At a large meeting with most of the employees, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan explained the company’s decision to limit teleworking.

Zoom CEO Eric Yuan shed light on the communications company’s recent decision to restrict teleworking during a shareholders’ meeting.

Back to the office

Let’s refresh our memories: Two weeks ago there was the surprising news that anyone who lives within fifty kilometers of a Zoom office is likely to be in the same office significantly more often. It was also slightly tongue-in-cheek news, since Zoom had become almost synonymous with video calling, a key element of teleworking.

However, internal polls showed that many Zoomies would prefer to continue teleworking. Earlier this year, Zoom had reopened its office doors, but barely two percent of employees used them regularly.

rather live

Yuan undoubtedly disagrees with the outside world’s ridicule. At a general meeting of the company, he explained the contested decision in more detail. The content of this message was leaked to the media company Business Insider and actually doesn’t sound that illogical.

The main reason the CEO cites is that it’s much harder to get to know each other when most of the communication is via video. As a result, they trust each other less, which in turn affects innovation.

Anyone who can make the comparison between a brainstorming session online or in the atmosphere of a room has to admit that verbal ping-pong sessions are more pleasant in the latter case and therefore often bring more results. In the meantime, Zoom has also eliminated the meeting-free Wednesdays, as they would have a negative impact on cooperation.

According to Yuan, everyone on the Internet is friendlier and therefore more careful. So there is less criticism in an online debate. This makes it harder to come up with good ideas and we treat each other less harshly.