--- title: "ViacomCBS Unpacking Bias: remote VR bias training" description: "How ViacomCBS ran Equal Reality web-based VR bias training with Zoom workshops when staff could not share headsets, and how participants rated it." canonical: https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/viacomcbs-unpacking-bias --- [Our Work](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work) / [Case Studies](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies) # ViacomCBS: bias training people took remotely When headsets could not be shared, ViacomCBS staff met the scenarios in a browser, then talked them through together. The brief ## Understand other people’s experience, and be an ally Inspired by Black Lives Matter, ViacomCBS wanted staff to understand experiences different from their own and to see how to act as an ally. COVID ruled out rooms and shared headsets, so it had to work remotely ([Equal Reality](https://sites.google.com/equalreality.com/partner/training/unpacking-bias), a subsidiary of People Tech Revolution). A woman speaks on an open-plan floor. A colleague across a meeting table. A man stands beside message panels. A woman faces a conversation panel. ### Built with the people it was for Equal Reality co-designed Unpacking Bias with ViacomCBS employees, drawing on their own lived experience so the situations and the responses rang true. Staff took part through web-based VR simulations blended with facilitator-led Zoom workshops, launched as part of the company’s Inclusion Week. A visitor beside an empty chair. A wheelchair user chairs a meeting. A supervisor talks with a student. What changed ## Hundreds took part, and rated it highly 400+ users took part, and the program earned an overall Net Promoter Score of +54 ([Equal Reality case study](https://sites.google.com/equalreality.com/partner/training/unpacking-bias)). A colleague across the table, arms folded. ### In participants’ words “To really be in someone else's shoes. The conversation afterwards - hearing other peoples thoughts and reaction.” Another liked the ability to try different options. The comments point the same way: the scenario opened the door, and the conversation afterwards is what they valued. Two partners at separate stations. ### What this tells you Our reading: a headset is not the only way in. When people cannot share equipment, a browser simulation followed by a facilitated video call still gives them something real to talk about. Design the discussion as carefully as the scenario, and choose options people can replay, because trying a different response is what they valued. A director waits in a meeting room. Two colleagues test a connected task. A participant follows a lit pathway. For your organisation ## Equal Reality titles, in PTR’s library The [PTR VR Library](https://peopletechrevolution.com/xr/ptr-vr-library) includes Equal Reality titles on race, gender and allyship, tested and reviewed independently in the [Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research](https://doi.org/10.1007/s44322-025-00034-z). - [PTR VR Library](https://peopletechrevolution.com/xr/ptr-vr-library) - [Immersive training and roleplay](https://peopletechrevolution.com/training/vr-training-and-roleplay) - [All case studies](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies) - [Workplace and enterprise](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries/workplace-enterprise) Training a team that works remotely? [Open the contact form](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/viacomcbs-unpacking-bias#contact) Ask our CEO Simon Lowe’s Digital Twin a question ## Sources The case study and an independent review, on their own sites. ### [Unpacking Bias](https://sites.google.com/equalreality.com/partner/training/unpacking-bias) Equal Reality and ViacomCBS The brief, the remote format and the results. ### [The use of virtual reality training to enhance empathy: software review](https://doi.org/10.1007/s44322-025-00034-z) Iuliia Khukalenko and Daria Khanolainen, Journal of New Approaches in Educational Research, 2025, open access An independent review that tested PTR’s VR library.