Here is our list of the best Zoom fatigue solutions.
Zoom fatigue solutions are different methods for combatting work-from-home burnout from constant video calls. For example, shortening meetings, taking breaks, and relying on other forms of communication. The purpose of these activities is to prevent employee burnout and stress from too many video calls.
These ideas are similar to examples of Zoom meeting ideas, ways to beat work-from-home fatigue, and methods of making virtual meetings fun.
This list includes:
- Zoom fatigue-relieving ideas
- ways to recover from Zoom fatigue
- Zoom fatigue prevention strategies
- ways to fight Zoom fatigue ideas
- anti-Zoom-fatigue activities
Let’s get to it!
List of Zoom fatigue solutions
Zoom fatigue can happen when teams participate in so many meetings that employees become exhausted. Here are a few solutions for Zoom fatigue to help you and your team avoid burnout.
1. Create a meeting agenda
If you are looking for Zoom fatigue prevention strategies, then you can begin by creating meeting agendas. An agenda outlines topics of discussion during your team’s meeting. Effective meeting agendas typically include discussion topics as well as allotted time slots.
For example, if you are hosting a weekly team meeting, then your outline might look like this:
- Company news and announcements- three minutes
- Project statuses and updates- 10 minutes
- Top highlights and accomplishments from last week- three minutes
- Team priorities for the upcoming week- five minutes
- Roundtable feedback and questions- five minutes
Once you have created an agenda for your next meeting, send it to your team at least one day before your call. Sending a plan will allow your team to prepare for the meeting beforehand. Incorporating an agenda into your session will also help ensure that your team stays on track.
You can also incorporate the 8% rule when planning.
2. Start with an icebreaker
If you want to make your meetings more exciting, then you should incorporate anti-Zoom-fatigue activities like icebreakers.
Question of the Day is one of the best icebreakers to begin your meeting. As part of this icebreaker, the meeting host should kick off the meeting by posting a question to the team. For example, “What is your ultimate dream job?” or “What is one lesson your learned from your first job?” Question of the Day is a fun icebreaker that can help you learn more about your teammates.
Here are a few more icebreakers you can play during meetings:
- Two Truths and a Lie
- Would You Rather
- Rapid-Fire Questions
- Show and Tell
- Scavenger Hunt
Starting your meetings with an icebreaker can help you avoid awkward silence at the beginning of the call. In addition, icebreakers are a great way to begin your call on a fun and positive note.
Check out this random question generator and list of virtual icebreakers for more ideas.
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3. Add polls to your meetings
One of the most engaging anti-Zoom-fatigue activities is to keep team members engaged through polls. Zoom has an interactive polling feature, which allows meeting hosts to schedule polls that teammates can answer during the meeting.
We suggest adding polls to your meetings to keep employees engaged.
Here are a few questions you can use when polling your team:
- Would you recommend our company as a great place to work?
- Are you proud to work for our company?
- How satisfied are you with the leadership of our company?
- Do you have a good understanding of our company goals and values?
- Is there anything you would like us to do differently in the next meeting?
- What topics would you like to see covered in future meetings?
You can take advantage of Zoom’s polling functionality by adding fun or insightful questions to the beginning, middle, or end of your meeting. To add a poll to your session, go into the settings menu and navigate to the Polls/Quizzes tab.
Incorporating polls into your meetings is a great way to get insightful feedback and comments from team members in real-time. Responses can help you decide where you can make improvements and refinements. You can also include just-for-fun polls to break up the monotony of meetings.
Check out more fun poll questions.
4. Use virtual backgrounds
If you want to add fun visuals to your Zoom meetings, we suggest using virtual backgrounds. Luckily, a variety of virtual backgrounds and patterns are available on Zoom. If you do not find a background directly on Zoom, you can upload your picture, such as your company’s logo.
