Community, collaboration, and work in the Metaverse

Immersive platforms are taking the traditional work environment to a hybrid reality, in which the real and virtual worlds coexist. And the union of these two universes in a single experiment takes place in  Metaverse . In it, meetings, dynamics, testing laboratories, celebrations, and everything else are accessible anywhere and by a variety of devices, including laptops, cell phones, and virtual reality (VR) headsets.

This reality, which seems science fiction to some, is already happening to many others. The Metaverse opens up enormous potential and there is no manual or set standards.

Therefore, companies are committed to offering the most varied types of work and using  resources to create belonging and promote a culture of collaboration, community, creativity, and productivity. Balancing needs and interests has gained a new meaning in a scenario where most people prefer remote or hybrid work and the routine will be in the virtual environment.

According to a survey by Gallup done with 8,000 workers in the United States, 60% of them want to stay in the hybrid working format. The number of people in this modality increased from 42% in February this year to 49% in June and is expected to reach 55% by the end of the year. That is, the accelerated change due to the imposition of the pandemic came to stay.

Developing accessibility and flexible solutions and addressing communication, collaboration, and motivation challenges have become imperative. The struggle for the most innovative talents involves providing collaborative environments and using technology to satisfy different realities and needs at any time.

Gamified workforce

Many of the solutions we already use or will use come from games. Gamification is – and will continue to be – more present in our lives than many of us suppose. For decades, games, first electronic and then digital, have been present in our daily lives. They have proliferated and become increasingly influential, especially in the development and applications of innovative and disruptive technologies. Its evolution has gone through several stages: online, mobile, social, cloud, augmented reality, virtual reality and now we reach the Metaverse.

More than virtual disputes, they are spaces for interaction. Over the past 20 years, millions of people in the world have interacted in games such as The Sims and Second Life and, more recently, Fortnite, Roblox, Minecraft, Pokémon Go, and many others. Add to that the fact that most of the Z and Millennial generations play video games.

These generations have grown up buying products in the virtual world or power-ups for their games. They are native to online interaction and collaboration, community building, and problem-solving.

Brands are exploring creating their virtual identities to help personify their values and beliefs into a virtual being that can appear live, in real-time, on any channel. Rising workforce behaviors will continue to drive these innovations and brand evolutions.

We are creating the future of work every day. Several collaboration platforms have been launched so far, each with its own features and characteristics.

The sense of community that the Metaverse brings is no longer limited to games alone. As workplaces evolve, workers will collaborate, create and communicate increasingly in immersive environments.