Why is face-to-face communication important? Talking the future of workplace experience with Superhuman
Author
Dan Bladen, CEO & Co-Founder
There are benefits of virtual communication tools and technology that allow us to work efficiently. With the click of a button, we can catch up with team members no matter where they are. The pandemic has taught us, so far, that we can work remotely. However, there are aspects of communication at work that make it more difficult to sustain in the long run – and show us the importance of in-person, face-to-face communication with colleagues.
As part of our ‘Future of Workplace Experience’ series, we are delighted to have Rahul Vohra, Founder & CEO at Superhuman, sharing why it is crucial to have face-to-face communication in workplaces, and some of the changes we can expect to see in the near future. Check out our interview below:
3 quick tips to work from home
Have a routine – a start time and end time for your work day at home
Create clear separation between work and home life
Introduce ‘home office rules’ to avoid disruptions
Why do you think it’s important to be in a physical office?
Social interactions and bonding with the team: Communication at work can play a big part in employees’ day to day. Building real life connections with the team ensures that they feel part of a community.
In-person meetings and real-time feedback: Virtual calls can be challenging and getting your point across can be difficult at times, especially on a group call. Some meetings require more collaboration than just one person leading and real life communication works both ways and this is why face-to-face meetings are important.
How do you think workplace is going to change?
Flexible working is no doubt going to be the trend and as we are trialing this now, we will need to start thinking about making the office environment and infrastructure ready for this way of working.
Bringing productivity back to the office is key. I was able to manage 8 1:1 meetings back-to-back in one day, which is usually impossible when you are in a physical office settings – how can we rethink work flow and office setup to help enhance productivity?
Cleanliness at workplace: Make sure to conduct a professional deep cleaning before moving back into the office, plus a more intensive cleaning schedule moving forward.
Any post Covid-19 trends we can expect?
An uptake in collaboration tools: Tandem is a good example that has gained massive adoption recently. It is essentially a virtual office for remote teams that helps maintain effective communication with real-time video chat widgets and share files, screens, messages seamlessly.
Continuation of how we will rethink productivity and collaboration, the workplace industry and way we work are going to change regardless, all the changes we are seeing are simply being accelerated as a result of this pandemic.
