Woolworths Is Training Staff With Virtual Reality

The Australian supermarket giant has introduced three training modules that use virtual reality to “assist team members with de-escalation”. The training also involves two other companies, Start Beyond -- a VR studio based in Sydney -- and Strivr, a California-based “enterprise virtual reality training solution” that uses VR headsets to train corporate employees on everything from on-site safety for tradies to sporting athletes.

The Woolworths training is currently being undertaken by store leaders and service team members, and focuses on three areas: “anti social behaviour,” “threat with a weapon”, and “verbal abuse.”

A spokesperson for Woolworths told VICE in a statement the company had already been using VR training, but had now added three extra modules to focus on “customer aggression and de-escalating difficult solutions.” They said the company is “always reviewing our health and safety controls to ensure we’re doing everything we can to keep our team and customers safe in our stores, and this remains our absolute priority”.

The new emphasis on employee safety is not particularly shocking.

Woolworths’ main competitor, Coles, rolled out body cameras for its staff earlier this month after reporting an increase in both theft and violence —Woolworths itself rolled out a similar, police-style bodycam late last year.

The company’s report that this violence has increased as the cost of living crisis worsens and supermarket prices continue to soar.

In May, former head of the ACCC — Australia’s competition watchdog — Rod Sims told Guardian Australia both Coles and Woolworths had increased prices higher than necessary during the cost of living crisis, and a larger study by Guardian Australia confirmed this. It found that over a five year period, both supermarket chains used the pandemic to sell more, for more.

In August, both Coles and Woolworths recorded profits in excess of $1 billion, with nearly a 5 per cent increase from the previous financial year. Both companies make money outside of the grocery industry, but it was here where Woolworths saw a 20 per cent rise in earnings and Coles a 2.9 per cent rise.

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