Feeling irritable, short-tempered, moody… every little thing is bothering you? Maybe it’s the Zoom-effect? What’s that? Well, I made it up, but here’s my story of how it came about.

The pandemic of 2020 affected how many of us live and work. Many of us found that working from home and doing our work online opened doors of opportunity and challenges in how we communicate and work with one another. These changes are not going away and we all have to adapt; whether it's taking classes on line to complete a degree or managing a team of remote workers in different time zones and/or continents. All of these elements and then some, has created an entirely new set of challenges. Since I’m a people-person and enjoy face-to-face interactions with my clients and students, I thought my biggest challenge would be getting the technology to work properly. I was mistaken. I took to the technology pretty quickly and in many cases, prefer it—which surprised me.

However… here’s what happened to me. One afternoon during the pandemic, I had several Zoom meetings, in which I was in front of the “Brady Bunch-like” screen, for over seven hours that day, my eyes were hurting and that I had this aching sensation behind the bridge of my nose between and behind my eyes. In addition to that, the back of my neck at the base of my skull, as well as across my upper back and shoulders ached.

Then, when I was done, I felt completely and totally exhausted; but a kind of exhaustion such as I’d never experienced or felt before—it felt as if all the energy was drained out of me; like pulling the plug and draining the water out of the bathtub. It didn’t make any sense.

The next day, it got even stranger. In a phone conversation with a friend, I got extremely irritated, short-tempered and argumentative—which is uncharacteristic of me and I had to apologize.

What was going on? What was different? What had changed? I was ‘doing’ the same things, but I realized there was a big difference now; I had been spending much longer periods of time in these Zoom meetings, in front of the screen as opposed to the in-person, face-to-face interactions I was used to. In addition to that, these meetings go from one to the next with a click and little or no transition time in between; there’s hardly any break.

At that point I decided to do a little bit of informal research. I started talking to people. I put it out there to my social media network and, while this is unsubstantiated data, the people who responded expressed that they were having similar experiences themselves.

From there the term Zoom-Effect came to me. Zoom-Effects are some common reactions people have shared with me they’ve experienced from participating in continuous on-line meetings. They are:

• Zoom-aches: that aching behind the bridge of the nose, between the eyes, in the neck and shoulders
• Zoom-ittude: feeling a cranky, irritable, short tempered, argumentative, those little things that usually don’t bother you suddenly do
• Zoom-austion: The energy drain

Zoom-Aches: After consulting with my eye doctor I found out this was very common. The following actions provided some relief:

• Ergonomic issues: Lighting, chair comfort, monitor position
• Rest Breaks: After two hours of continuous computer use, take a 15-minute break to rest my eyes. Also, every 20 minutes or so, look away from the monitor into the distance and re-focus my eyes.

After a minor adjustment to my monitor and taking those short eye-rest breaks, I’ve noticed relief from the eye portion of the Zoom-aches.

The next person I contacted was my physical therapist. I learned some stretching exercises that helped with the neck and shoulder pain.

Zoom-ittude: This was a bit trickier. Watch out for on-line negativity circulating in the 'Zoom-iverse.' I found that I’ve got to insulate myself from it and find a way to overcome the negativity because it affects me… even though I may not realize it.

“When life deals you lemons—make lemonade!” What that says to me is I’ve got to be a part of the solution and not the problem. How can I stay positive in spite of everything going on around me? Following are a few things that worked for me

Positivity: For me, I have to saturate my brain with positivity and avoid the negativity. Now this is different for everyone, and each person needs to find a method that will work for them. For me, I had to concentrate on two major areas; media exposure and environment.

• Media Exposure:

>News: I limit the amount of news I watch—I find out what I need to know.

>Social Media: I limit my social media activity. I only interact with positive, encouraging or humorous posts and avoid any controversy or negative gossip that might drag me down.

• Humor: When I have a chance to watch television I like to watch shows and programs that make me laugh. Find whatever it is for you. For me, I like old shows such as The Golden Girls and Everybody Loves Raymond or comedies like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Netflix. The point is to find what will work for you. Stay away from the tear-jerkers and heavy dramas.

• Environment: The environment can have a strong impact on my attitude and I had to focus on where I had some power and control. The pandemic taught me that I couldn’t do anything about being in lock-down, but I could change the environment around me. How could I create a positive environment? 

One of the first things I could do was limit the amount of time in Zoom meetings. I you're scheduling meetings, make every effort to avoid scheduling long blocks of time in which you or your team need to be on line. My suggestion is no longer than two to three hours at a time. After that the risk of Zoom fatigue increases.

In addition to limiting my Zoom time, I found three things I could use to positively impact my environment; music, sharing and breaks.

>Music: Music helps me keep positive messages in my mind. I compiled a playlist of my favorite songs, songs made up of positive, encouraging, inspirational lyrics, and play them very softly, almost, in the background while I work. As I go about my day, I find myself singing the songs in my head and it works like positive self-talk.

>Networking: There’s not much I can do about having to work from home; but the elimination of commuting time can give me a little more time to network. I can spend that hour I used to need to commute and reach out to and correspond with my LinkedIn connections, as well as join professional networking groups in my field and attend their meetings to help grow my professional network.

