{"id":8890,"date":"2020-11-23T09:35:59","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T14:35:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/?p=8890"},"modified":"2024-08-30T11:09:06","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T15:09:06","slug":"remote-employees-with-zoom-fatigue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/remote-employees-with-zoom-fatigue\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Help Remote Employees with “Zoom Fatigue”"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"remoteHave your remote workers been feeling more strained and exhausted? If so, you are not alone. With many employees shifting to a work-from-home situation during the pandemic, staying energized and focus is a challenge. Our human capital management partners at isolved<\/a> offer four ways employers can help their remote employees with “Zoom fatigue.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Ever since offices shut their doors this spring, remote employees have had their calendars filled up with hourslong video chats and virtual meetings. Not surprisingly, it\u2019s exhausting to many workers \u2014 especially those shouldering the burden of an unexpected shift to remote work as well as increasingly complex and hybridized work-school-home environments.<\/p>\n

For these remote employees, \u201cZoom fatigue<\/a>\u201d is a very real phenomenon. We\u2019re offering HR some helpful tips to share with remote employees as well as organizational leaders to\u00a0make remote work more sustainable<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1. Identify why constant videoconferencing can be so draining.<\/h2>\n

It\u2019s not easy to address a problem like Zoom fatigue if you don\u2019t know what\u2019s causing it. Taking the time to educate your team and your remote employees about the specific factors that might cause more exhaustion can lead to helpful solutions.<\/p>\n

One of the main issues is that participants feel like they have to be \u201con\u201d at all times. They\u2019re constantly aware others are watching them. And even completely normal activities like glancing around the room or checking notes can look like distraction via a videoconferencing platform.<\/p>\n

Additionally, conversations can be more stressful, given audio or video glitches and the lack of meaningful nonverbal cues. All of these factors make anxiety levels higher while demanding more energy and attention.<\/p>\n

2. Encourage teams to establish and follow an agenda.<\/h2>\n

Holding a meeting without an agenda can always lead to longer and more off-track conversations. When remote employees are asked to give their full attention to a video meeting, it\u2019s only right to provide an agenda, and to follow it as efficiently as possible.<\/p>\n

Inviting participants to sign off once their input is no longer needed, and continuing the meeting with a smaller group, can add some relief as well.<\/p>\n

3. Be strategic about when and why video calls are scheduled.<\/h2>\n

Although many organizations have gotten into the habit of scheduling video-on calls, it\u2019s time for business leaders to be more thoughtful about how and when video could enhance or detract from a particular meeting experience.<\/p>\n

For instance, participants don\u2019t need to be on camera when the main priority is to review a document via screen sharing tools. Conference calls with just audio can oftentimes be just as impactful but significantly less taxing for remote employees. But virtual face-to-face meetings can be very helpful when\u00a0remotely interviewing job applicants<\/a>\u00a0or meeting new clients.<\/p>\n

Distribute a clear policy that helps workers understand when videoconferencing is and isn\u2019t expected \u2014 and why.<\/p>\n

4. Empower remote employees to take breaks.<\/h2>\n

Finally, spending too much time on videoconferencing calls without taking a break can compound the effects of Zoom fatigue. As with any work activity, taking breaks is an important way to decompress and reduce the feelings of exhaustion.<\/p>\n

Let remote employees know it\u2019s important to give their eyes a break, get up, move around and even switch off the camera when they just need a moment\u2019s rest from the screen. Encourage teams to schedule 45-minute meetings instead of hourlong sessions but reserve the last 15 minutes for taking care of follow-up activities without the camera on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you have remote workers, chances are they are feeling strained and exhausted. But there are ways to help remote employees with “Zoom fatigue.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[266],"tags":[187,167,207],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-8890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consulting-services","tag-mental-health","tag-remote-employees","tag-virtual-meetings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8890","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8890"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8890\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8892,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8890\/revisions\/8892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8890"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8890"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8890"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gtm.com\/business\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=8890"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}