The Future of Communication Lies in Remote Work Tools
Tools like Zoom, Google Hangouts, and Slack have done a great job of helping us work effectively during the pandemic.
While we’re holed up at home and social distance, they improve collaboration and engagement.
And yet there’s a downside to remote work tools.
Zoom Fatigue
Remote meetings can be tiring and stressful. For example, studies suggest that seeing your facial expressions during an online meeting can be an additional stressor.
Moreover, transmission delay during a video call, or lag in other words, can give false negative impressions. With delays over 1.2 seconds, a person talking is perceived as less attentive. No one likes it when they aren’t being listened to.
There’s also choppy connection, dropping calls, frozen screens, and background noise to add to the bag of frustrations.
Missing Out
The lack of in-person interactions during video conferencing also plays a few tricks on us.
First, we miss out on those impromptu interactions with our colleagues. For example, catch-ups that strengthen team bonds and increase engagement. Employees are also more likely to seek advice during water-cooler talk or simply when in a more relaxed environment.
In short, spontaneous workplace socializing leads to more productivity and engagement. Achieving this level of spontaneity via remote work tools is difficult, verging on impossible.
Needless to say, there’s a huge room for improvement in communications technology. Plus, there’s also a growing demand for such improvement considering the prevailing trend toward remote work.
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