How to Keep Your Team on the Same Page in a Hybrid Workspace

WFH and hybrid workplaces are redefining the mechanics of work. While it’s exciting to finally see the workforce set free from their cubicles—like so many birds from their cages—there are probably some legitimate concerns lurking at the back of your mind. For instance, how in the post-COVID-19 world are you supposed to keep your team of employees on the same page when they’re not in the same place?

Members of the diaspora that is your modern workforce need to feel like they’re in the same space and have the same access to the same resources, even when they’re all in different places. That may sound like a conundrum; but with the right technology, it’s actually pretty easy.

Here’s how to keep your team on the same page in a hybrid workspace.

1. Use Professional Conferencing Cameras

Remote workers can easily feel isolated on the fringes of your team. If they’re mainly communicating via email and chat, they’ll likely feel that they’re on the outside looking in. That leads to low morale and high turnover, which negatively impact your bottom line.

The answer, of course, is to bring remote employees into the office via video calls as much as possible. But don’t just use your laptop cameras or whatever cheap webcams you have laying around. Instead, implement professional cameras with up to 4K imaging quality, wide fields of view, and AI smart functions that automatically move the camera via facial and voice recognition. Technology is advancing to the point that remote workers can forget they’re in their homes when they’re in a meeting, making it easier for them to participate and feel like the full-fledged team members they are.

2. Use Professional Audio

In addition to using premium-quality cameras, you’ll need to up your audio game. You can pull your remote workers into a meeting room visually, but as soon as the tinny, static-filled audio kicks in, they’ll immediately feel like they’re a million miles away from the action.

Make sure you have high-quality speakerphones that easily daisy-chain to make voices from every far-reaching corner of your meeting space seem like they’re in the same room with your remote teammates. Conversely, make sure your distant workers have the same. An all-in-one video soundbar is an excellent audiovisual option for working from home.

3. Consider Using Visualizers

Yes, visualizers (also called document cameras) are likely something you’ve mainly encountered in classroom settings. But they’re also ideal for using in hybrid offices. Here are a few reasons why:

• They’re Great for Showing Documents Let’s say you’re passing around a document in the meeting room. If all you have is your conferencing camera, your only option to share it with remote participants is to hold the paper up to the camera, which will then lose focus as you try to hold it steady. A visualizer’s overhead camera is the solution.
• They’re Perfect for Getting Detailed With the right visualizer, you can examine minuscule details better than if you were holding an object right in front of your face, thanks to super-high-zoom lenses. The best conferencing cameras have optical zooms of up to around 12X, which is great for the vast majority of business meetings. But there are situations in which you could benefit from upping that zoom power. For example, if you’re holding a meeting to discuss tiny features on a new line of jewelry, using a visualizer as a second camera will serve you well.
• They’re Designed for Demonstrating Processes A visualizer could even help you take the hybrid workplace into the factory. When you’re teaching a new technique to your production line workers, you can use the overhead camera on a visualizer to teach, and then one on-sight will let workers demonstrate that they’ve mastered the new skill. Plus, many visualizers give you the option to record video and capture images for reviewing, creating training manuals, and more.

If that doesn't convince you, check out this video of a visualizer in action during a remote business meeting: