MARK Zuckerberg’s $10billion metaverse is about to make hiding from your boss a whole lot harder.
The Meta founder and Facebook CEO announced at last week’s Meta Connect conference that the virtual workplace will feature uncanny-looking avatars standing in for human employees.
The avatars can be customized to match each person’s skin tone, hairstyle and even clothing before they attend the virtual reality meetings.
Zuckerberg – who has invested more than $10billion into making the metaverse – also claimed the avatars will have more diversity, including disability representation.
This way, employees can work in a “third mode” between having a camera on or off during a Zoom call, Zuckerberg said during the conference, according to Fortune.
“You can still express yourself and react, but you’re not on-camera, so it’s kind of like a better camera-off mode,” Zuckerberg said.
When initially announced earlier this year, the billions-of-dollars worth of avatars were slammed for their quality, as the company first introduced them without legs.
While Zuckerberg expects many people to be immersed in the metaverse within the next 10 to 15 years, virtual avatars may be beneficial for employers that prioritize having their employees in person or on camera in a meeting.
Several recent surveys have found that companies are questioning productivity levels for at-home workers.
In particular, the New York Times reported in August that eight of the 10 largest private US employers track individual workers’ productivity – sometimes in real-time by watching keyboard activity.
This week, Fortune reported that Zuckerberg’s vivid avatars may alleviate some of these bosses’ anxieties about performance.
To access the metaverse world, employees use virtual reality headsets that go for a hefty $1,499/£1,499.
While the graphics are low-resolution right now, the company is looking to design office spaces that mirror real places.
Still, some experts have concerns about whether using the metaverse will improve employee engagement in the workplace – particularly when it comes to team bonding.
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“Your company can’t treat you to a cocktail virtually,” metaverse expert Cathy Hackl told Fortune, adding that she likely couldn’t wear the virtual headset longer than 45 minutes.
“I don’t think I could wear a headset for a six-hour video call.”
