Collaboration technology that makes meetings fairer

Remote and hybrid work will undoubtedly take hold in some form. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, 5.7% of working Americans (about 9 million) worked from home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That number he tripled to 17.9% (27.6 million) in 2021. However, at the height of the pandemic, his 70% of full-time U.S. employees in non-rural areas were working from home. More than half (51%) of these employees worked fully remotely, with the remainder (49%) returning to his office one or more days per week. Hybrid work was already on the rise, but the pandemic has put people in an unknown and unplanned situation without all the tools they need to do it right.

To successfully sustain the transition to hybrid work, companies are not only reassessing their management styles, but also the technology they use to support their employees in and out of the office, and how they work and collaborate. Need to re-evaluate. Enterprise Connect, the annual conference for enterprise communication and collaboration held in Orlando last month, highlighted the rising trend of hybrid his work and its impact on equity in the workplace.

This article examines how a clear focus on fairness and inclusion in meetings has evolved. We also delve into why it’s imperative that technology continues to foster the inclusivity that remote and hybrid work fosters, and look at some companies that are tackling this important issue.

New normal and next normal

The definition of hybrid work is constantly evolving. What’s more, the ‘new normal’ in the modern workplace (as we often heard in the early days of the pandemic) is never going to last. Next We have to adapt and technology has to evolve with us. As businesses transition to the next normal of remote, in-office, and hybrid work, they must also address proximity bias concerns and ensure meetings are productive and inclusive for everyone.

New technologies and features from companies such as Cisco and Microsoft address these issues. They’re bringing collaboration and meeting inclusivity to the table, whether it’s the kitchen table or the Fortune 100 boardroom, to make meetings fairer.

meet where people are

Video conferencing technology has improved access to remote work and increased opportunities for the marginalized. Hybrid work has also opened up a broader opportunity base for workers, allowing people more flexibility in where they live compared to where they work. At the same time, businesses can benefit from being able to employ a more diverse workforce from different sectors and backgrounds without geographic restrictions, cost of living restrictions, or physical restrictions that prevent some people from going to the office. increase.

Additionally, remote workers are working in many different locations, not just their home office. Technology companies are recognizing this by offering a wide range of collaboration tools (both hardware and software) that are natively built into mobile phones, tablets and even cars.

Video Conferencing Technology and Meeting Equity Challenges in Hybrid Work

In the past, video conferencing technology could exacerbate equity issues such as high-speed internet access and lack of digital literacy. New and improved technology uses AI to help address fairness challenges, increase bandwidth in areas with poor connectivity, and fix video resolution issues. This means that regardless of the device or the quality of its broadband connection, meeting participants will have access to the same clear video and audio without the “glitches” of entering and exiting the discussion.

Watching and hearing on video is an important but only one step in the journey. Address the disparities that arise when people see and hear more because they are in the office rather than at a distance, and when people see and hear less due to the lack of accessibility features. Technology can also play a big role in remediation.

At Enterprise Connect, several brands unveiled hardware and software to make hybrid meetings more effective. Webex has expanded its “People Focus” for devices announced last year, which leverages intelligent cameras to improve hybrid meetings. The People Focus feature optimizes screen real estate by removing extra floor and ceiling space from the video frame, ensuring all participants are included in the best possible view.

People Focus improves video quality and allows everyone to see, helping remote participants to better understand the body language and facial expressions of in-room meeting participants. The same screen view optimization is now available in her Webex Frames solution, allowing for a comprehensive view of all participants in any meeting, regardless of the platform used.

How collaboration technology levels the playing field for all employees

Sitting at a table or video screen is a great start to achieving inclusiveness in a hybrid meeting. However, it can be difficult for remote employees to participate and contribute effectively in hybrid meetings, and research suggests that virtual meetings can also result in less idea generation. One of his solutions for Microsoft Teams brings ideas to virtual life using collaborative “whiteboards” that people can participate in remotely or in person. By using a digital whiteboard or similar technology, her remote workers can more easily stay engaged and hear their ideas and thoughts.

Microsoft Whiteboard helps participants synchronize with the new loop component. These are interactive canvases that move freely between Microsoft apps like Teams and Outlook, where people are already coming up with ideas and communicating. When a user copies an existing loop component from another of her Microsoft 365 apps and pastes it into the whiteboard, any changes made to that component in the whiteboard will be synced across all apps where the component resides.

Elements of adopting inclusive collaboration

Even the most advanced technologies can only reduce inequalities if meeting leaders have the necessary skills to use them and have a holistic mindset that prioritizes the needs of all participants. It helps. Embedding new technologies also requires changes in organizational behavior.

At Enterprise Connect, there was almost as much talk about the culture that communication and collaboration tools help foster in the workplace as about new technologies. These conversations are critical as companies navigate the way employees work and where they are next to his normal. Phrases like “earn your commute” and “magnets, not mandates” were often used when referring to how employers should look at creating organizational change. Clever taglines aside, I think products and services that were originally meant to be utilitarian have evolved into something more humane.

ultimate agenda

With bandwidth and image clarity fundamentals established as table stakes, video conferencing will play a more important role in creating a more equitable meeting structure. It helps facilitate important non-verbal communication such as body language and facial expressions in establishing trust. When people pick up on these cues, they can better understand the intentions and feelings of the people they are communicating with.

There are a growing number of devices and software designed to enhance virtual meetings and give people a more productive meeting experience. This technological advancement also helps ensure that everyone is evenly seated at hybrid tables. This means that regardless of whether someone is present in person or virtually, you should be able to attend the meeting and hear yourself well enough.

However, when trying to level the playing field for hybrid meetings, don’t rely solely on technology. A culture that treats remote workers equally and fairly is just as important, and organizations need to promote inclusivity as a matter of management philosophy if they want to properly address the issue of equity. By providing relevant training and resources for employees and investing in accessibility technology, companies create an environment where hybrid meetings are another way to foster a fairer and more engaged work culture.