As companies continue to adjust to the wave of employees returning to the office, one thing is certain: The pre-pandemic working world is no more. Although remote employee productivity has been proven in terms of output—albeit subjective and loosely defined—many companies are gradually increasing their “in office” requirements.

Hybrid work options are also becoming more commonplace. As a result, the need to connect and engage with employees as a hybrid workforce is increasingly top of mind. Effective asynchronous communication is critical to elevate and sustain an organization’s productivity. One tertiary concern is in-person vs. virtual meetings. Of course, there are differing schools of thought on the benefits of each one.

Challenges of virtual meetings

Virtual meetings have been around for decades—largely in the form of video meetings for one-to-few attendees, and webinars or live streams for one-to-many meetings.

When the world went remote in March 2020, virtual meetings became a mode of survival. They were a mechanism to stay connected. Tools like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet were deployed not just for productivity but also for business survival.

 …