The German GDPR-compliant alfaview® video conferencing solution has been demonstrating for more than ten years how to successfully carry out fatigue-free online meetings.
As a consequence of the coronavirus pandemic, the number of video conferences has increased over the past few months. Besides the undeniable advantages of online meetings, however, many users of virtual communication platforms notice a certain exhaustion and fatigue that is currently circulating in the media with the label “zoom fatigue”.
After months of pandemic: first scientific findings
More than half a year has passed since many employees moved to their home offices. A survey conducted by the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) found that 42 % of employees in the US worked from home full time during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. In the meantime, the first lasting effects of the associated increase in virtual communication are becoming evident: Many users of video conferencing tools feel drained after being in online meetings all day and complain about a lack of concentration, impatience, irritation as well as head and back pain.
Reasons for video conferencing fatigue
The Psychiatric Times conducted a survey to find the causes of this new fatigue. Audio has been proposed as the main reason why online meetings are draining. Minimal delays in virtual verbal responses negatively affect our interpersonal perceptions. In this respect, the alfaview® video conferencing solution, developed by the German education company alfatraining, presents an outstanding alternative to many other well-known providers. Whether 20, 50, 100, 200 or more people at the same time, alfaview remains lip-synchronous and delivers image and sound stably in high quality and without interruptions, around the clock – even with a low bandwidth.
In an interview with the BBC, Gianpiero Petriglieri, an associate professor at Insead Business School who explores sustainable learning and development in the workplace, said that being on a video call requires more focus than a face-to-face talk. Participants of video conferences need to work harder to process non-verbal cues like facial expressions and gestures as well as the tone and pitch of the voice, which consumes a lot of energy. alfaview® recognises the importance of mimics and gestures in communication and emphasises the mutual seeing and being seen in video conferences. With its user friendly and functional design without any distractions such as pop ups or icons alfaview® allows to focus on the interaction with the other participants. Screensharing, collaborating on projects, talking to each other – all these alfaview® features prevent emerging fatigue.
alfaview® lays the foundations for a permanent remote work
Since the majority of employees would like to keep working from home even after the pandemic, the foundations must be laid for fatigue-free video conferencing systems. alfaview® offers accessible virtual rooms with an unlimited number of breakout rooms for private talks. The result is a virtual office with familiar structures where people can work together and communicate in a quiet setting. Since virtual meetings do not have to be restarted with every subsequent session, collaboration is easy. alfaview® rooms are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
For 10 years now, 700 employees and the 3,000 monthly course participants of the education company alfatraining have been using these digital structures. This success story shows that alternative working models can work successfully – sans fatigue.