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3 Ways to Overcome Video Meeting Overload

Written by Bernie

Bernie Frazier, SPHR is the Founder and President of CAREERCompass, LLC, a speaking and career coaching firm in St. Louis, MO. She also spent almost 25 years recruiting talent to six organizations across four industries and led the talent acquisition function for four of those organizations, including one global team.

Thanks to the global COVID pandemic, more people are using services like Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and WebEx than ever before for work meetings. While I had begun using Zoom 2-3 years prior to 2020, my meetings spiked during the pandemic to almost 25 per week. It was rough and like many, I had to endure and learn how to stave off burn out.

Since we now have COVID’s peak behind us, people working remotely are often still feeling the pain of excessive video meetings. The impact of what is known as “digital overload” on mental health is becoming well-documented. In 2021, Microsoft’s published its Work Trend Index which showed that the majority of respondents (54%) felt overworked, while 39% of employees describe themselves as outright exhausted.

While some have adjusted to their new norm of working remotely and virtually, others are still struggling to adjust. If you find you are part of the latter group, here are a few things I adopted (well, except discussing with my boss!) that helped me which may help you:

  1. Block out time on your calendar: Even if it’s just for 5-10 minutes 2-3 times per day, use your company calendar and block out times for you to take a quick break. Studies have shown when employees can take even a quick 5-10 minute break, it gives their brains time to transition more smoothly to the next task or meeting.
  2. Group your meetings: While I know you can’t always control which meetings take place when, if you are able to group like subject matter meetings together, it will require your brain to have to transition less in between meetings. The less you have to transition, the less effort you’re using, thereby conserving energy.

    3. Discuss with your boss: If you aren’t able to control the number of meetings you’re attending each day, seek out help and support from your leadership. No leader wants to have burned out employees, so by explaining the challenge you’re facing, your boss may be just the person to help you implement a solution that will stick. Note: try to come up with a solution on your own and present it to your boss when you have the discussion. While it may not be the best solution, your boss will appreciate your willingness to not dump everything in his/her lap to solve!

As long as you work remotely, you probably won’t be able to get away from video meetings altogether, but by exploring and implementing options to cut them down, it’ll certainly save you time and can make you more productive.

Until next time….