You can’t innovate or build trust via Zoom – says the Zoom boss in a leaked meeting

2023-08-24 17:06:00

Home office You can’t be innovative via Zoom – says the Zoom boss in a leaked meeting

Two to three days of home office are becoming the norm in many places

© Kateryna Onyshchuk / Getty Images

When the world was sent to the home office, zoom became a dictum. Now the video conferencing service provider is also forcing its employees back into the office. In an internal conversation, CEO Eric Yuan gave reasons that should surprise customers of the company.

Zoom is one of the big winners of the home office boom: When the pandemic sent millions of people around the world home to work or study in early 2020, the video telephony tool was enormously successful in one fell swoop. But slowly but surely, more and more companies are forcing their employees back into the office. Zoom itself also announced the move at the beginning of August. The fact that the reasoning has now leaked out should cause horror in the sales department.

In a company-wide video call, Eric Yuan announced the decision on forced office on August 3. Although details of the implementation became known shortly thereafter, the internal justification was only now leaked out in detail. A participant recorded the conversation and leaked it to “Business Insider”. The recording clearly shows that Yuan was surprisingly harsh on his own business model.

Neither creative nor trusting

Seeing himself exclusively digitally has changed the company, he explains his feelings. “In the beginning everyone knew everyone. But in recent years we’ve brought in so many new people that it’s really difficult to build a personal relationship of trust,” the CEO complained at the announcement, according to “Insider”. “But trust is the basis for everything else. Without trust, we are slower than necessary.” However, this cannot be achieved in purely digital working environments.

But he also sees major disadvantages of purely digital rounds at work. They simply have a different dynamic than meetings in the same room, believes Yuan. “You often have great ideas. But when we’re all talking on Zoom, it’s hard,” he explains. “You just can’t have a good conversation. You can’t debate because everyone on Zoom calls tends to be nice.” He therefore sees no alternative to at least a partial return to the office.

For the company’s sales department, the recording should be a disaster. After all, how are you supposed to convince customers of the need for your own service when your own boss is so clearly revealing their disadvantages?

Back to the office

The company would not confirm the authenticity of the recording. The occurrence of the appointment and its consequences had already been made official a few weeks ago: “We think that a hybrid solution – employees who live close to the office have to interact with their teams in the office one or two days a week – is the best for Zoom,” a company spokesman told the New York Times, which first reported on the move and the announcement meeting. Zoom employees who live less than 80 kilometers from the company headquarters must work on site regularly, exceptions must be explicitly approved. At least a large part of the work will still have to be done via Zoom, despite the boss’s complaints.

Sources:Business Insider,New York Times