“Hang on, just gotta hop on a Microsoft Teams meeting!”
“Urgh, back-to-back Zooms today. Will check in later.”
“Might be later than expected – have a Google Hangouts meeting, not sure how long it’s going to run.”
Sound familiar? We bet it does. During the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic that swept the globe in 2020, there was a whopping 535% rise in daily videoconferencing traffic through the Zoom application alone. In fact, as of November 2020, Zoom has 300 million daily active participants; while even smaller platforms like Cisco Webex report up to 25 billion meeting minutes in a single month.
That’s a lot of screen time, folks.
And while there are many awesome benefits to teleconferencing, and countless ways in which HR tech can be leveraged for sustainable business growth, the way your team Zooms can also be rather telling about your corporate culture. In short – HR tech has been paving the way for a new age of workplace culture. The trick is to ensure that it’s the right kind of company culture.
Here are 5 things the nature of your virtual meetings can tell you about your company culture:
1. If your company resources are being put to the best use possible
And by resources, we mean your talented team members and their valuable time. Statistics on the time spent in meetings from a 2019 Doodle report show more than $399 billion is lost yearly due to bad meeting organisation.
For one thing, Zoom fatigue is a real thing. Stanford researchers have found that excessive amounts of close-up eye contact is highly intense, and seeing yourself during video chats constantly in real-time is fatiguing. Video chats also dramatically reduce our usual mobility, and the cognitive load thereof is much higher than conventional interaction. And that’s just the tip of the neuropsychological iceberg.
As such, it pays to take a look at how your company’s virtual meetings are conducted. Is there a clear agenda, and someone in charge of keeping a meeting on track instead of letting the conversation veer off in unintended directions? If you find that things are consistently happening on a very ad hoc basis, it might be time to intervene and ensure that everyone’s time is being valued.
2. Whether everyone’s time is seen as equally important
Punctuality is a sign of mutual respect between colleagues and co-workers. If certain team members are constantly waiting on others who are late logging onto a meeting, it could point towards the fact that not everyone’s time is seen as equally important. While this can easily cause friction between employees in the same peer group, it becomes even more problematic if there is a difference in authority levels.
Employees are fairly unlikely to speak up if their managers are constantly running late for virtual meetings, cancelling at the last minute, or expecting them to be available outside of their conventional working hours. As such, it’s important to remind your top-level execs to be sensitive in this regard, and value their team members’ time like they would their own.
3. If there are a variety of voices being heard
Who does the bulk of the talking during your meetings? If it’s consistently the team leader or manager, you may be in trouble. Your products and services will always be better when people with various identities, perspectives, and experiences are contributing to the conversation. Not least of which because it leaves fewer opportunities for the development blind spots.
Meetings are an important space where input can be nurtured or suffocated. Take a look at who’s doing the talking, and whether guidelines need to be put in place to ensure that a variety of voices are being heard.
Read more: The top 7 benefits of diversity and inclusion in the workplace
4. Whether your employees are adequately equipped
Do you have a few team members who often struggle to get online, or battle with internet signals that dip in and out? Perhaps their headphones don’t work, or the quality of their laptop speaker is driving everyone nuts? While it may be tempting to get annoyed with these individuals, it actually points to the fact that some of your employees may be under-resourced.
When companies had to send their workers home during the COVID-19 restrictions, the rapid nature of the transition meant that many employees had to use their own home computers and internet access to get their work done. Naturally, this would be fine (and understandable) if it were a temporary situation.
However, if you have WFH employees who are still required to use their own resources to get their job done without being compensated for it, you need to take a look at your corporate policies. Well-equipped workers are much more productive, so see how you can assist your team members to do their best work even when they operate remotely.
5. If ongoing employee recognition is a part of your operational fabric
How often are managers and team leaders taking the time to thank and recognise hard-working employees during your virtual meetings? While time is at a premium, a quick ‘thank you’ and ‘good job’ sets a very positive tone, and also paves the way for some stellar employee engagement.
Another thing to look out for is how criticism and constructive feedback moments are handled. While employees need to be informed if they have misstepped, or could improve their performance, this type of conversation is best scheduled for a private meeting rather than being aired during a group conference.
Read more: 5 Ways HR tech can drive organisational alignment and employee engagement
There you have it – a few important things you can tell about the state of your company culture by considering the nature of your virtual meetings in 2021 and beyond.
Check back soon for more expert insight into the world of future-proof HR.
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