VR strengthens conflict management for European transport companies
Angry people from all walks of life are a daily diet for the frontline staff of transport companies. Tools for conflict and stress management are important for maintaining a healthy psychological work environment. VR helps staff train as many realistic scenarios as possible and prepare them for every conceivable situation. Through the Competence+ project, Virsabi helps transport companies over most of Europe.
The bus is delayed in the morning traffic, and a passenger begins to scold the driver, who is already stressed by the dense morning traffic. How do you react if you are a driver?
It’s when the blood pumps and the pulse throbs in our temples that most of us find it difficult to behave exactly as the theory prescribes. And these situations are difficult to train, because in training scenarios we very rarely achieve the same intensity from a fellow student or teacher playing the angry person.
Training in VR is one of the best ways to train these kinds of situations, because we immerse ourselves so much in the VR experience that the brain considers the scenario as real.
It allows frontline staff to train as many different everyday situations as possible and practice their response in different stressful conflict scenarios. Because the exercises can be repeated over and over again, the staff can train the scenarios so many times that the heart rate does not increase in the same way when the conflicts arise in the real world, allowing the staff to handle the situation so that the conflict does not escalate and so that it does not affect them to the same extent psychologically afterwards.
Conflict and stress management are two core competencies in public transport
Front staff of public transportation meet several and diverse people with different ages, backgrounds, attitudes, disabilities and in different conditions on a daily basis. Therefore, they must be equipped to handle all types of people they meet in their everyday lives.
Drunk young people who are a nuisance to others, for example, should be handled differently than a businessman who complains about being late for his next meeting.
With delays, roadworks, track maintenance, disruptive passengers and other unforeseen events, conflicts quickly arise if passengers become dissatisfied. It is therefore important to have the right tools so that employees can pull out the toolbox for conflict prevention or resolution as well as stress management.
Knowing the best ways to settle and avoid conflicts and stress creates security for both employees and passengers.
Common training across Europe
To create the best conditions for learning, we have put together a blended learning program where we combine traditional learning and VR, so it becomes easy and manageable for employees in public transport to strengthen their skills. In addition, we have created an advanced training platform and not least scenarios in virtual reality that allows employees to test their newly acquired competencies and skills in a safe environment.
