April 14, 2022

How is Zoom Getting Hybrid Work Right?

The Getting Hybrid Work Right call series has become a well-attended and wide-ranging discussion for HR leaders on all aspects of hybrid work. On this week's call, i4cp CEO and Co-Founder Kevin Oakes and Senior Research Analyst Tom Stone facilitated a conversation with special guest Jodi Rabinowitz, Head of Talent and Organizational Development at Zoom. Here are some highlights from the call:

  • We asked a poll of participants on the call: On average, how often do you personally use Zoom (or a competing product with video) per week?
    • 0% - 0 or almost never
    • 6% - 1-5 times (once a day or less)
    • 13% - 6-10 (about one or two times a day)
    • 20% - 11-20 (about three or four times a day)
    • 29% - More than 20 times (more than four times a day)
    • 32% - I’m essentially always on Zoom or a similar tool, all day
  • Like many organizations, only about 15% of Zoom employees were remote workers before the pandemic started in 2020. So everyone leaving the corporate headquarters to work remotely was a big change at Zoom too.
  • Zoom has obviously grown tremendously over the past two years. In fact, 75% of their employees were hired in the past two years, and so haven't yet worked in traditional Zoom offices.
  • Zoom supports their culture by giving employees money to purchase Zoom swag, such as sweatshirts and other items.
  • Zoom has always had a strong volunteering culture, but this was challenged during the lockdown periods. The company today still supports employee volunteer time--in fact they are allowed unlimited PTO for such activities (and they have even organized some virtual walks, bike rides, etc., to connect employees in this area while remote.)
  • Zoom's culture is fairly loose and informal, but also very strong in the sense that their engagement scores are "off the charts" in Rabinowitz' words. People are friendly, open, willing to help -- the culture is not bureaucratic or layered.
  • Zoom has some 700 different internal chat groups, e.g., dog-lovers, book club, and so on.
  • At the same time, Zoom employees feel immense pride with the serious work they have done these past two years, given the fast growth and importance of the Zoom platform for so many organizations and individuals around the world.
  • A hybrid approach is what Zoom is pursuing going forward, as only 1% of their employees want to be in a traditional office all of the time.
  • They just opened their offices a few weeks ago. They waited this long because they didn't want to open while PPE (personal protective equipment), e.g., masks, were still required.
  • Zoom's approach to hybrid is full flexibility--employees can choose which days they come into office workplaces. Employees go into the office for largely social reasons, not specifically to be productive (as they can do that while remote too.)
  • Onboarding at Zoom considers IT and benefits as table stakes, with the emphasis instead put on relationship building, particularly on day one. There are many social elements, including breakout activities, etc.
  • They have also created nudges for managers at the 30/60/90/180 day marks to do check-ins for those who recently joined, and provide sample questions to consider asking.
  • Zoom makes heavy use of breakout room activities for meetings to keep the many online meetings people are having from getting stale.
  • Zoom shifted their previous $300 gym stipend benefit to be a more general wellness benefit, which can still be used towards a gym/etc., but also for yoga, a more comfortable home office chair, etc.
  • One call participant shared: "I like to shift from the word 'productivity' to the phrase 'doing your best work'. The latter is what we should be shooting for, and allows people to think more holistically…doing your best work isn’t just about output and hunkering down, it’s about investing in connection, creativity, rest, etc."
  • This article by our Connected Commons colleagues, "How to Succeed Quickly in a New Role," was featured on the cover of HBR a few months back. It focuses explicitly on how connectivity can be an x-factor in onboarding and role transition success.
  • One call participant shared: "In-office day 'distractions' to me are just a different type of day; more like a business trip pre-pandemic. If you plan your day like a business trip, it's extremely productive, just different. Limit attending virtual meetings/calls where possible (similar to pre-pandemic business trip, prioritize in-person meetings over a weekly call), etc."
  • We asked a poll of participants on the call: To what extent is your organization struggling with effective hybrid meetings, i.e., some people in-person, others remote?
    • 11% - A lot – they rarely are working well
    • 52% - Sometimes – it depends on the type of meeting or who is leading it
    • 14% - Not much – we have implemented some strong best practices
    • 21% - Too early to say
    • 2% - Don’t know
  • See the i4cp article "Considerations and Best Practices for Running Hybrid Meetings." To avoid proximity bias, a key tactic is to "design the meeting for those who are not in the room."
  • One of Zoom's technologies, Zoom Rooms, involves each person gathered together in a conference room having their own webcam connection so that they will still show up individually for those who are remote.
  • One call participant shared several key guidelines they follow at his organization (which is in the Federal government):
    • Plan for the person who is not in the room with you. This levels the playing field.
    • Be deliberate about all activities in the meeting -- collaboration, problem-solving, just information sharing?
    • Be clear about how questions are to be asked -- raise your hand, use the chat, etc.
    • Still hold some types of meeting in-person, where there are real benefits of doing so, even if these are few and far between.
  • One call participant shared: "We have more than 100 years of 'office work' experience suggesting that it is the best way to work and interact with others. However after a couple of years of remote work, I feel it is too early to conclude that in-person work is better than remote work."