Pool inflatables are passed over the heads of Wal-Mart employees Wednesday on the first day of the company’s annual shareholders week in Northwest Arkansas. ( NWA Democrat-Gazette / Jason Ivester

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has introduced virtual reality as a teaching tool for employees who are participating in the company's training program, tapping into the technology in efforts to better prepare its workforce for the sales floor.

The retailer showed off the program during a tour of its Fayetteville training academy Wednesday, which was part of Wal-Mart's shareholders week in Northwest Arkansas. The program Wal-Mart is utilizing was produced by STRIVR, a company that specializes in virtual-reality programs designed specifically as tools for learning and development. Its customers range from professional sports teams to Fortune 500 companies, according to the STRIVR website.

Tom Ward, vice president of central operations for Wal-Mart U.S., said virtual reality is being used by the academies to simulate scenarios like the holiday rush, accidents or spills.

"There might be certain things that you don't want to re-create [in a store] every day like a spill hazard or accident," Ward said. "Maybe there's a scenario around service where we want to show somebody exactly how to do something or how not to do it. We don't want to disrupt the business in the store to constantly re-create that same scenario."

Wal-Mart demonstrated the educational benefits by showing a busy holiday-shopping scenario that was filmed in one of the company's stores. A volunteer wore the virtual-reality headset and was immersed in a hectic scene, which featured crowded aisles lined with customers and employees who were trying to direct traffic. The scene was visible to others in the classroom on two television screens on each side of the room.

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A Wal-Mart spokesman said the program has been tested in about 30 training academies and will be rolled out to each location. Wal-Mart has about 155 training academies but plans to push the number to 200 by the end of the year.

"Imagine being a new assistant manager having never worked in a Wal-Mart before," Ward said before the demonstration. "How on earth do you prepare somebody for the holiday peak season, that rush of a busy store and all of the action going around you? With this we can really prepare these leaders."

Incorporating virtual reality into a training program for managers and assistant managers is just one of many steps the retailer has taken to better train its 1.5 million U.S. workers. In addition to investing $2.7 billion into employee wages, the retailer has invested in workforce initiatives. Executives believe that the efforts have played a significant role in Wal-Mart's ability to continue to attract customers and drive sales in its 4,700 U.S. stores.

Wal-Mart reported same-store sales increased 1.4 percent during the first quarter of its fiscal year, the 11th-straight quarter of improvement. Traffic also increased 1.5 percent, which was the 10th-straight quarterly gain, during a time in which other brick-and-mortar retailers were experiencing declining results because of the rise of online shopping.

Other tools outlined by the company Wednesday included the introduction of updated hand-held devices, which employees use to view a number of in-house apps that help manage inventory, locate products and see a store's real-time performance scores based on Wal-Mart's clean, fast and friendly criteria. The company has introduced software aimed at improving scheduling for employees as well, allowing part-time workers to add shifts more easily than before.

Chris Norton, a longtime employee and a department manager at the Fayetteville store, said the efforts Wal-Mart has put into recent initiatives aimed at its employees is an improvement from the past.

"It got derailed a little bit," Norton said. "They kind of forgot us, but we're on the right path now."

Judith McKenna, chief operating officer for Wal-Mart's domestic stores, applauded workers for their performance during the company's meeting for U.S. employees at Bud Walton Arena earlier Wednesday. The morning pep rally featured actor Terry Crews and a performance by Julia Michaels. During her address to the crowd, McKenna credited employees with playing an important role in being "part of a company that is taking it to the competition."

McKenna also said she believed that Wal-Mart's training academies have become a "game changer."

The first academies opened in Fort Smith, Fayetteville and Carrollton, Texas, in early 2016. Courses last between two and six weeks, depending on the focus. Wal-Mart said it will train 250,000 employees in its academies this year.

"We are still learning," McKenna said later during a question-and-answer session with the media. "I think we're on the right track in terms of how long some of our programs are. As we get into this, we might decide assistant manager training is eight weeks or five weeks or whatever that looks like. We are listening every step of the way."

McKenna and U.S. Chief Executive Officer Greg Foran acknowledged the increasing role automation and technology is playing in retail. The executives also believe that Wal-Mart has an advantage in the changing retail landscape because of its workers.

"Wal-Mart employs a lot of people," Foran told employees during the U.S. meeting. "We also serve a lot of people. The connections we make, the relationships you will build, they generate the spark that is at the core of the Wal-Mart experience.

"But it takes work. If we get it wrong and the service is bad, then it can be a real downer. The experience won't be good for anyone. If you get it right, it's an enormous advantage."

Business on 06/01/2017

Photo by Jason Ivester

Candy is dropped from the rafters to the audience Wednesday during the Wal-Mart U.S. employees meeting at Bud Walton Arena in Fayetteville.

Photo by Jason Ivester

Actor Terry Crews (left) and Mike Moore, executive vice president of supercenters, lead the audience in the company cheer Wednesday during the Wal-Mart U.S. employees meeting in Fayetteville.