Communications company Zoom lifts the ban on Wednesdays without meetings. According to the company, this would be bad for the entire collaboration.

The American company Zoom, which has now become synonymous with video calls, is ending its meeting-free Wednesdays. Days without meetings would negatively impact collaboration between colleagues.

The boss decides

The decision is part of a broader plan to roll back certain implementations during lockdowns. The company also made headlines this week for scaling back remote working, which still sounds a bit bizarre for a company like Zoom.

According to a memo from CEO Eric Yuan, things are moving too fast for Zoom to maintain these measures. The break in meetings during the week is far too big an obstacle for smooth collaboration between Zoom employees at different locations, he also says. Yuan now encourages his employees (or, yes, Zoomies) to set personal boundaries in order to be successful. Whatever that may mean in this context.

More than a year ago, 84 percent of employees stated that they would like this measure to be retained. One percent more said in another survey that they would rather not see homework go away. Numerically, that will be significantly fewer now that Zoom laid off 1,300 employees earlier this year.

Maybe letting the Zoomies use Zoom clips is a solution. This new feature allows users to record and edit videos to later share with colleagues.