Love them or loathe them, during the COVID-19 pandemic many people have found themselves getting to grips with video meetings. A great way to keep in touch and maintain a “business as usual” approach meetings using Zoom, Teams or one of the many other platforms has become part of daily life.
On the plus side they are time saving – no travel involved, quick and easy to join (when the technology works!) and a great way to bring people together. But what about the downside as we are hearing about “Zoom Gloom” and “Teams Scream” and people finding these meetings mentally draining.
We had a chat to some of our contacts and here’s what they had to say about their own experiences:
Are calls tiring?
“Back to back meetings are tiring – especially long ones. It almost feels you have to concentrate more.”
“I enjoy Zoom calls as long as they stick to a time limit – we use google meetings and they can go on for 2 hours!”
“If they are too long I get fatigued from sitting in the same position”
“I have days where I have 2 or 3 long meetings with little break. It’s very tiring staring at the screen and as we are muted for much of it there is little to break up what can be a very intensive experience.”
It is definitely worth thinking about how much time people are spending on calls. Employers should encourage people to:
- Take breaks
- Not book in too many meetings and
- Ensure that they do not need to go on longer than absolutely necessary ideally, no longer than 1 hour.
Working from home can lead to people sitting in one position for a long time, so moving about regularly is important. Also think about changing the format of communication – does everything need to be on video or sometimes can you switch to a good old fashioned phone call?
Action tip 1: Take Breaks.
Q – What do you find distracting?
“I’m definitely distracted by emails coming into my inbox.”
“Things going on in the background if people don’t attempt to hide this.”
“When the technology doesn’t work. Occasionally frozen screens etc really interrupt the flow which I find frustrating.”
“Family members nearby – even though they know I am on a call I still worry someone will burst in unannounced!”
These concerns all sound like they can be solved with quick fixes, but the reality is that often people don’t get long to prepare before diving into a video meeting, so clearing your background of hanging washing or ensuring unwanted family participants are out of the way can be difficult! On video, we not only focus on other’s faces, but on their backgrounds as well. It can be distracting looking at the backgrounds of other people on the call so employers could encourage people to use plain backgrounds or everyone who is not talking could turn off their video.
A busy work life also means that regardless of all the best intentions people are often tempted to multi-task and on video calls it is often easier as it can go unnoticed. Employees should avoid multi-tasking, close any programs that might be distracting like their inbox and put phones away to help stay focussed and present.
Action tip 2: Plan ahead to minimise distractions.
Q – What’s missing from the face to face experience?
“I miss being able to read a room and people’s body language. If people don’t turn on cameras it can be quite odd talking but not seeing how people are responding.”
“Face to face is a better quality experience but I like how efficient Zoom calls are.”
“I present regularly and find it very difficult to get a sense of how things are going when not physically in the same room. This makes very hard work of something that you should be interactive.”
“I have to sell and it is better to pass over a product to a buyer rather than demonstrate online. However, although I would like to return to sales presentations, I do not miss the office.”
This is a tricky one – it’s very difficult to replace the personal interaction and face to face experience of a live meeting. Interestingly not everyone we spoke to missed the social interaction, but did find that video meetings made it hard to “read” people. Building in adequate time for questions and ensuring everyone has an opportunity to give opinions and feedback can help.
Action tip 3: Find ways to get everyone involved.
Q – Do video meetings cause you any anxiety?
“No – I feel fine.”
“Sometimes I feel put on the spot. I wait ages for my turn to speak and when it finally arrives I feel like everyone is looking at me so I feel embarrassed.”
A very important thing to remember is not everyone feels comfortable on camera and for some people this method of communication can prevent them from contributing as they would like.
If the meeting has more than 10 people think about using the ‘Breakout Room’ facility on Zoom to set up smaller groups of 3 or 4 so people can talk together more naturally as a way of encouraging participation.
As well as ensuring everyone has a say during a video meeting, employers should give opportunities for one to one conversations, encourage email follow up and generally be mindful what not everyone functions best on Zoom.
Action tip 4: Don’t lose out on valuable contributions from those who don’t like video calls.
Charlton HR 