Are your hybrid meetings doing more harm than good? New research shows that many of us ‘forget’ all about external colleagues

Hybrid meetings can make remote workers feel excluded, Jabra study shows
Inappropriate and dated setups cause regular meeting delays and technical errors
Better meeting room sets and clear meeting objectives could improve engagement

Around half of external participants say they have been forgotten, talked about or excluded during hybrid meetings, a new study from Jabra has revealed, indicating that hybrid in-person and external meetings may not be as effective as we had thought.

The problem is particularly evident when multiple participants are in a physical space where others are participating online. But more than that, women (16%) and younger workers (26%) are more likely to feel left out.

But the hybrid concept may not be to blame – Jabra argues that dated technology makes it difficult for all participants to have equal visibility, and that poor technology only reinforces existing cultural issues around visibility rather than creating them.

Hybrid meetings are the least effective form

That much is evident from the fact that hybrid meetings are generally worse off than fully remote meetings, with employees more likely to miss content (59% vs. 41%), feel excluded (55% vs. 38%), or need follow-up meetings to clarify details (42% vs. 28%).

Years after workers were sent home at the height of the pandemic, companies are still failing their meeting technology. Three out of four hybrid meetings experience at least one technical glitch, and participants often report difficulty hearing (73%) or seeing (68%) participants.

Jabra even claims that these errors add an average of 11 minutes to each hybrid meeting, and losses can increase further for the largest companies.

This happens because workers spend an average of eight hours a week in meetings (more than in Denmark, India and the UK).

With more than half (58%) of that time generally considered unnecessary, 66% leave without clear action items and 59% require follow-ups to clarify missed items.

Meeting infrastructure and purpose are key to success

As for the fix, many companies have turned to AI to help with things like meeting summaries and live transcripts, but widespread use is still low. Poor trust and privacy/compliance issues also prevent companies from going all-in on AI.

“AI can improve a well-run meeting, but it can’t fix a broken one,” said Jabra Enterprise Video Business Unit SVP Holger Reisinger.

To address the issue, the report encourages companies to invest in meeting room technologies such as microphones, cameras and connectivity to bring remote participants closer to in-person participants.

Currently, 37% use a single laptop as a microphone and speaker for the room, 31% revert to audio only after giving up video, and 23% have even dialed in via phone for audio. A third (34%) also noted that participants participate on their own individual devices rather than using a central meeting room system designed to capture all participants.

Jabra is also one of a growing number of researchers finding that workers experience increased Zoom fatigue (42% of workers reach their energy limit within two hours of back-to-back meetings, 83% within four hours), underscoring the need to completely reframe meetings and only hold calls when necessary.

That way, workers are more likely to pay attention and actively collaborate with all colleagues, whether hybrid or not.

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