Envisioning new ways of working in the new normal: is video conferencing killing our ability to solve problems?

One of the long-term implications of the coronavirus pandemic in the workplace is that more employees will work remotely. Despite the full range of opportunities that virtual work provides and the valuable experience employees are having during the pandemic, new digital collaboration processes and tools (synchronous and asynchronous) will emerge. These developments will require different skills and competencies and organizations' redesign towards more open and flexible responses1.  

New challenges arise when companies are trying to adopt hybrid work approaches to engage remote and physically present employees, which in some conditions may be worse than having purely virtual meetings using video conferencing2. The debate about the inclusion and productivity of employees in the new normal is gaining attention in the corporate world. More investigation is bringing new insights for better decision-making.  

A very recent study3 argues that video conferencing reduces vocal synchrony and collective intelligence in virtual teams. Findings are somehow shocking because, in contrast with our everyday perception, the authors say that these platforms, used mainly by collaborators physically separated, shrink the group's ability to solve a wide range of problems. The point is that unlimited access to video conferencing provides more visual stimuli, making employees more distracted and less social interaction during collaborative problem-solving. 

How do these workplace models affect empathy-building, a fundamental principle of human collaboration?  

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Rui Patrício 

Strategic Design and Innovation Lab Coordinator and Assistant Professor at IADE-UE.