>Breaks: Make a schedule and schedule blocks of time for yourself; keep a sense of humor, have fun!

Zoom-austion: By making these changes, I found the Zoom-austion has disappeared. I get the right amount of rest; Even when working remotely, I still dress for work every day just as I would if I were going into the office. Getting myself looking ‘Zoom-worthy’ every day gets me in the right frame of mind and I keep my camera on when in meetings. I can’t say that this is the be-all-end-all, but I can say it worked for me.

Along with everyone else, we know that the remote workplace is not going away -- Zoom is here to stay with all of it's pros and cons, we can take care of ourselves and continue to produce results on our jobs and find a healthy work and life balance between the two.

References:

• Marina Dreytser, Physical Therapist, Universal Cage Therapy Center of New Jersey
• Dr. Stuart M. Lonsk, OD, PA, Roselle, New Jersey

As a  consultant and a coach I work with business leaders to achieve their goals by producing business results and identifying key performance indicators (KPI's) that are aligned with the strategic objectives and overall mission of the organization.

My last blog post "When the Dream-Job Turns into a Nightmare" generated some comments related to the piece from "Never work for a jerk."  Upon receiving these comments, I began thinking about some of the really stupid experiences people have shared with me that happened at work and waste money, time, energy, talent… not to mention employee morale and motivation and have nothing to do with achieving the strategic objectives or producing KPI's.

The Work Has to Get Done

One person who was a senior director for a large financial institution said: "I quit my last job because I worked for one. I told him I needed help from another team member because I was going on vacation for five days with my family and he simply said to me 'well the work has to get done even if you have to do it while you are away.' This ruined my entire vacation and helped me decide to resign two weeks after returning to work with no regrets and never looked back."

This manager was correct in stating that the work needed to get done. The defense of stupidity comes from how this kind of mindset has permeated the workplace. More and more organizations are putting these kinds of unreasonable demands on their employees and then, when the employees get fed up and leave, have to find someone else to do the work anyway. A solution in this case might have been to issue a delegation of authority to the team member which would have freed up the senior director and provided a valuable developmental opportunity to the recipient. The end result in this case, however, was that the organization lost a valuable leader.

Just a Kid

One manager of a large department who reported to a senior leader who had been in the role for over twenty years shared this story. "During a reorganization following the retirement of a key department head I recommended considering for promotion a high-performing, well-qualified internal candidate. This candidate had been the 'youngest' person hired into a key role fifteen years earlier; a fact my boss referenced often. The promotion was a logical course of progression in his career development. When I mentioned the candidate's name for consideration my boss responded, 'He's just a kid! He was the youngest person we ever hired!' To which I responded, 'That was over fifteen years ago and now he's a seasoned professional with over fifteen years' experience.'  The senior leader realized his error in this situation and the employee was promoted, however, it might not have had such a positive result had I not been an advocate for him." 

This kind of organizational stupidity was the equivalent of what I call corporate typecasting. This leader still thought of the employee in a junior role and hadn't recognized his growth and development. In this instance he recognized how his own mindset was limited and changed it; however, that's not always the case and often these employees feel as if they're stuck in a dead-end job and will leave the organization because their expertise and experience is not valued.

Use Your Own Money

Another employee told the story of a senior manager who instructed her to use her personal credit card for corporate travel. She was uncomfortable with this and upon researching the company's policies and procedures discovered she could apply for the corporate card on her own; which she did. In the manager's defense of stupidity, he was relying on outdated policies and procedures which had been changed years earlier and he had not kept up with the new procedures. Eventually this manager was asked to leave the organization.

The Micro Manager

This next example was provided by an employee who was told during her performance appraisal that it was the perception of senior management that she was not working enough because she sometimes left the office at quitting time. She pointed out that she worked from home over the weekend, on holidays, vacation days and each evening to keep up with correspondence and projects.

Some managers are more obsessed with micromanaging employees which squelches innovation and creativity. These managers are more concerned that employees are sitting at their desks than whether or not they're producing business results that impact the bottom line results. If employees are producing KPI's and meeting performance objectives that contribute to the bottom line results they can be trusted to continue to do so without being micromanaged. With the current technology available, people can produce bottom line results without being physically at their desks. For example, virtual assistants. These administrative professionals provide a variety of services that used to require an on-site employee and has produced an entire new industry.

This is not to say that some jobs do not require employees to be at their desks or work stations on time for regular business hours, however, business leaders and managers need to focus on business activities that produce business results and add up to bottom line results and avoid costly corporate stupidity and 'nit picking' which demoralizes employees and robs the bottom line.

Is it Contributing to the Bottom Line?

Where might managers be defending stupidity in the workplace? Are outdated mindsets, rules, regulations and processes stifling creativity of team members who then leave out of frustration. Are the policies and procedures outdated or counter-productive and blocking meeting of the organization's KPI's?

The Self-Empowered Leader

In today's business world, a self-empowered leader looks at all the options and is open to innovative solutions and avoids staying stuck in outdated processes. He or she understands that to remain competitive all resources must be utilized for maximum benefit. Employees need develop effective skills to manage in swiftly shifting business trends so the end result adds up to bottom line results and not defending stupidity.

