Are Hybrid Meetings Less Inclusive? What the Research Says

We've all heard it thousands of times at this point: the way we work has changed. Remote work was here well before 2020, but the pandemic undoubtedly increased the number of people working from home. Although many former office workers stagger back to their brick-and-mortar workplaces on occasion, the flexible work schedule appears here to stay.

In fact, many companies now employ a mix of remote and in-person employees, or operate cross-continent, with offices thousands of miles apart. With workplaces more scattered than ever — both in structure and location — hybrid meetings, which blend in-person and remote attendees, are on the rise. So how do hybrid meetings stack up against their entirely in-person or entirely virtual counterparts, and what are the best practices for optimizing these kinds of meetings?

Table of Contents

1. Hybrid vs. In-Person vs. All-Virtual
2. Hybrid Meetings Still Happen: How Can You Maximize Their Effectiveness?
3. Solutions That Foster Democratic Meetings

Hybrid vs. In-Person vs. All-Virtual

So, can hybrid meetings compare to all-virtual or all-in-person meetings? And how do virtual meetings fare against their in-person counterparts?

Well, it's sort of a hierarchy. Media Richness Theory (Daft and Lengel, 1986) ranks communication channels by how much information they convey — tone, body language, immediate feedback — and calls that "richness." Richer channels, like face-to-face interaction and video conferencing, are better suited to building team trust, effectiveness, satisfaction, and performance than leaner channels, like email. Since face-to-face meetings rank higher in richness than virtual meetings, they tend to produce better outcomes on those measures. As for hybrid meetings? Some experts believe they rank lowest because of the imbalance of experiences they create for different attendees.

When asked if she recommends hybrid meetings, Liana Kreamer — a Ph.D. student in the Organizational Science Department at the University of North Carolina–Charlotte — gave a definitive answer. "No, I do not (and neither does the literature)," she said. "First, those virtually attending the meeting face additional challenges with virtuality (e.g., lack of nonverbal cues, challenges with transitions, etc.), putting virtual attendees at a disadvantage compared to those in physical attendance … Those physically present at the meeting have the benefit of being able to see and read the body language of their team members and can better time their contributions to the conversation. This naturally creates an imbalance, where physical attendees contribute more to the discussion than remote attendees given the ease of doing so."

In other words, for the most democratic meetings, if your team can't all attend in person, the next best alternative is an all-virtual meeting, since every participant's experience will be roughly the same. However, since employees now have more flexibility and choice — including whether to commute in or work from home — hybrid meetings are bound to happen, and this imbalance needs to be part of the meeting planning.

This doesn't mean hybrid meetings are doomed, or that you shouldn't run them. There are ways you can optimize these meetings right now, whether you're the meeting leader or a participant.

Hybrid Meetings Still Happen: How Can You Maximize Their Effectiveness?

In one study, a workplace tried to offset the imbalance virtual attendees face during hybrid meetings by setting up a laptop for each remote participant in the physical meeting room — and tying balloons to those laptops to make the remote attendees harder to ignore (White, 2014). However, you don't need to stop at Party City to improve your hybrid meetings. Below are some ways to improve your hybrid meetings right now. Hint: the best tech — and knowing how to use it — is your best bet.

Stick to the Tech, and Get Everyone on It

No matter what chat or video app your company uses, you can help virtual and in-person participants feel more connected by having everyone use their computers. According to Microsoft's "The New Future of Work," during hybrid meetings, "Everyone should have a device open to the meeting chat when it is used."

To make sure virtual attendees are heard — and that everyone's looking at the same thing — try using a "hand raise" feature to order speakers. Setting consistent tech rules for your hybrid meetings helps level the playing field for virtual attendees.

Set Meeting Agendas, Purposes, and Expectations

Even if the in-meeting experience can't be completely equitable, attendees can have the same amount of time and resources to prepare for the meeting. This starts with a shared agenda that a meeting leader sends out ahead of time. For best results, if you're the meeting owner, let participants help shape the agenda. This encourages buy-in from attendees and can lead to deeper collaboration and better problem-solving.

Like all meetings, it's important to give your meeting a clear purpose so everyone starts on the same page. You can add structure and make the meeting more inclusive by setting a few ground rules — like only speaking when presenting, or using the hand-raise feature mentioned above.

Solutions That Foster Democratic Meetings

As hybrid meetings become the norm, it's worth setting your team up for success with the right technology.

Consider a meeting management tool, like Decisions for Microsoft Teams and Office 365, to help you build and collaborate on agendas, create meeting minutes, assign presenters to meeting topics, and more. Organizing your meeting with the right tech upfront makes the experience more consistent for everyone — whether they're calling in from 3,000 miles away or sitting right next to you.

The Bottom Line?

With the right tech in place, your hybrid meetings can run more smoothly — but they still won't fully replace in-person meetings anytime soon.

Kreamer had a final thought about running hybrid meetings in general: "If some attendees are able to attend in-person (e.g., are co-located) but other attendees are not able to due to geographical or physical constraints, the meeting leader decides to hold the meeting entirely virtual in order to even the playing field – promoting comfort in contributing, increasing inclusivity, equalizing participation, and, in turn, fostering greater meeting effectiveness."

So stick to all-virtual or all-in-person meetings when you can. But when you do go hybrid, do everything you can to level the playing field — starting with the best hardware and software strategy available to you.