You can encourage team members to choose their virtual backgrounds based on fun party themes, such as:
- Dream travel destinations
- Favorite decades
- Black-tie affair
- Home for the holidays
- Favorite movies
By using backgrounds on Zoom, you can appear as if you are sitting on a beach, cafe, or nicely decorated office. Your virtual background can be a fun conversation starter during your meeting.
5. Encourage non-verbal communication
One of the most underrated Zoom features is the reaction functionality. The reaction feature allows participants to share their reactions by using emojis. For example, if an employee says, “We should have no meetings on Fridays,” then teammates can use the thumbs-up emoji to show their alignment with this statement. Likewise, if a team member shares that they recently received a promotion, then teammates can use the clapping emoji to show their support and happiness for this news.
Non-verbal communication cues, like emoji reactions, are a great way to battle Zoom fatigue. Instead of speaking up, employees can share their reactions and responses by using fun emojis.
6. Hide your video view
One of the most helpful Zoom fatigue-relieving ideas is to turn off your self-view. When employees are constantly joining Zoom calls, they may spend all day staring at themselves on the computer screen. Turning off self-view can help combat this fatigue by hiding an employee’s video from their computer screen and making it easier to focus on the meeting.
Another way to combat Zoom fatigue is by completely turning off your camera and joining with audio only. As a general rule, video calls should be reserved for important meetings, such as team touchpoints and key project kick-offs. Audio-only calls can cover the rest of your meetings, such as one-on-ones and daily huddles.
Being off-camera during virtual conferences allows employees to focus on the meeting without the pressure of looking presentable at all times.
8. Avoid multitasking
When you have so many tasks on your to-do list, you may be tempted to catch up whenever you have the chance. Unfortunately, this pressure often results in teammates multitasking during meetings. Unfortunately, multitasking is known to reduce employee performance by up to 40%, according to a study conducted by the Association for Psychological Science.
If you are looking for ways to prevent employees from multitasking during meetings, then you can incorporate collaborative activities, such as icebreakers and team building exercises. If you keep team members engaged, then your employees will be less likely to multitask during your meeting.
Multitasking can quickly become distracting, making this practice extremely counterproductive. Instead of multitasking during virtual meetings, we recommend focusing on the present topic. Then, after a short break, you should be able to complete any additional projects.
9. Shorten meetings when possible
One of the best Zoom fatigue prevention strategies is to shorten meetings. You do not always need an hour-long meeting to be productive. Instead, we recommend cutting calls down to 30 minutes or less. A best practice regarding meetings is to keep these calls short and to the point.
Instead, you can skip the meeting and communicate any updates and important notes via email. Your team is sure to appreciate the added time back in their day.
10. Take mini-breaks
One of the best ways to recover from Zoom fatigue is by taking short breaks. In an office setting, team members must walk to and from their meetings, which provides a few minutes to recharge. In a virtual setting, on the other hand, constant back-to-back meetings can feel like one never-ending meeting. Too many meetings with no breaks in between can ultimately lead to stress and exhaustion.
Taking mini-breaks throughout the day will allow employees to take deep breaths and clear their minds. We suggest practicing mindfulness during mini-breaks. Activities like deep breathing, meditation, walking, and mini-dance parties are great ways to reset and recharge.
11. Rest your eyes
If you are looking for ways to recover from Zoom fatigue, then one of the best places to start is by resting your eyes often. Employees may stare at the computer screen all day when working remotely. To prevent strain on the eyes, you should limit your screen time.
The 20-20-20 rule is ideal to ensure that your eyes have a chance to rest. This rule states that for every 20 minutes spent looking at a screen, you should spend 20 seconds looking at another object at least 20 feet away. Blue-light-blocking glasses are another great way to rest your eyes and reduce strain.
Resting your eyes is vital in relaxing eye muscles, protecting vision, and promoting healthy sleeping habits.
12. Change your environment
Sometimes, a change of scenery might be just what you need to conquer Zoom fatigue and burnout. For example, if you usually work from a desk in your basement, then you can choose to work from your living room couch instead. To add more variety to your daily routine, you can work from a different area of your house a few days out of the week or during different phases of the work day, including your dining room, bedroom, or guest room.
