'It undermines wellbeing and derails collaboration': Employees are still keen on hybrid working, but clunky tools are causing frustration and harming productivity

Hybrid workers are fed up with the tech tools they're using for remote meetings, according to research from Owl Labs, saying constant glitches are wasting their time.

Almost three quarters (74%) of UK employees say they would prefer to work in a hybrid model. And those that do are fiercely attached to it, with 93% insisting they'd take some form of action if they were forced to go into the office every day.

Yet despite a continued appetite for flexible working practices, Owl Labs found nearly three-quarters (74%) of employees are having difficulties in hybrid meetings.

Around eight-in-ten (79%) said they were losing time to technical difficulties, 78% reporting audio echo or distortion, and 74% saying they miss visual cues.

One of the biggest time-wasters is simply getting a meeting set up, which wastes an average of six-and-a-half minutes per meeting.

As a result, tech is now a top‑three workplace priority, with 89% of UK employees saying access to good technology is important – putting it just behind compensation (92%) and a supportive manager (91%).

The issue is a particular focus for workers in large businesses, where 93% of employees cite good technology as important, compared with 88% in medium-sized organizations and 84% in small businesses.

Younger workers are especially demanding when it comes to digital experiences, with more than half (54%) of Gen Z and Millennial employees rating good technology as “very important”, compared with just a third (35%) of Gen X and Boomers.

"Technology has moved from a support function to core hybrid infrastructure. When meeting technology fails, it doesn’t just cause mild annoyance, it undermines wellbeing and derails collaboration,” said Frank Weishaupt, CEO of Owl Labs.

"Employers and employees alike can’t afford for their most important interactions to be held together by last-minute workarounds.”

Enterprises are investing in better office tech

Employers are doing their best to improve office tech, with 69% encouraging the use of AI and 87% of employees having already experimented with AI at work.

More than one-third (38%) have increased IT staff and support, while 35% have either installed or upgraded their meeting room video and/or audio equipment.

“The UK is at a turning point: organizations are investing heavily in AI and meeting technology, but the real value comes when those tools are intuitive, inclusive and trusted,” said Weishaupt.

“Smarter meeting technology can alleviate setup challenges, sharpen audio and video, and make it easier for everyone to participate, without resorting to intrusive monitoring. In the next phase of hybrid work, the organizations that rely on ever‑tighter monitoring will fall behind those that focus on smarter, more connected collaboration.”

Researchers have long been aware that online meetings are uniquely exhausting. The issue was exacerbated during the mass shift to remote working during the early days of the COVID pandemic.

Analysis from Microsoft at the time found remote calls were much more tiring that face-to-face meetings, with fatigue setting in after about 30 to 40 minutes.

Having a uniform background can help, as can basic etiquette like staying on mute until ready to talk, and using good-quality audio and video equipment.

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