Click the Link to Join: how has the workplace evolved during the pandemic?
It might seem like a challenge to be able to cast your mind back to the last time you attended a meeting in person, which is why, as we venture upon the 'roadmap out of lockdown', we want to explore the significant impact that COVID-19 has had on the workplace. As a lot of companies have had to adapt to the ongoing pandemic, it seems like the perfect time to call into question how we view the workplace and the effect it has had on meetings and team interaction. Are remote meetings the way forward? Will in-situ meetings come out superior? Or should we aim for a hybrid approach? Well, it's a little more complicated than the three questions posed there, so let's get into it.
Teams, Zoom, or Skype...what platform are we using?
When it comes to remote meetings, some of us might breathe a sigh of relief that we can simply sit anywhere comfortable and open up our laptops. Just over a year ago, this might have seemed ideal, yet now, as we start to socialise outside of our own homes again, our views might have changed. Of course, it is great that we can put on a shirt and start working, but now that many of us have been confined to working from home all day, travelling to work seems like an enticing form of outing.
The Benefits of Remote Working:
- Potential for increased productivity, as we are not distracted by other elements of the workplace
- Greater accessibility
- Clarity - less interruptions as individuals can go on mute
- Decreased travel time and expenses
- Tendency to be shorter and in turn, more focused
- Able to schedule meetings for a time that suits all (especially useful if you have a global business)
- Capacity to record meetings so that colleagues can refer back to them
The Limitations of Remote Working:
- Cannot see nonverbal cues, such as body language and/or facial expressions
- Relies on employees having efficient internet and suitable headphones, etc
- Absence of context (which is needed for generating new ideas and explaining concepts)
- Decreased travel time and expenses
- Tendency to be shorter and in turn, more focused
- The dreaded brain fog - unless meetings are relatively early, individuals may be susceptible to brain fog after being sat behind a screen all day
- Cannot have one-to-one discussions, as you would in a meeting room
In-situ, a.k.a. Real Life Meetings
As we have gone so long without face-to-face meetings, the possibility of entering the workplace again seems strange, yet wonderful. Swapping out Zoom for meeting in-person seems desirable in the current moment, but just how invaluable are in-person meetings? Caught up in excitement of potential social interaction, we might be forgetting that early morning commute or train delays. Nevertheless, we will be unravelling just how favourable in-person meetings really are.
The Benefits of In-situ Meetings:
- Access to body language and facial expressions
- A well-needed break from looking at screens
- One-to-one discussions
- No need for all colleagues to have fast internet speed
- More time to think about and brainstorm ideas
- Potential for greater engagement and understanding
- More inclined to test ideas and judge how they are received
The Limitations of In-situ Meetings:
- Travel expenses involved, as well as being reliant on public transport or lack of traffic
- Can be difficult for introverted individuals to express themselves if there are strong characters in the room
- Digression away from the focus of the meeting if there are unrelated conversations happening
- Not as accessible as remote working
Summary
Having explored the benefits of both remote and in-situ meetings, we arrive at the conclusion that there will always be an argument for both cases. Therefore, rather than selecting a preferred way of meeting out of the two, it seems appropriate to argue for a hybrid approach when it comes to meetings. It is clear that the pandemic has had a profound effect on the working world and how we place ourselves within it, meaning that as businesses start to reopen and firms welcome back their employees, they too will be thinking about how they view the workplace. With this in mind, it has made many of us question the necessity of going into the workplace. We may soon realise that companies might be in favour of a more flexible approach to working. For instance, they may suggest decreasing the number of days you have to be in the office, or even that all meetings will now take place online. If working from home has taught us one thing, it is the importance of developing a relationship with your colleagues. Whether it's through daily check-ins via Teams, or through a Google Hangouts chatroom, it feels more important than ever to work as a collective and support one another, whatever their circumstance.
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