If you want your colleague to know that you’re interested in what they have to say, look at the camera when you’re talking to them. This works to eliminate another barrier https://remotemode.net/blog/remote-work-burnout-fatigue-and-how-to-avoid-it/ provided by Zoom that we don’t experience in face-to-face interactions. The advice in this article offers tips on what to do during a meeting to reduce these symptoms.

Some workplaces make it a requirement to have your camera turned on, while others leave it up to the individual. If you have the option to turn off your camera once in a while, do it. This allows you to multitask if needed - for example, folding laundry while you listen in on a meeting. This not only saves time and allows you to be more productive, but takes some of the pressure off of you.

Let your eyes rest

Research shows that people with good connections at work are happier, less stressed, more engaged at their job and even physically healthier. Connecting with others can be an important part of the quality of your work life and productivity. The truth is it’s just not that easy to forge those kinds of connections in a virtual format. Furthermore, lags in audio, technology problems, and the inability to look people right in the eye can negatively impact your ability to follow and relate to meeting participants.

Work with your calendar, just fix up dates and be prepared and make your surroundings prepared for that time block of meetings. Often when https://remotemode.net/ we do meetings without a plan we put ourselves in a huge vacuum. This will create the office hour more on boredom and unpleasant comfort.

What is Zoom Fatigue?

Adding uplifting elements like framed artwork or plants can also improve your office decor. Changing your home office location can often positively impact your mood, boosting productivity and motivation at work. You can take advantage of Zoom’s polling functionality by adding fun or insightful questions to the beginning, middle, or end of your meeting. To add a poll to your session, go into the settings menu and navigate to the Polls/Quizzes tab. Check out this random question generator and list of virtual icebreakers for more ideas.

Of course, walking around is typically discouraged during in-person meetings, but there’s a big difference between the two regarding mobility. This can make you feel “stuck” and tethered to your computer, contributing to post-call Zoom burnout. It’s important to make sure everyone is staying connected while we continue to work in a virtual environment. Zoom meetings are a great way to have synchronous communications, but we also use many other asynchronous ways to communicate and collaborate in our daily lives. This is why you should only use Zoom meetings when synchronous communication is necessary. If an email, online chat, project management platform, report, or prerecorded video can accomplish what is necessary, then make every effort to leverage those as much as possible.

Turn off self view

Lukin Center for Psychotherapy provides therapy as well as a variety of excellent resources for remote workers. At our eight locations in New Jersey, we offer therapy for people who live in our state and nearby communities in New York. In addition, if you live farther away or prefer teletherapy, we are happy to help you with that, too.

• Oh, and be wary of employees who start turning off their video regularly too.
• Vanessa Leikvoll is a culture and personal success writer for Leaders Media.
• The advice in this article offers tips on what to do during a meeting to reduce these symptoms.
• The following tips can help to ease the more tiring aspects of video conferencing and introduce more healthy practices into your meetings.
• The goal of such research is to help change technology in order to reduce eventual stressors.

We also encourage our employees to use this extra time to breathe. The goal of such research is to help change technology in order to reduce eventual stressors. Better understanding virtual meetings and the mechanisms around them will help us to understand the optimal way of holding and participating in virtual meetings. Hopefully as a culture we start to adapt for different meetings, different settings, and different organizations.

Another source of stress is that, depending on your monitor size and whether you’re using an external monitor, faces on videoconferencing calls can appear too large for comfort. If you really need a break from video, then you could always ask your team whether it’s okay to switch your camera off for one of your conversations. Don’t forget to use things like reactions, and chat bubbles in meetings to make the experience feel more engaging too. If you’re starting to feel exhausted by all your video meetings – why not change things up? Solutions like Zoom and Microsoft Teams allow you to experiment with different screen views to influence how you see your colleagues.

• This also gives you the impression that you’re being observed by several sets of eyes at once.
• Break up virtual meetings by walking around the block, getting in a quick workout, or playing fetch with the dog.
• Consider leaving your video off for internal work calls, being on camera can be draining even if you're not the one speaking.
• For example, if an employee says, “We should have no meetings on Fridays,” then teammates can use the thumbs-up emoji to show their alignment with this statement.
• We know it’s tempting, but try to remind yourself that the Slack message you just got can wait 15 minutes, and that you’ll be able to craft a better response when you’re not also on a video chat.
• Stanford University has completed extensive research to better understand how to create best practices for video conferencing setups and how to come up with institutional guidelines.
• Of 10,322 people surveyed about video calls, 13.8% of the women reported feeling either “very” or “extremely” fatigued by Zoom calls.
• It is also important to distinguish whether the entire team is really needed or perhaps only those involved in a specific project.

Nearly everyone who uses video conferencing for remote work or social gatherings experiences this. Having Zoom fatigue could signify that your body is working exactly how it’s supposed to. Some of these tips might be hard to follow at first (especially that one about resisting the urge to tab-surf during your next Zoom call). But taking these steps can help you prevent feeling so exhausted at the thought of another video chat. Time is valuable, so one of the best ways to fight Zoom fatigue ideas is to optimize your time. Constantly attending meetings can be socially draining, and choosing one meeting-free day per week is a great way to decompress.

Zoom meetings, especially unproductive ones, can further drive a once-thriving employee into the burnout zone. “Zoom fatigue,” named for the Zoom video conferencing service, is a phenomenon that describes the exhaustion we feel after too many video meetings. Remember, you’re not just using video for your professional life these days. It’s probably a big part of how you connect with friends and relatives too. For external calls, avoid defaulting to video, especially if you don’t know each other well.

Alternatively, consider a different form of communication, like a quick phone call or an email. That’s why we recommend making these online social events optional. It’ll allow anyone who’s exhausted to take a much-needed break without feeling guilty. By now, we hope you have a better understanding of Zoom fatigue, including how and why it occurs in the workplace. In this section, we’re going to offer some proven tips to help you combat it if/when it features in your team. Oh, and be wary of employees who start turning off their video regularly too.