Prior to COVID, employees all across the country were wanting to transition to remote work. Businesses were slowly moving in that direction. Many still resisted until the pandemic came along and forced us all indoors. Now, remote work is absolutely the norm, and it looks as though it’s here to stay.
As with anything we want and finally get, over time we discover the downside of the thing we desired. Remote work still has many perks, which is why we don’t want to give it up. For example, telecommuting can save money on car insurance. Some downsides that certainly need to be addressed and resolved.
One of the biggest complaints is that remote meetings are wasting so much time, and that they cause their own unique kind of exhaustion. Workers are spending an average of 11 minutes staring at a screen waiting to start the meeting. The screen makes others seem unnaturally close and the constant eye contact makes us feel uncomfortably scrutinized. Add to this the unusual amount of time we spend seeing ourselves and the psychological and emotional drain can be quite profound.
Considering that remote is simply the way we work now, it’s time to change the way we meet. Although most prefer remote work, we still miss the simple interactions and casual exchanges of the office environment.
Businesses need to embrace solutions that allow them to create a digital office that lends itself to the familiar feel of working in the physical office environment.
