Workplace exchanges inside the VR Library.

Equal Reality VR: feel exclusion from the inside, then practise the response

Immersive titles on discrimination, bias, allyship and intersectionality from Equal Reality, a subsidiary of People Tech Revolution, in the PTR VR Library.

The story

Built to make bias felt, not described

Equal Reality builds VR that lets people feel discrimination from the inside, then decide what to do about it. Its titles sit in the PTR VR Library as Equal Reality VR, alongside Mind Shift VR and Lift VR.

An open-plan office, colleagues at a desk, a remark about to interrupt. — An open-plan office, a remark, a choice.

A visitor stands beside a bare reception desk, seen through the headset. — A visitor beside a bare reception desk.

A young woman waits in the staff room. A first person VR training scenario for cross-sector, seen through the headset. — A young woman waits in the staff room.

The titles

A title for each conversation

Pick the moment your people find hardest: everyday bias, discrimination at the counter, or anxiety at work.

Colleagues stand in a lunch area with a floating panel of responses between them, seen through the headset. — Colleagues with a panel of responses.

Everyday Inclusion

Unconscious bias, microaggressions and intersectionality, each followed by the conversation a manager has to lead. Co-designed with Cornell University and Angela Winfield, and available in English, French and German.

Answering a customer across the counter.

Finding Common Ground

Discrimination at a customer-facing counter: first from the side it lands on, then as the colleague expected to act. Built from a real incident with an Australian bank.

Speak to Me Normally

Social anxiety at work, felt from the inside and designed from lived experience. Dialogue choices mean the learner has to speak, and hears what happens next.

How a session runs

A headset, a facilitator and a debrief

The titles run on standalone headsets inside a facilitated workshop. The conversation afterwards is where a feeling becomes a decision about behaviour.

A facilitator and participant discuss a completed staged exchange. A VR training scenario for immersive XR. — A facilitator and participant talk it through.

In a room, or in a browser

Most groups take turns in the headset, then talk it through with a facilitator. When headsets could not be shared, ViacomCBS staff met Equal Reality’s Unpacking Bias as browser simulations followed by facilitated video workshops.

Results

What organisations reported, credited to Equal Reality

Organisations that ran Equal Reality training, and what their people reported in Equal Reality’s case studies and a peer-reviewed paper.

A facilitator guides participants in the workshop. A VR training scenario for the PTR VR Library. — A facilitator guides workshop participants.

J.P. Morgan

Local staff ran 7 events in 5 countries, with over 200 participants and no on-site support from Equal Reality. 97% found VR more engaging than traditional training techniques.

Objects rest beneath a streetlight, seen through the headset. — Objects beneath a streetlight, through the headset.

Domain Group

Equal Reality and mwah. ran workshops for Domain’s 643 employees. 89% of respondents said the VR made them more receptive to the workshop that followed.

A video call grid of people in their own rooms: a study, a kitchen, an office, a lounge, a home desk and a greenhouse. — A video call grid of colleagues.

ViacomCBS

Unpacking Bias was co-designed with ViacomCBS employees from their own lived experience and run remotely. 400+ users took part, with a Net Promoter Score of +54.

People practise a service conversation. A VR training scenario for virtual reality training and simulation. — People practise a service conversation.

A major bank

In Finding Common Ground, staff were the customer refused and then the colleague who saw it happen. Of the 161 participants, 96% felt prepared to act if they saw this behaviour at work.

Google

A peer-reviewed paper at ACM CHI 2024 evaluated inclusion training built with Equal Reality. The 7 trainees who returned the optional survey gave 82% average agreement that it was better than Google’s standard DEI training.

Download the Google research paper PDF

A colleague faces you across a bare table with a floating panel of replies in front of him, seen through the headset. — A colleague across a bare table.

Cornell University

Everyday Inclusion was co-designed with Cornell and Angela Winfield, who kept every scene grounded in experiences of bias people had reported. It has since run with airlines, rail operators and technology companies.

People compare VR Library scene cards at a table. — People compare VR Library scene cards.

Bring a title to your team

Tell us the conversation your people find hardest, and we will suggest a title and a workshop around it. Titles can run alongside custom builds, AI roleplay and facilitated sessions for bias and inclusion. Talk to us or book a time with our team.