If you’re running or planning virtual team meetings, it’s so important to consider your remote employees’ well-being.
Can you replace some meetings with a simple Google Doc checklist? Or reduce workload expectations on meeting days? Or maybe make some meetings optional to attend?
There are many ways you can help support your team’s work-life balance while still making sure you communicate important updates and instructions. Let’s take a closer look at why remote team meetings can trigger burnout and anxiety. And ten rules to follow to prevent both! 👇
Why do remote team meetings sometimes trigger burnout and anxiety?
Virtual meetings may trigger burnout and anxiety for multiple reasons.
According to research published on MDPI, some of the most common reasons virtual teams experience videoconference fatigue include:
- Harder communication: Delays, poor audio, and fewer nonverbal cues and body language cues make conversations more tiring.
- Home environment issues: Noise, distractions, a bad internet connection, or cramped setups make it harder to focus.
- Always being on camera: Seeing themselves and feeling watched increases stress.
- Too many or too long meetings: Back-to-back calls without breaks wear teams out.
- Tech troubles: Glitches, bad lighting, or confusing software add frustration.
As a remote worker myself, some of the top “Zoom fatigue” triggers virtual colleagues have talked to me about include:
- Dreading meeting participation and speaking in public. (Some workers don’t have the best communication skills or want to speak in front of others.)
- Feeling like the meeting was a waste of time and held them back from more important work.
- Feeling exhausted from their current workload.
- Having unclear meeting expectations.
This was especially difficult during the pandemic, when increasingly more teams went online. Organizations were scrambling to stay together, and virtual meetings were their main team communication tool.
We’ve learned a lot since then.
With that in mind, here are some rules you can implement to protect your team’s well-being when planning meetings:
1. Survey your remote team about meeting expectations, burnout, and anxiety
Ask your team members for their input.
How do they feel about meetings? What sparks their anxiety or burnout?
Anonymous polls can also work if they’re nervous about listing their name or saying anything too specific.
*Pro-Tip: Ask team members about their preferred meeting-free time blocks during the workweek. This helps preserve deep work time and can reduce overall meeting fatigue.
2. Make sure you have a good reason for calling a meeting
Not every initiative requires a formal meeting. Frequent, unnecessary meetings can lead to cognitive overload and interrupt deep work.
Always ask yourself if you can meet async instead. (Sometimes sending a Slack message or Loom video is all your team needs to get on the same page.) If it’s a general update or non-urgent discussion, consider using an asynchronous option or making meeting attendance optional.
3. Add a fun, engaging element
If you’re planning a long meeting or your team is low on morale, consider including a fun element.
This might be as simple as inviting employees to use a virtual background and bring their favorite hot drink to the meeting. Or take it to the next level with virtual team-building activities and experiences, like an online trivia game.
Here are some more fun ideas:
- Online murder mystery
- Online scavenger hunt
- Virtual escape room
- Virtual happy hours
- Online puzzles
- Coffee chats
If you’re pressed on time, open the meeting up with a light joke. Or ask team members if they’d like to share something funny or unusual that happened over the weekend to lighten the mood. Note: You might need to get the ball rolling by sharing your own story first.
If possible, consider planning some in-person experiences for your team, allowing employees to step away from screens altogether.
Investing in a meaningful, shared experience reinforces teamwork and can help strengthen team bonds. (Try to give your team a list of options they can vote on. Or rotate between themes.)
Even better: Find something you all have in common and plan an experience around it. If your France team members love history, plan a team visit to the Utah Beach Museum.
If your team loves being active, plan a group hike or a sports day to get everyone moving.
4. Send the meeting agenda ahead of time
Make sure the meeting host always sends the meeting plan ahead of time. People feel better when they know what to expect and understand how they can contribute to the conversation.
Have them add the agenda to your team project management tool, email it out, or send an instant message 24-48 hours before the meeting.
5. Choose a time that works for everyone
If you check response times in Slack or email, you may notice that your team sends messages at all hours. That’s likely because you have remote workers who live all around the globe. And it’s important to remember that when planning your meeting schedules.
Instead of expecting some workers to join your meeting at 3 a.m. their time, look at the time zones your employees live in. What time would be the most feasible for everyone to attend?
You might need to send a poll out to get a better idea. Or host multiple meetings at different times.
6. State clear goals, a meeting agenda, and a meeting framework
To encourage collaborative participation and show your team that their time is valuable, lead with a clear meeting or project plan.
Before the meeting, make sure you have specific goals, an agenda, and a framework for how you’ll be structuring the meeting.
Robert’s Rules of Order (see the image below) can be super helpful for this. It’s a long-standing system that provides a clear process for introducing motions, discussing ideas, and reaching group decisions efficiently. Following Robert’s Rules of Order helps you make sure every participant has an equal opportunity to speak and contribute.
Robert’s Rules of Order
Make sure your team also has guidelines around:
- What video conferencing software to use (Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, etc.)
- Camera usage — can they attend meetings with their cameras off?
- Screen sharing dos and don’ts
- Norms around muting mics
- Internet connection musts
These guidelines help encourage smoother meetings and fewer disruptions.
7. Consider capacity levels and make adjustments
Always consider your team’s workload before scheduling meetings.
If they’re at max capacity, make sure they really need to attend before inviting them. Otherwise, send them an async note or a meeting recap after. (More on this below.)
Some other adjustments you can make includeExtending project deadlines, being okay with reduced productivity, or allowing employees toclock out early to reduce burnout.
8. Consider different personalities and social norms
Factor in cultural differences and personalities when planning your meetings. You may need to adjust your expectations, even in a typically collaborative environment. Not everyone is a social butterfly, and that’s okay.
Employees have different skills and strengths, and no one should ever feel bad for being quiet or introverted. For these workers, offer lighter ways to participate, such as responding to a question using the chat feature or sending you an email after the meeting.
9. Send a meeting recap after
Use an AI tool to record your meetings, automate transcriptions, and send meeting recaps to attendees afterward.
If you’re looking for an AI-powered note-taking tool, try Fellow. It creates a searchable, time-stamped record of every discussion. This helps teammates who missed details during the meeting and reminds everyone of their next steps.
It also helps team members in different time zones or roles stay up-to-date on key decisions and action items when it works best for them. Additionally, it also offers a bot-free AI note taker for businesses that require a higher level of privacy.
10. Use simple tools to reduce meeting fatigue
Speaking of tools, keep your tech stack simple.
Too many apps and logins can be just as exhausting as too many meetings. Stick to one main communication platform and one project management tool that everyone can access easily.
Integrate where possible to minimize constant app switching. For example, Slack can integrate with ClickUp and can also help you host video meetings, async meetings, and phone calls.
Wrap up
With some intention and care, you can plan virtual meetings that help you get things done — while also doing your best to prevent team burnout and anxiety.
Here’s a quick recap on the virtual meeting rules we covered in this article:
- Survey your remote team about meeting expectations, burnout, and anxiety
- Make sure you have a good reason for calling a meeting
- Add a fun, engaging element
- Send the meeting agenda ahead of time
- Choose a time that works for everyone
- State clear goals, a meeting agenda, and a meeting framework
- Consider capacity levels and make adjustments
- Consider different personalities and socializing norms
- Send a meeting recap after
- Use simple tools to reduce meeting fatigue
Remember that every team is different, and what works for some remote workers may not work for yours. Get to know your team members better so you can gauge what would be most supportive for them. Remember the survey!
To your success!
PS: Looking for team collaboration tools? Explore our articles on AI tools.
