How to get rid of Zoom fatigue

In the last couple of years, remote working has been associated with videoconferencing apps such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Webex. As people had to stay physically apart during the Covid pandemic, video calls became the chosen method of keeping in touch with others, including for work purposes.

However, these common videoconferencing tools are not built to be used for hours on end every day and they’re quite inefficient for work purposes. Inexperienced in remote work and having to ensure productivity, managers decided to increase the number of video meetings during the pandemic, even for tasks that were otherwise individually managed.

The result? Workers experienced tiredness, burnout, and worry associated with the overuse of videoconferencing platforms, what is known as “zoom fatigue”.

What is the cause of zoom fatigue?

According to research from Stanford University there are 4 main causes for zoom fatigue:

1. Excessive amounts of close-up eye contact is intensive
2. Seeing yourself during video chat constantly is fatiguing
3. Videochats reduce our usual mobility
4. The cognitive load is higher in video chats

The difference between working at the physical office and on Zoom or Webex was that in the first case workers didn’t have to participate in scheduled meetings everyday for almost any task they had to do. There were many spontaneous “meetings” that allowed workers to socialise and collaborate with ease, simply by knocking on each other’s doors or meeting in the lunchroom.

Work is not supposed to happen in a constant video call. Interactions need to be more natural and spontaneous, and meetings should be made for important aspects, not become part of every work hour.

Why apps like Zoom and Microsoft teams are not going to solve the problem

One common issue the conventional videoconferencing apps share is the need for scheduling meetings. Besides taking away the spontaneity needed for creative work, it’s also exhausting and formal. Scheduling meetings takes a lot of time and energy that could be spent otherwise. And using scheduled meetings for even the simplest tasks only increases the zoom fatigue.

Another reason we need alternatives for Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and similar, is the way the platforms are built. These platforms were built around video calling, and that’s the only thing they offer. The reality is that they are not fixable products. Hybrid word requires software solutions that is more suitable for this type of collaboration.

The solution for zoom fatigue is a virtual office software such as ivCAMPUS.

Six reasons to use a virtual office instead

The concept of a virtual office is relatively new, considering companies only recently started to look for solutions regarding remote and hybrid work. A virtual office software is different than a videoconferencing software like Zoom, simply because it’s more than videoconferencing. Sure, video calls are still part of them, but only as needed.

A virtual office such as ivCAMPUS is a virtual place where teams can spend time, collaborate, and socialise the same way they did in the physical office.

Here’s why a virtual office is an alternative to Zoom and Microsoft Teams.

1. Less meetings. A virtual office such as ivCAMPUS allows workers to clarify issues and collaborate through spontaneous interactions (jumping on a short video call or chatting). Scheduled meetings used to take more time because they were formal and planned. Therefore, a virtual office allows a team to spend less time on video calls. According to research, “people who have more and longer meetings tend to feel more fatigued than those with fewer and shorter meetings.”
2. Spontaneous interactions. On ivCAMPUS spontaneous interactions happen all the time, and they are easy to do. You can simply send a quick note to a colleague, knock on their door and have a quick chat, or join others in the coffee room. We considered the spontaneity from the physical office is needed for better collaboration and creativity. With Campus you can clear your calendar of all the meetings you used to do on the fly in the physical office.
3. Non-human engagement. With the feature of permanent presence, you can easily see who is at work and what rooms are occupied by simply glancing at the interface. “I see my colleague John is in the coffee room right now talking with Julie. I’m going to knock on his door later when he’s available. How about Mark? Mark is available, I’ll knock on his door.” Just as you would do in a physical office.
4. Mobility. Since you are not constantly connected in video calls when you are online on ivCAMPUS, you can do the stuff you normally do when working. Going to get yourself a glass of water, move, stretch, walk around, do some exercises good for your back. All that takes away stress and fatigue.
5. Less time on video meetings means more time for undisturbed focused work. Some people hum a song when they concentrate. Others march in the room. Everyone has the liberty to work how they like and thus get their stuff done - a great motivator and counter-element to stress and fatigue.
6. Team bonding. One of the issues reported by remote teams is the decreased sense of community that is making them feel lonely and disconnected. With ivCAMPUS, your team has a virtual place to gather, collaborate, and interact. The company culture is kept intact with the help of customizations, and teams feel connected again with daily micro-interactions.

ivCAMPUS: The solution

Adapting old solutions to new problems is not always possible. The remote and hybrid work model needs a modern solution that overcomes the pitfalls of traditional videoconferencing platforms. That’s why we built ivCAMPUS as an out-of-the-box solution for virtual collaborations.

We understand the need to collaborate and socialise in a virtual office in the same way we did in the physical office. Social spontaneity and being part of a community should go hand in hand.

ivCAMPUS is an alternative for videoconferencing software (Zoom, Webex, or Microsoft Teams) because it’s a platform that combines the benefits of the physical office and the virtual one. Using our software for hybrid work allows you to create an immersive and easy-to-use environment for your employees, no matter where they are from. There’s also no special software that needs to be installed for it, they only need to open their browser.

We digitalized office interactions to allow people to intuitively work together, socialise, and be part of the company culture just as they would in a real office. And all of this in an immersive platform that they can access from anywhere they want.