MINNEAPOLIS — As life in the metaverse continues to evolve, businesses are having employees create avatars for virtual work.
Although convenient, this is proving a challenge for human resources departments as they try to come up with enforceable policies in the virtual space.
For many companies, remote work consists strictly of Zoom calls. That won’t be the case for long as many companies, most notably tech companies at this point, are using the metaverse for a more authentic 3D remote collaboration.
Attorney and cyber security expert Leeza Garber believes there are huge benefits to having the metaverse in the workplace. “We’ve seen it used as an industrial hub, we’ve seen digital twins which really can allow people to work on a factory floor and see how factories run from all over the world.”
However, she’s quick to point out there’s a whole slew of liabilities that come with those benefits, because virtual work interactions need guidelines just like those in the physical world.
In Garber’s view, “it could definitely be an HR nightmare” as companies scramble to add chapters to employee handbooks, clearly laying out virtual expectations. “In addition to discrimination cases, in addition to assault and harassment that could take place based on what your avatar looks like, what are your policies surrounding the recording of your employees?” Garber asked.
Recording virtual interactions, even if it’s an employee’s avatar, is a big hurdle. If there’s a metaverse workplace, there is an expectation the company will be required to record all interactions in case any litigation arises. That way there’s proof what happened if an issue arises, but Garber says that brings up questions about what kind of data is being collected.
“This is all related to privacy policies, and employers are going to have to write those policies and make sure their employees can understand them,” she said.
Although in its infancy, Garber believes the key to a good company policy is recognizing how the platform works. "People are really going to have to understand how the technology operates in order to write really good, living, breathing documents that will help employees understand what they’re stepping into.”
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