Walk into Pernod Ricard India’s offices today as a new employee, and you may find yourself transported somewhere else entirely—standing on a factory floor in Nashik, navigating a busy retail market, or sitting across from the CEO—all without leaving the building.
The spirits company has rolled out Cheers VRorld, a virtual reality–based onboarding programme that immerses new hires in a 360-degree view of the business. It marks one of the first attempts within India’s alcoholic beverages sector to use immersive technology at this level for employee onboarding.
The format is deliberately consistent. New joiners put on a VR headset and spend their first day virtually meeting senior leadership, exploring manufacturing operations, and understanding how Pernod Ricard’s brands move from production lines to bars and retail shelves. Whether an employee joins from Gurugram, Nashik, or a regional office, the experience remains the same—designed to create what the company describes as a “shared starting point” for all employees.
Rather than a passive viewing experience, the programme is interactive. Employees engage with avatars, navigate different environments, and respond to quizzes as they move through the content at their own pace. The journey begins with a welcome from the CEO and concludes with introductions to the wider leadership team—faces that new hires are likely to encounter later, now familiar even before the first in-person meeting.
“Onboarding is the first moment where new employees begin to form a connection with the organization,” said Nitu Bhushan, the company’s current CHRO for South Asia. For the uninitiated, Bhushan is set to take on the role of head–HR at Nestlé India from 2 March. She framed it as both practical and symbolic—a way to scale the induction process while staying true to what the company describes as its “people-first culture.”
Around 100 employees across 14 locations have gone through the programme during its pilot phase. Pernod Ricard plans to expand the initiative further over the course of the year, embedding immersive technology more deeply into its onboarding approach.
The move represents a shift away from traditional induction formats built around slide decks, conference rooms, and classroom-style sessions. It also signals a broader willingness— even within legacy industries—to experiment with immersive tools for internal operations and employee engagement.
Whether Cheers VRorld becomes a long-term template for onboarding or remains a limited experiment may ultimately depend on how new hires respond once the headsets come off. For now, it offers a glimpse into how organisations are rethinking first-day experiences in an increasingly digital workplace.
