Minaca VR (Managing Incivility, Negativity And Customer Aggression) is an immersive training program that reduces the significant financial impact on organisations, and the psychological damage of poor customer behaviour, upon frontline workers through building employee capability & resilience.
The Challenge:
A YouGov Survey conducted in 2024, asked 337 senior decision makers across health care, retail, hospitality and education about the realities of increased customer aggression incidents and the effects of poor customer behaviour on an organisation and it's employees, and what gaps exist in current training approaches. 89% of Australian HR senior management reported concern over the impact of aggressive customer behaviour on the safety and wellbeing of their frontline staff. 80% revealed that while they want better or more frequent training for their customer-facing workers, they struggle to get internal support.
Cashiers, retail assistants and aged care support workers are experiencing incivility and aggression from customers to a higher degree and more frequently.
This manifests at the psychological level through:
This in turn has real business outcomes such as:
With recent changes in legislation redefining workplace violence, employers have a particular legal obligation to address these psychosocial risks and ensure the safety of their teams.
The Solution:
Start Beyond has worked with companies like Woolworths, St John Ambulance and SocialWise VR to develop bespoke interactive experiences provide their workers with the knowledge and skills to navigate the shop and warehouse floor safely, administer CPR & first aid training effectively, and assist neurodivergent individuals to practice social interactions, all from the safety of a VR headset.
In 2024, Start Beyond collaborated with Strivr to create the Customer Acts of Violence and Aggression program for Woolworths; a VR training program which used real on-the-floor simulations to delivery quick and effective training that would reduce risk, boost employee confidence and build a more resilient workforce.
The module was rolled out across more than 1,000 stores; and was completed by over 50,000 employees in its first 4 months, being recognised as Best WHS Training Program in the 2024 National Safety Awards of Excellence.
Off the back of the Woolworths' successful, Start Beyond partnered with WHS experts, Amy & Steven, of the Risk Collective, and set out to develop an off-the-shelf solution that addresses real world customer incivility and workplace violence for frontline workers across retail, hospitality, health and aged care, by combining their research and expertise in workplace psychology, law & OHS with VR principles and complex gamification.
Minaca VR is a low cost, scalable VR training solution. Everything is provided and it afford unlimited access to the entire experience, for an unlimited amount of users. Powered by Start Beyond's world leading VR platform Oncio - a scalable, modular platform that reaches learners across VR, desktop, and mobile, there is no need to purchase hardware or software, and it's as simple as starting with the three month Pilot Program.
Minaca VR:
The Result:
Minaca VR is being trialled with frontline employees at national organisations like UTS, The Reject Shop and Optus and has already proven to be a huge success for levelling up customer skills for thousands.
It's safe. It's engaging. It's empowering. And it can be tailored to suit different scenarios and workplace situations. In essence, in a world where customer-facing frontline staff are increasingly dealing with workplace aggression and potentially dangerous customer behaviour, Minaca VR provides a tangible solution to training staff effectively and most importantly, safely.
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