Organizations are welcoming back employees on-site, with a lot of emphasis on employee health care and safety. These organizations are taking adequate measures for sanitation, hygiene, and social distancing. Hybrid work models will be practiced since only a part of the workforce returns on-site, with the rest continuing to work from home. With this in mind, Zoom Video Communications announced the general availability of Zoom Rooms innovations that will help organizations safely re-enter the office and sustain an ‘everywhere workforce’. The traditional workplace has evolved and adapted with employees and organizations embracing more places as workspaces. Whether it’s in an office, co-located space, remote location, or at home, Zoom’s platform enables organizations to put employee health and safety at the center of their strategy.
In an effort to ensure the safety of every employee and customer, organizations are faced with the need to address their employee’s top three concerns about working in the workplace. Generally summarized as: Others coming to work sick, an overcrowded workplace, and proper ventilation (Envoy.com).
“Clearly, the office workspace continues to change. In fact, more than 80 percent of employees working remotely say they’d like to continue to work remotely at least 50% or more once they do return to the office. But, to accomplish this, employees have to have a healthy, safe and secure conference room experience that meets the needs of today’s emerging hybrid workforce. Zoom is well-positioned to provide this.”
— Craig Durr, Senior Analyst with Wainhouse Research
Oded Gal, Chief Product Officer of Zoom
“People are at the heart of every organization and keeping them safe, connected, and productive is a top priority,” said Oded Gal, Chief Product Officer of Zoom. “As the world plans to safely reopen businesses, educational institutions, healthcare facilities, and government entities, we are focused on innovating across our platform to support their needs.”
In a survey of 12,000 professionals, 60% of employees said that they want flexibility in where and when they work (Boston Consulting Group). With the hybrid working model becoming more prevalent, Zoom is innovating to meet the needs of its customers today and planning ahead for their future needs. Whether that is virtual check-in at reception, communicating safety protocols, to displaying meeting room safety with capacity details before on-site attendees even enter the room.
New Zoom Rooms Innovations
Some of the Zoom innovations to help safely re-enter the workplace and better enable a hybrid workforce are:
Pair a Zoom Room with your mobile device: Pair your iOS or Android mobile client to a Zoom Room, easily join meetings on the Zoom Rooms directly from your client and your mobile client is automatically placed in companion mode during the meeting. With the Zoom Rooms Controller app on your mobile, you’ll have access to additional room controls, including the ability to start or join a meeting and full audio, video, and participant controls. This ensures that individual users can control their meeting room experience from their mobile device, eliminating the need for users to touch the shared in-room controller.
View real-time people count data: With supported cameras, you can see how many people are in a room in real-time on the Zoom Dashboard and on the Scheduling Display to ensure social distancing mandates are met and meeting spaces aren’t overcrowded.
Monitor a room’s environment and air quality: Neat Bar, a Zoom Rooms Appliance, includes an advanced set of capabilities called Neat Sense, which lets you monitor your meeting rooms for things like air quality, humidity, CO₂, and volatile organic compounds to keep occupants safe and healthy. You can view this environmental data on the Zoom dashboard, on the Zoom Rooms Controller, and on the Scheduling Display for real-time feedback on the safety of your meeting rooms.
Virtual receptionist/kiosk mode: Provide a contactless entry experience for your building guests with our new virtual receptionist/kiosk mode. Just customize the “Start Meeting” button on a Zoom Rooms for Touch device in your lobby to connect visitors with a receptionist and safely greet them. Zoom Rooms Kiosk Mode is available on all Zoom Rooms for Touch devices.
Control shared desktop from Zoom Rooms for Touch: Zoom Rooms for Touch users can control, right from the Zoom Rooms for Touch device, the desktop of the person currently sharing their laptop screen, streamlining collaboration.
Save whiteboard to chat: People can now send a Zoom Rooms for Touch whiteboard to Zoom Chat or email. If it’s a personal Zoom Room, you can also send it to your chat groups. This helps streamline content sharing outside the meeting room, greatly improving cohesiveness in the new hybrid workforce.
The three essential pillars for organizations building forward with confidence are talent, transformation, and trust. In the Zoom blog on How Businesses Will Build Forward With Confidence, learn from Eric S. Yuan, Founder and CEO of Zoom, on why these pillars are essential for creating an environment in which employees can do their best work.