Has anything like this ever happened to you?

A recruiter dies and stands before the "Pearly Gates." St Peter checks the records and says, "Based on your work and experience you are equally qualified for both Heaven and hell. Where would you like to go?"

The recruiter thinks for a minute and replies, "Would it be possible for me to interview for both positions? Then I would have a better understanding of both and be able to decide which offer is a better fit."

St. Peter thinks for a minute and replies, "Sure, I can arrange for you to interview in Heaven first and next hell." Within a few minutes he escorts the recruiter to an elevator that goes directly to heaven. Heaven appears to be a pretty nice place; it is quiet and tranquil, with angels flying around singing soft church-type music. The people appear happy, smiling and everyone is getting along very well.

Once that interview is completed, the recruiter is escorted back to the elevator and taken to hell. Hell, it turns out, is not anything like the recruiter expected. There is a large conference center at a golf course/beach resort. Inside is an open-bar, buffet tables with a large assortment of different kinds of foods along with casinos, night clubs, rock bands, etc. The recruiter recognizes several people who are playing golf who wave and say, "Good to see you! Come on, join us!"

The recruiter returns to St. Peter who asks, "Have you decided which offer you would like to accept?" Well," the recruiter responded, "Heaven looked pretty nice, but I thought it seemed somewhat boring. I think the position in hell is a better fit for me."

St. Peter nods and within a split second the recruiter is in a vat of boiling oil. The recruiter screams out to the devil who is standing nearby, "What's going on? Five minutes ago, I was here and I am supposed to join my old friends on the golf course." To which the devil replied, "That was when you were a candidate. Now you are an employee."

So many times, a person accepts a new job with high hopes and dreams for the future. They are motivated and excited about this new career path. However, like what happened to our recruiter friend, things can change. Sometimes quickly... sometimes slowly; those dreams often disappear and the person is left wondering how they ended up in this situation. Sound familiar. What happens? How can something that starts out appearing like a dream job turn into a nightmare?

Why does an organization go through such a thorough recruiting process; screening candidates with numerous interviews, discussions, pre-employment tests and assessments, etc., in an effort to select the candidate who is a perfect fit; and then, after the candidate becomes an employee, it is as if their 'halo 'slips' and becomes a 'noose.'" Suddenly this 'perfect' candidate cannot do anything right. What happened?

Never Work for a Jerk

Years ago, I read a book entitled 'Never Work for a Jerk' by Patricia King who is a management consultant and trainer in which she talks about various kinds of 'jerk' behaviors some bosses may use and provides tools for proactively taking control of one's career. In this book, she explains that entire organizations can assume these kinds of characteristics and become what she calls a 'jerk corporation.'

One indicator of a 'jerk corporation,' is when employees consistently gripe and complain negatively about the organization. Other indicators can be destructive behaviors everyone does but nobody thinks are smart. This kind of 'organizational bullying' can permeate any organization. For example, in one organization people were expected to remain at work for hours after quitting time in case 'someone' might have a question or 'need' something. Employees were criticized for leaving work at quitting time and in some instances, it was noted in employees' performance appraisals.

It can be difficult to decide how to handle it if you find yourself in a situation such as this. Quite frankly, only you can decide if you want to 'go' or 'stay.' If, however, you see people you respect and admire leaving the organization it might be a sign that the time has come for you to consider leaving as well. I think Patricia King states it best when she says, "If everyone who cares leaves the organization, the company will lose its viability. In some cases, all the competent people go and you wind up with nothing but deadwood. Every organization has a few people who have outstayed their usefulness, but if you look around and see a lumberyard, you may be looking at an organization about to go under."

To Stay or to Go

If you do decide to stay with the organization you need to understand that the chances are that the situation probably is not going to change for the better. You can do your best to improve things, however, quite possibly it could get worse and you have to accept the situation as a tradeoff. It is a good idea to set goals for yourself and find satisfaction where you can.

The Time has Come to Part Ways

I always tell people the day you start your new job is the day you begin looking for the next one. Throughout your work life, you should be keeping your resume updated and continuing to build your network and cultivating those relationships. If you decide the time has come to leave, do your research to insure you do not fall into a similar situation again. Ask the right questions in the interview and find out if the company is the right place for you.

The reality is that nobody wants to work for a bully or a jerk. If you are a manager and you want to be successful, you do not want to be a bully or a jerk.

Organizational leaders need to look at his or her own behaviors as well as those of their team members. If there is high turnover, it is a sign that employees are leaving because of poor management; it has been proven that employees do not leave jobs; they leave bosses. Are 'jerk' and bullying behaviors tolerated in the organization?

If they are a great deal of work needs to be done, including training and coaching for the managers and employees to learn the skills needed to develop winning behaviors in the workplace. The first steps to begin are to communicate honestly and treat people with respect. Nobody wants to work for a 'jerk' or a 'jerk corporation.

Ref., King, Patricia, Never Work for a Jerk!, Franklin Watts, New York, NY, 1987