How we’re going back
Anjali Sud
CEO, VIMEO
The basic principles of white collar work are seeing a historic but inevitable shift.
Pre-pandemic, it was getting harder to keep employees engaged and productive. Workforces were becoming more distributed, but face time and business travel prevailed. Our attention spans were shrinking as we consumed more Netflix-like content at home, but forged on with boring presentations and lengthy emails at work. This was bound to impact productivity and bottom lines.
The pandemic forced us to adapt, working in new ways, transcending borders and time zones through videoconferencing, online broadcasts and messaging tools. We destigmatized working from home, bringing a new sense of humanity to work—letting the messiness of our personal lives permeate a sanitized working world. Now we’re stronger for it: leaders are learning to be more transparent and relatable, and colleagues are connecting in contexts they wouldn’t have otherwise. Human connection is still the most powerful force in business, and we’re finding ways to deliver it at an unprecedented scale.
How do we translate scaled human connection into tangible productivity? We redefine the idea of a “workplace” and a “meeting” with asynchronous, placeless communication, enabled by accessible software. And we embrace media like video to share information at work.
Technology has reached the point where mass adoption of video can extend far beyond meetings and events—such that every time we send an email, collaborate on a project, host a training, demo a product or pitch a customer, that interaction is enhanced with engaging, professional-quality video that is transcribable and searchable, making it more accessible.
This allows us to unshackle complex, nuanced ideas from time-bound meetings, so knowledge can spread faster and be retained longer. We can ensure that, regardless of location or personal responsibilities, everyone has access to the same information. We can then build culture, promote collaboration and access talent in a truly global and inclusive way, breaking the limitations of
