Benefits of Virtual Meetings
The rise of virtual meetings and it’s surprising benefits that have major tech companies like Twitter and Asana switching to long-term remote work
- More cost effective
The largest financial benefit of virtual would have to be the unnecessary cost of physical space. More and more companies around the country are shifting to long-term remote work including Twitter and Zillow (Flex Jobs).
2. Connect from anywhere in the world
The ability to work remotely comes with the possibility of living and traveling to different places. The #WorkfromHome feature is expected to experience more employees traveling to places and working from anywhere around the globe. The ability to travel brings an added bonus/perk for your employees as it allows them to be flexible with their location. This also helps managers to demonstrate trust and confidence in their employee’s work.
This also limits the cost of commutes. Since you can attend from anywhere, there is no need to factor in travel times in between meetings or spending on additional travel costs.
3. Contribute to environmental protection
It’s clear that with less travel time comes less emissions. According to Lucid, Agencies using virtual meetings reduced their carbon emissions, emitting 19.6% less than those that travelled.
4. Multiple people can talk at the same time- Chat box
In-person meetings typically require social etiquette like one person speaking at a time (as to not talk over each other). However, with virtual meetings, we can have multiple conversations going at the same time. Some can comment in the chat box on Google Meets or Zoom. Some can talk in the meeting by un-muting themselves. It also caters to each employee’s comfortability level.
5. Share information in real time with everyone
With small or large teams, virtual meetings have allowed managers and executives to quickly share information with each other. This allows for a quicker and efficient way to coordinate and conduct urgent meetings with various employees or departments in an organization. Zoom allows for features like sharing screens, powerpoints, and provides the ability to see polls and Q&As in real time. What’s more, teams are able to quickly provide feedback or support if needed.
6. Tighter agenda- time saving
According to an Analysis from Microsoft, the newly remote workforce revealed a positive new trend: the rise of the 30-minute meeting. They found that individual meetings shrank in duration, with 22% more meetings of 30 minutes or less, and 11% fewer meetings of more than one hour.
This highlights the rise of more efficient, short meetings that get right to the point rather than taking up half the time with small talk and side-tracked conversations. Like Parkison’s Law, virtual meetings spark efficient conversations to fill the time allotted or scheduled.
7. Humanizing
What is most fascinating about virtual meetings is its ability to humanize and level all employees. Now, teams are able to see inside each other’s homes, build empathy, and truly connect with each other with minimal effort. In fact, “joining video meetings in spaces most of us feel comfortable in (our homes), it’s normal to feel more at ease and more confident than you would if you were sitting around a table in an office.” (Timely)
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