Virtual Character Created To Fire Employees In Virtual Reality

Introducing Barry

As managers, one of the most difficult tasks they have to face is to fire their employees, especially one who has spent years working or who needs the job to make a living. Even though sometimes layoffs are necessary, it doesn’t mean the process will become easier.

Therefore, to make firing people a little easier, Talespin – a workplace training company invented a virtual character called Barry using artificial intelligence, for managers to practice firing their employees as many times as they want. Barry will help managers practice firing their employees.

Different Reaction

Since Barry is just a virtual character means that nobody's feeling will be hurt during the firing process. The reaction of Barry when he is fired can vary from sobbing quietly to yelling angrily. The reaction of this virtual reality employee is similar to that of a real employee in responding to receiving his or her walking papers. Thus, if employers are trying to fire somebody but they do not want to make him feel too depressed or cause a scene, Barry would be very useful.

In a blog, Talespin wrote: “When a user interacts with Barry in the simulation, they navigate hundreds of possible conversation paths to effectively (or ineffectively) terminate Barry, face common wrongful termination pitfalls, and experience Barry’s realistic speech, body language, and human-like mannerisms.”

Virtual Reality Training Day

Kyle Jackson – the CEO of Talespin says that many companies are becoming more and more interested in applying virtual reality to improve the soft skills of their employees, for example, how to carry out performance reviews or interview applicants. He also expects that the trend of virtual reality training will continue to develop.

In response to the MIT Technology Review, he said: “Soft skills are ranked among the most important for any organization as they discuss their needs for the future of work. We don’t see this slowing down any time soon.”