“Can you hear me now?” Video conference coping strategies and experience during COVID-19 and beyond

BACKGROUND: During COVID-19 the workforce quickly adapted to using existing video-conferencing tools in order to work from home. OBJECTIVE: To explore use and experience of remote video-facilitated work practices in response to COVID-19: termed ‘COVID Response Zoom-style Interactions’ (CRAZI). METHODS: A cross sectional study via a 66-item online survey for health and medical research and education sector workers. The survey included 8 sections: 1) pre-COVID video-conferencing meeting habits, 2) CRAZI meeting habits, 3) socialising, 4) CRAZI fashion, 5) behaviour standards, 6) family life, 7) future work, 8) participant demographics. Main outcomes were pre-COVID to CRAZI differences in frequency, length and type of video-based meetings, and video-conferencing experience. RESULTS: 202 participants, mostly Australian (median age 36–45, IQR 26–55 years) completed the survey. Women-to-men ratio was 3: 1, 44.6% had children. COVID-19 changed video-conferencing frequency and maximum meeting size. Most participants found CRAZI meetings tiring and hard. Casual clothes dominated dress code (71.1%), pets were commonly seen. “Can you hear me now” was a commonly heard phrase. Good and bad behaviour were described, with formal codes of CRAZI conduct missing (58.7%) or unknown (21.9%). 76.6% of participants observed a child interrupting a CRAZI meeting, parents were mostly female. Despite challenges, most participants (76.6%) favoured video-conferencing post-pandemic, but preference for continuing to work from home varied. CONCLUSIONS: CRAZI work, while tiring, has fostered different work-practices that may continue beyond the pandemic. Working from home with children adds joy for others, but complexity for workers. Pets may help owners and co-workers cope with the pandemic.