Changing your home office location can often positively impact your mood, boosting productivity and motivation at work.
Here are our picks for the best remote work locations.
13. Decorate your home office
Your environment can have a significant impact on your mood and productivity. For example, if your desk is cluttered with paper and junk, then you may feel irritated about the mess. Re-decorating your office is a great way to boost productivity and employee happiness.
If you are looking to re-decorate your home office, then a great place to start is by positioning your desk near a window for natural sunlight. Maintaining a well-lit workplace can help uplift employees during the workday.
We also recommend maintaining a clean space in your home office. The main items to include on your desk should be your laptop, notebook, and office supplies. Adding uplifting elements like framed artwork or plants can also improve your office decor.
Check out more work-from-home office ideas.
14. Use other methods of communication
Although you may feel like video meetings are the best way to connect with your team virtually, other forms of communication could work just as well. Instead of automatically defaulting to video conferences, we suggest considering other methods of communication, such as emails, instant messaging, or phone calls.
Sometimes, the topic of your meeting can appear via email. For example, if you want to meet with your team about a new social media outreach project, you may want to give an overview of the project and assign responsibilities. You may find it easier to share details on an initiative like this via email rather than hosting a video conference.
When organizing meetings, we recommend considering your team’s time by exploring different options for effective communication.
Here is a list of online collaboration tools to use to communicate.
15. Block off your calendar
Setting boundaries is vital in all aspects of life, and the workplace is no exception. Declining meetings is one of the best Zoom fatigue solutions. To effectively set boundaries and avoid burnout, we suggest adding no-meeting time blocks on your calendar. To add blocks to your calendar, create an event when you do not wish to be in meetings. For example, if you do not want to join meetings from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Fridays, then you can set a recurring time block each week.
Blocking off time on your calendar will prevent coworkers from scheduling you for meetings during these times. Instead, you can use your time to be productive and work on other projects.
16. Set one meeting-free day per week
Time is valuable, so one of the best ways to fight Zoom fatigue ideas is to optimize your time. Constantly attending meetings can be socially draining, and choosing one meeting-free day per week is a great way to decompress. For example, if you would like a break from meetings during the middle of the week, then you can set Wednesdays as your meeting-free days.
You can focus on being productive and working on other projects during the extra free time.
17. Record meetings
If you are looking for virtual meeting best practices, then we recommend recording your Zoom calls. When working remotely, employees may feel pressured to join every single meeting. However, by recording your meetings, you will provide relief to your team by giving them a chance to choose which meetings to join. If a team member cannot attend a call, they can easily reference the recording. Not to mention, employees may be able to watch the meeting at one-and-a-half or two times speed or skip non-relevant portions to save on time.
18. Say no when you need to
Although you may feel inclined to say yes to every work request and assignment, you should know that it is okay to say no sometimes. To beat the fatigue that comes with multiple Zoom meetings, we recommend attending only the sessions that benefit you.
For example, if a colleague invites you to a meeting regarding a project that you are not working on, then you should politely decline the invitation. By saying no to certain meetings, you will clear up your calendar and have more time to focus on your projects.
Conclusion
Although working from home has perks and benefits, a few factors can harm employees’ mental well-being. Zoom fatigue is the pressure, stress, and exhaustion that accompany constant video meetings. This type of fatigue is one of the biggest challenges that employees face when working from home. If left untreated, Zoom fatigue can lead to more negative consequences, such as burnout and exhaustion.
Changing your video conferencing habits is a great place to begin conquering Zoom fatigue. For example, relying on other methods of communication or scheduling time blocks on your calendar. Changing your meeting habits in a work-from-home environment may make your Zoom calls less intimidating and more manageable. Proactively finding Zoom fatigue solutions will keep your remote team energized, engaged, and motivated while working from home.
Next, check out this guide to virtual meeting etiquette and this list of remote work-life balance tips.
