...]," says the Microsoft founder. There's still work to be done, but we're approaching a threshold where the technology is starting to really replicate the experience of being together in the office.
In its fullest sense, the metaverse is this three-dimensional internet powered by virtual and augmented reality in which we will play, attend concerts, meet people, but also work.
The metaverse makes the trend towards remote jobs irreversible
The tech giants believe in it. Meta (formerly Facebook) began testing its Horizon Workrooms solution in August. As for Microsoft's Teams suite, it should integrate Mesh in the first half of 2022, at a time when the Covid-19 pandemic has imposed teleworking. Mesh is the first possible building block of the metaverse, a collaborative platform based on virtual experiences. Our avatars will be able to meet in this new world and work together even if we are in reality thousands of kilometers away. This will undoubtedly boost the phenomenon of remote jobs. But the impact of the metaverse on the professional world is far from being limited to this aspect alone.
Recruiting in virtual reality
Just imagine. You're applying for a job, but you're not really sure you're interested. Why not test it out in the metaverse before taking the job? Equipped with a virtual reality (VR) headset, you are put in a position to judge whether or not the job is really for you. And this is not science fiction. Although the metaverse is still in its infancy, MGM Resorts, the hotel and casino group, has decided to use virtual reality in its recruitment process. The goal: "to reduce the number of untimely resignations that plague the service industry," says Laura Li, head of human resources at MGM Resorts.
In a recent interview with CNBC, Thomas Johann Lorenz, co-founder of Journee, which bills itself as a "Metaverse Company", was adamant: "When it comes to retaining talent in your company or creating a culture in this early age of remote work, you need tools that are more robust than email and Zoom." For Lorenz, the metaverse will enrich human communication by focusing on "relationships, emotions and experience".
Find the Law
However, for the metaverse to become fully operational and convince potential users, it still faces a number of challenges. These include the necessary equipment (VR goggles, etc.), which for the moment remains cumbersome, but more fundamentally, a number of legal questions to which answers must necessarily be found. If only to banish possible cases of discrimination in hiring or sexual harassment in the workplace.