96% of remote workers report experiencing Zoom fatigue. Are you one of them?
Your struggle with back-to-back video calls might feel familiar. Heavy eyelids, mental drain, and the unshakeable urge to press “Leave Meeting” during virtual calls are classic signs of Zoom fatigue.
However, making simple changes to meeting schedules and allowing ample rest time can have a significant impact on wellbeing. Let's take a look at some effective schedule adjustments that can help you and your workforce overcome Zoom fatigue while maintaining a smooth workflow.
The brain works much harder during virtual calls compared to in-person meetings. This extra cognitive load comes from processing both verbal and non-verbal cues through a digital screen, adding to the strain of an already busy workday.
Research shows that virtual meetings can also cause:
Let's explore how to restructure virtual meetings to work with natural rhythms, instead of against them. By doing so, you can enhance productivity, boost engagement, and reinforce your and your workforce's mental wellbeing.
Adhering to a schedule aligned with peak productivity periods significantly enhances work quality while reducing the negative side effects of Zoom fatigue. By tracking energy patterns throughout the day and scheduling work and meeting times around them, workforces can spend and save energy according to natural workflows.
Workers make better decisions and think more clearly when they schedule important meetings during their peak energy periods. To name just one example, scheduling brainstorming sessions during high-energy periods makes us 30% more likely to generate innovative solutions.
Studies show that professionals who arrange complex tasks with their peak performance hours achieve up to 40% higher productivity during the workday. To achieve optimal productivity during hectic work hours, teams can optimize meeting schedules by matching different types of meetings to energy levels:
|
Meeting Type |
Energy Level |
Best Timing |
|---|---|---|
|
Strategic Planning |
High |
Peak Hours |
|
Routine Updates |
Medium |
Mid-Energy Periods |
|
Administrative Tasks |
Low |
Energy Valleys |
Research shows our brains need approximately 22 minutes to refocus after switching tasks. But when back-to-back meetings pull our focus in multiple directions at once, we’re left feeling drained, unprepared, and exhausted.
Buffer zones between meetings can help stave off Zoom fatigue while bringing wellbeing back into focus. For example, scheduling 50-minute instead of hour-long calls creates a natural, 10-minute buffer that reduces mental overload and stops fatigue from building up.
But energy-optimized blocks like buffer zones do more than reduce zoom fatigue—they also create a foundation for productive virtual collaboration. Tuning into natural peak energy hours and balancing sufficient time for wellbeing can recharge batteries and set teams up for success, no matter where in the world they’re located.
We know that back-to-back meetings puts undue stress on the brain, but capping meetings at 50 minutes allows at least 10 minutes to reset and recharge. According to research from Microsoft, factoring 10-minute breaks or more in between meetings can actually prevent stress from building up, optimizing productivity and collaboration.
But the success of the 50/10 meeting rule lies in how those valuable 10 minutes are spent. Not all breaks give the same benefits, so here's the quickest way teams can reset:
Practicing these activities in small increments adds up over the course of a busy meeting day. Not only do workers emerge feeling more satisfied and calm, but they’re also ready to tackle agenda items from previous meetings or head into future calls more prepared and alert.
The best way to stave off meeting fatigue? Logging off Zoom of course…even if only for a day.
For many remote workforces, collaboration hinges on the instant virtual connection provided by software like Zoom, Google Meet, and GoTo Meeting. But just as excessive in-person meetings can bring burnout and fatigue, so too can overbooked virtual calls.
A happy medium for remote and hybrid organizations lies in the power of dedicated No-Meeting Days, where employees can focus on individual projects. In addition to providing solo working time and heightened work quality, No-Meeting Days also put workforces at ease without worrying about morning or afternoon calls.
The real challenge of implementing No-Meeting Days is honoring the overarching goal—to work and focus at one’s own pace. With workforces losing up to 720 hours annually due to interruptions, it’s critical to give team members space during No-Meeting Days and collaborate strictly via email or direct message.
To ensure workers can make the most of their No-Meeting Day and general focus hours, it helps to:
It’s important to consistently monitor and adjust meeting practices to ensure workforces can effectively collaborate and work independently. Let's take a look at some ways to measure and optimize virtual meeting schedules so individual wellbeing needs are incorporated.
A team's energy levels depend heavily on meeting patterns. Studies show that monitoring meeting patterns helps identify potential burnout triggers, so it’s important to assess whether meeting frequency and duration are helping or hindering workforce success.
To figure out the best system for meeting management, here’s a detailed tracking system to keep in mind:
|
Metric |
What to Monitor |
Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|
|
Meeting Distribution |
Daily/Weekly Patterns |
Prevent overload and fatigue |
|
Start Times |
Peak Energy Hours |
Optimize engagement and energy |
|
Duration |
Meeting Length |
Maintain focus and wellbeing |
Team feedback plays a vital role in maintaining healthy meeting practices. Teams who continually collect meeting feedback see a 30% improvement in effectiveness and satisfaction. From anonymous surveys and weekly pulse checks to monthly reflections on meeting culture, simple and consistent feedback can ensure meetings align with individual needs.
Individual energy levels depend not on total meeting time but on the balance between meetings and individual work. For example, spreading meetings evenly throughout the week helps maintain steady energy levels instead of clustering them together. Mid-morning meetings also tend to be more productive because they match peak focus hours, so it’s best to schedule critical discussions during these optimal periods.
Virtual meetings are integral in the world of remote work, but there’s no need for workforces to feel drained after every call. A few tweaks to meeting schedules can vastly improve daily work experience, boost team efficiency, and bring wellbeing back into focus.
Trying to figure out how to clean your Zoom calendar and banish fatigue for good? A comprehensive approach to wellbeing is the first step. Discover how to fuse your daily workflow with simple wellness changes with help from WellRight.