It’s hard to imagine a modern workforce without full-time remote employment and the hybrid work model.
According to Techopedia, 28% of workdays were worked remotely, and 30% of employees prefer a hybrid arrangement.
The hybrid model refers to an arrangement when part of the work happens in an office, and part of it is at another location, usually at an employee’s home.
Out-of-office work wouldn’t exist without modern software solutions. Employers implement time trackers to keep tabs on productivity. Remote workers keep in touch with colleagues via instant messaging apps.
And whenever there is a scheduled meeting to attend, those away can connect using virtual meeting tools.
Virtual meetings are great for flexibility and convenience. There’s no need to spend time going to an office when you can attend from the comfort of your home.
Having said that, virtual meeting tools are far from perfect. They still present certain limitations. Let’s acknowledge these limitations to better understand what to expect in case you have to organize or attend a virtual meeting yourself.
1. Distractions
Productivity at home improves overall when you don’t get interrupted by random conversations from colleagues and other distractions. Roughly 3 out of 4 office workers experience interruptions from coworkers.
Yet, when it comes to virtual meetings, distractions may cause problems. Some people cannot control or predict what might happen at their home.
A dedicated conference room is different from a personal office with other people living in it.
Household activities could take attention away from the meeting. In some cases, the person speaking to others might have to leave the room and deal with a personal matter, pausing the meeting.
2. Fatigue
Fatigue is another example of how virtual meetings hinder overall well-being. In addition to the time you already spend working in front of the computer screen, you also have to glue yourself to a chair and participate.
Back-to-back meetings, particularly, are draining. On the other hand, when you are working in-house, a meeting in a conference room can be a nice change of pace, letting you get away from the monitor screen.
3. Security woes
Data protection is one of the standout limitations and risks of running virtual meetings. Virtual meetings usually mean using personal devices. It’s hard to predict how much effort employees put in protecting their devices.
A breach invites third-party attendees, and if the meeting involves sharing sensitive information, whether it’s company or client-related, compromising such information is costly.
Companies ought to invest in security measures and ensure secure and encrypted communication. Unfortunately, many enterprises choose to save money and ignore the issue at hand, only to suffer for their negligence.
4. Technical challenges
Technical challenges vary from person to person. Some people might not be too tech-savvy and struggle to even join a virtual meeting.
Many older people who had to work from home during the pandemic had to spend extra time learning how different software works.
The limitations don’t end there. Virtual meetings rely on an internet connection. If a participant uses lackluster hotel Wi-Fi, disconnects disrupt the flow of discussions, causing frustration. And don’t forget about the potential threats of relying on public Wi-Fi.
Other than unstable connection, technical problems like audio and video synchronization, compatibility glitches, poor sound quality, echo, and so on take away from a positive meeting experience.
5. Lack of in-person interaction
Virtual meetings miss one significant aspect of live meetings. Participants cannot see body language and other non-verbal cues.
It’s mostly about verbal communication, which can be a struggle. Some people depend on reading emotions and attitudes to understand intentions accurately.
Even if it’s not an internal company meeting but rather a conversation with a client, a lack of in-person cues is detrimental.
When you use live chat software to share simple information, the issue isn’t there. However, if communication with a client requires gestures and facial expressions to sell your point, expect to struggle if the meeting is virtual.
6. Extra expenses
Despite the fact that many virtual conference tools come in free versions, it’s not enough for companies that want to ensure the best possible quality.
Virtual meetings are important, so it makes sense to conduct them in an environment that brings an excellent atmosphere.
The problem is that free software versions tend to offer very basic features. To access the good stuff, organizations have to pay. For instance, if an ecommerce business wants to enhance customer experience from searching for products to checking out, they might have to invest in ecommerce management software or even browser tools like the Google One Tap Login extension for a faster checkout experience.
Expenses from monthly or yearly subscriptions add up over time. On top of that, software developers look for ways to improve their tools. Introducing more features behind another paywall is a common practice.
As surprising as it might be, virtual meetings could become more expensive than physical meetings. Especially if the company isn’t careful with its finances and overpays for tools and features that aren’t even necessary.
7. Difficulties presenting physical information
Imagine yourself in a situation where you have multiple graphs and other visual data pieces to present in front of an audience.
When you are in a large conference room with a projector and a wall behind you, you can go through every slide in detail and explain everything to an audience while also seeing their reactions.
The participants can ask questions and you can respond, backing up your answers with visuals at hand.
Contrarily, trying to do the same via a virtual meeting tool presents multiple challenges. You cannot stand up and face your camera in front of the data on your wall. The video quality would be too poor.
Sending the visuals to participants in advance is also not ideal. They will have to look away from you if they want to focus on the information in front of them by switching to another tab or a second monitor.
Not to mention potential technical difficulties and trying to keep up with everything when one has to switch back and forth.
8. Schedule conflicts
Virtual meetings give opportunities to participate regardless of your location. Then again, being in an international company often means working with people from time zones.
It presents a major headache. If virtual meetings occur regularly and you have to wake up extra early or stay late, it won’t take too long before frustration takes over.
There are some ways to circumvent the challenge. For those who cannot or don’t want to attend a meeting, an option to present the material after, when the time suits them, exists.
A participant may screen record on Mac OS, for example, and then send the video to the person who couldn’t attend the meeting.
Of course, such a solution is not the be-all and end-all to eliminate schedule conflicts. The video quality might not be too great. Processing and sharing large files is also not that straightforward.
While the video recording solution is not the be-all and end-all, it is still worth a shout. After all, forcing someone to attend a virtual meeting at an ungodly hour is hardly productive. Particularly if the said meeting is not super important.
Conclusion
To sum it all up, virtual meetings come with limitations. Still, it remains a solid solution to accommodate employees who cannot attend meetings in person.
Just like with other software, the expectations for virtual meeting tools are high. Hopefully, the improvements in the future will be enough to overcome the limitations mentioned in this article.
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