• Hybrid meetings can leave remote workers feeling excluded, Jabra study finds
• Unsuitable and dated setups cause regular meeting delays and technical failures
• Better meeting room kit and clear meeting purposes could improve engagement

Around half of remote participants say they’re forgotten, talked over or excluded during hybrid meetings, a new study from Jabra has revealed, indicating that hybrid in-person and remote meetings might not be as effective as we’d thought.

The issue is particularly evident when multiple participants are in a physical room, with others joining online. But more than that, women (16%) and junior workers (26%) are more likely to feel they’re being excluded.

But it might not be the concept of hybrid that’s at fault – Jabra argues that dated tech is making it hard for all participants to have equal visibility, and that poor tech is only amplifying existing cultural issues around visibility instead of creating them.

Hybrid meetings are the least effective kind

That much is evidenced in the fact that hybrid meetings are generally worse off than fully remote meetings, with workers more likely to miss content (59% vs. 41%), feel excluded (55% vs. 38%) or need follow-up meetings to clarify details (42% vs. 28%).

Years after workers were sent home at the height of the pandemic, companies are still failing on their meeting tech. Three in four hybrid meetings experience at least one technical failure, and participants often claim difficulties hearing (73%) or seeing (68%) participants.

Jabra even argues that these failures add an average of 11 minutes to every hybrid meeting, and losses can rise further for the biggest companies.

This comes as workers spend an average of eight hours per week in meetings (more than that in Denmark, India and the UK).

With more than half (58%) of that time generally considered unnecessary, 66% leave without clear action items and 59% demand follow-ups to clarify missed points.

Meeting infrastructure and purpose hold the keys to success

As for the fix, many companies have turned to AI to help with things like meeting summaries and live transcriptions, but widespread use remains low. Poor trust and privacy/compliance issues also prevent companies from going all-in on AI.

“AI can enhance a well-run meeting, but it can’t fix a broken one,” Jabra Enterprise Video Business Unit SVP Holger Reisinger said.

To fix the issue, the report urges companies to invest in meeting room technologies like microphones, cameras and connectivity to bring remote participants closer to in-person attendees.

At the moment, 37% use a single laptop as a mic and speaker for the room, 31% revert to audio-only after giving up on video, and 23% have even dialed in by phone for audio. A third (34%) also noted that participants join on their own individual devices, rather than using a central meeting room system designed to capture all participants.

Jabra is also one of a growing number of researchers to find that workers face increased Zoom fatigue (42% of workers hit their energy limit within two hours of back-to-back meetings, 83% within four hours), stressing the need to reframe meetings entirely and only hold calls when it’s necessary.

That way, workers are more likely to be alert and actively collaborate with all colleagues, hybrid or not.

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With several years’ experience freelancing in tech and automotive circles, Craig’s specific interests lie in technology that is designed to better our lives, including AI and ML, productivity aids, and smart fitness. He is also passionate about cars and the decarbonisation of personal transportation. As an avid bargain-hunter, you can be sure that any deal Craig finds is top value!