The ROI of IRL: Balancing the Positive Effects of Remote Work With the Benefits of Meeting in Person

While the world continues to discuss the "future of work" and debate the best strategies for hybrid teams, office spaces and the role of meetings, there is one fundamental truth ahead of all others: The value of interacting with someone face-to-face can't be replicated digitally. Research done over the past 2 years indicates that the way most of us had been working before the pandemic had negative impacts on employees’ productivity and psychological well-being. Whether teams are deciding between a full return to the office, a hybrid or flexible model, or a fully remote plan,  the focus is shifting on how to build a stronger foundation that better reflects the needs of today’s employees. 

Value of In-Person Interactions at Work 

While there is a strong argument and inherent value for remote work in many cases, it’s clear that a successful strategy for your workforce has the right balance that includes both. A 2018 article by Hilton, The Science of Being There, in the Washington Post, has definitive conclusions about the importance of in-person interactions at work. The writer has drawn these conclusions from several sources:

• More than eight in ten executives prefer in-person meetings to virtual contact, noting they create space for tough, timely business decisions and foster more complex strategic thinking.
• Research shows face-to-face requests are 34 times more effective than those sent by email, and that a physical handshake promotes cooperation and influences negotiation outcomes for the better.
• The most valuable communication is done in-person, and that typically 35 percent of the variation in a given team's performance was explained by the number of times team members actually spoke face-to-face.

It’s clear from these insights that for the most important conversations, especially those that require a higher level of strategy, collaboration, and decision making, face-to-face interactions are critical for positive outcomes. 

Not All Remote Work Is Created Equal

In the fall of 2021, Google Workspace commissioned Economist Impact to poll “over 1,200 knowledge workers in twelve countries … about their experiences with hybrid or flexible work.” The resulting report, Making Hybrid Work Human, is revealing. “...[S]enior managers and respondents with supervising responsibility (managers/supervisors/team lead) tended to be relatively more pessimistic about the negative impact of hybrid (remote) work on employee engagement and the strain on organizational culture.” Despite that, “a majority of all employees surveyed (56%) “felt that a lack of face-to face supervision creates a sense of distrust among managers and employees.” They also felt disconnected from their organization and other employees as well.

Senior executives developing policies for hybrid work may be interested in knowing various employee groups’ opinions.  So while some respondents included heightened productivity and engagement in the top three benefits of hybrid work, others did the opposite, listing reduced productivity and engagement in the top three challenges. So what can be responsible for creating such contrasting views of the remote work experience?

The survey found that reactions varied demographically: frontline workers felt differently than non-frontline workers, as did younger and less senior employees compared to older and more senior employees. Researchers deduced that the divisions show certain groups are especially vulnerable to the remote model.

Consider a deeper dive into frontline workers’ opinions. They expressed concern with several aspects associated with flexible work models, as shown below. (The numbers are all higher than for non-frontline workers.) 

• 62% - felt that limited social interactions with co-workers have had a negative impact on their mental health
• 59% - felt stressed by the increased monitoring with flexible work
• 69% - felt frustrated by the limited ability to collaborate with their team or others due to flexible work models

From this, we can conclude that even teams that have flexible/hybrid models that require some group of the team to remain in-person full time, there is a divide between those individuals and those who are working remotely that can create potential issues with company culture.

Remote Work’s Impacts

When Microsoft had Edelman Data x Intelligence poll Microsoft employees on their reactions to hybrid work for one of its Work Trend Index reports, in effect, the tech giant served as its own case study. The resulting 2021 Work Trend Index “outlines findings from a study of more than 30,000 people in 31 countries and an analysis of trillions of productivity and labor signals across Microsoft 365 and LinkedIn.”

The Microsoft Work Trend report began by noting that “Employees want the best of both worlds: over 70 percent of workers want flexible remote work options to continue, while over 65 percent are craving more in-person time with their teams.” Researchers also found that for Microsoft, a flexible (remote) work policy resulted in digital exhaustion, or an exhausted workforce, especially as regards women, Gen Z, and frontline workers. 

The Impacts of Isolation on Well Being

The report portrayed the model in a negative light: the data shows a substantial increase in MS Teams-related communications during the pandemic, rather than person-to person communication. In this case, more communication is not always better. 

Comments from Dr. Mary Donohue, founder of The Digital Wellness Center, a streaming service that provides content designed to reduce members’ stress and increase work life balance, which were included in the report,  are clear about the value of in-person work. “In-person conversations give our brains a chance to assess things like tone, social cues, and body language to make meaning. But technology can create digital static: ‘the gap between what you try to communicate online and what the person receiving the message understands.’ And as that digital static increases, so does employee fatigue, anxiety, and burnout rates — while motivation and engagement decline.”

Workers Weigh in on Virtual Meetings

In the spring of 2020, Zippia, an online career resource and jobs website, surveyed about 2,000 American workers to find out how they’re coping with virtual meetings. Here are the key findings:

• 67% of workers are distracted during virtual meetings.
• Over 20% of workers [attending virtual meetings] are frustrated by unengaged coworkers and coworkers with technical difficulties. 

Responses regarding other common virtual meeting grievances are:

• It feels like a performance.
• It’s tiring.
• There is a lack of body language/eye contact.
• Communication is less effective.

Responses like the above indicate that while remote work may be here to stay, many employees are strongly in favor of face-to-face, in-person interaction as offered in IRL meetings. A healthy mix of both can be the key to avoiding virtual meeting fatigue while ultimately increasing productivity.

An IRL Option for the Modern Workday

For optimal experiences that foster collaboration every day, consider a Convene WorkPlace or Community Membership as an option to bring hybrid teams together. Hosting a meeting? Gather in one of our beautiful meeting and events spaces designed to leverage the power of in-person interaction.

As a full-service hospitality company, we offer beautifully designed and tech-enabled meeting, event, and flexible office locations, and a full-service, premium single solution that transforms workdays into memorable experiences for teams and individuals.