That prolific Daily Mail commentator, Tom Utley, has been collecting lots of information about the likes and dislikes of WFH. We’ve covered many of these subjects on this very blog over the past year. However, here’s a surprise…Zoom fatigue!
Apparently even the guy who invented Zoom has found endless Zoom meetings exhausting. Furthermore, Stanford University have identified Zoom fatigue as a clinical condition, caused by excessive close-up eye contact. Obviously, you’d never conduct a typical face-to-face meeting in this fashion!
Stanford University have identified Zoom fatigue as a clinical condition, caused by excessive close-up eye contact. Obviously, you’d never conduct a typical face-to-face meeting in this fashion!
Employee burnout resulting from Zoom fatigue is in nobody’s interests. Many company bosses are planning to get people back to working in their offices – including some who at one point said that full-time WFH was the future.
Is WFH in employees’ best long-term interests, even without Zoom fatigue?
Despite some surveys indicating that a high number of people really like WFH, thought is being increasingly given to the employees’ prospects. How do you learn if you’re not in the office to glean knowledge from more experienced colleagues? What are your prospects for promotion if your seniors never actually see you on a regular basis? If you elect to work remotely 100%, rather than say in your company’s serviced office in Farringdon, how long will it be before your company decides to hire a cheaper alternative from foreign call centre land? For these reasons, along with Zoom fatigue, we think it’s highly unlikely that most employees will choose to work from home all of the time. The hybrid working model is the most likely compromise.
How do you learn if you’re not in the office to glean knowledge from more experienced colleagues? What are your prospects for promotion if your seniors never actually see you on a regular basis?
There is no doubt that Zoom and similar software have made quite remarkable progress. Certainly, it has proved vital for many businesses over the past year, but it does have its limitations in the long term – not least Zoom fatigue!
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Michael Fraser
Michael started in the London property market in 1970. He has an extensive knowledge of the locations, owners & rental values within the office market hub.