The landscape of business communications has changed dramatically in recent years. Technological advancements have given organizations new communication tools that increase efficiency and productivity. A good example of this is the rise in virtual meetings — one of the most cost-effective tools your business and employees can benefit from.
Read on to learn more about how virtual meetings can save your business money.
1. Save on travel costs
Travel costs for business meetings add up quickly — between spending money on plane tickets, car rentals, hotels and food expenses, travel-related expenses for in-person meetings can be exceedingly expensive. Virtual meetings are an easy, affordable way to bring everyone together to discuss important issues from anywhere in the world. All without the high costs of travel and travel-adjacent expenses. On average, businesses using virtual meetings report a 30% reduction in travel costs.
2. Overhead cost savings
Holding virtual meetings can save your business a lot of money. Operational costs to hold an in-person meeting at a facility that rents spaces (e.g., hotel conference rooms) can make a big dent in your company’s budget. Between the facility rental fee and any additional charges such as audio-visual and facility attendant expenses, costs can add up quickly.
If you typically hold in-person meetings in your company’s office building, holding virtual meetings can help you save on the cost of utilities, print materials, office supplies and office equipment. Research shows that businesses that allow their employees to work from home half the time can save an average of $11,000 each year per employee.
3. Increase productivity
On the surface, increasing employee productivity may not look like a cost-saving benefit of virtual meetings. But the old adage “time is money” rings true here. Increased productivity can not only save money but help your business make money.
So how do virtual meetings increase productivity? Time spent planning, traveling to and attending an in-person meeting is that time your employees could have otherwise spent working on projects and meeting deadlines. Virtual meetings save your employees time so they can focus on what really matters. A recent survey found that nearly 9 in 10 employees agree that video conferencing reduces the time it takes to complete their tasks and projects. This increase in productivity ultimately benefits your company’s bottom line.
4. Fewer sick days
While taking sick days is well within every employee’s rights, there is evidence to suggest that people who work remotely take fewer sick days than those who work in an office. A recent report found that remote workers are less than half as likely to call in sick than those who work in offices. In fact, the number of employees who called in sick recently dropped to its lowest rate in 15 years due to remote working options.
Remote work and virtual meetings allow employees with mild illnesses (e.g., the common cold) to attend meetings and continue working on their projects without the risk of others getting sick. Virtual meetings ensure everyone who is able can attend and contribute.
5. Save on salary costs
No, we don’t mean you pay employees less for attending virtual meetings. But virtual meetings can help you save on salary costs. Let’s break it down.
Say you hold an in-person meeting with 9 people. When you multiply the time spent in the meeting by the number of attendees in an hour-long meeting, you’ve used 9 hours’ worth of salary for only one meeting.
While the same holds true for virtual meetings, when you factor in the amount of time each employee spends preparing for and traveling to an in-person meeting, that’s a lot of unnecessary expense. With approximately eleven million meetings taking place in the United States each day, the savings virtual meetings offer on salary costs is significant.
6. Improved employee recruitment and retention
Offering the opportunity to work remotely has become key to attracting and retaining the right employees. As more people are seeking employment that provides a good work-life balance and flexibility, remote work and virtual meetings have become crucial for businesses to adopt. Onboarding a new hire can cost more than $4,000. And employee turnover costs can be shockingly high, too.
A Gallup study estimates that it can cost a company between one-half to two times an employee’s annual salary to onboard a replacement. By providing employees with the flexibility to work remotely and attend virtual meetings, you can attract the right talent from anywhere in the world and prevent high turnover rates and costs.
Other benefits of virtual meetings
Cost savings aren’t the only benefits virtual meetings offer to businesses. Here are some other benefits to be aware of:
Platform functionality. Gone are the days of gathering around a flipchart with a marker. Holding your meeting virtually brings the benefit of making use of FreeConferenceCall’s functionality — backgrounds, whiteboards, polls, and chat functions can all enrich your virtual meetings. These tools are particularly useful when collaboration is required.
Environmental benefits. Virtual meetings mean a reduction in paper printing and the harmful impact travel has on the environment. By eliminating the need for travel, printouts, and food (which often goes to waste) in-person meetings require, you reduce your organization’s carbon footprint and protect the environment, all while saving money.
Recording. With virtual meetings, there is no need to take meeting minutes. Most platforms that offer virtual conferencing allow your business to record meetings so that anyone in attendance can watch or listen to the meeting as needed to reference something important. And anyone who was unable to attend in real-time can access the recording at a time that works for them.
Ease of sharing. Remember in-person meetings where the presenter would have to plug in their laptop and flash drive to share their screen and presentation? With virtual meetings, sharing files, slides, and other important documents is easier than ever. Screen-sharing features and file-sharing options make it easy to share visuals and documents with attendees.
Getting started with virtual meetings
Virtual meetings aren’t just the way of the future — they’re how more and more businesses are conducting their meetings now and into the future. Whether you’re hosting an update meeting with colleagues or clients, holding training sessions, or giving presentations to stakeholders, virtual meetings offer the versatility that every business needs, no matter the industry.
Ready to try virtual meetings to save your business money? FreeConferenceCall is one of the best platforms offering virtual meetings. We offer cutting-edge conference software that provides high-definition audio and video, screen sharing, meeting recordings, and virtual backgrounds — for free.
FreeConferenceCall allows businesses to hold meetings and conferences with up to 1,000 participants without exorbitant fees. Not only that, but each account comes with a free virtual phone at no added cost, allowing you to make and take calls anywhere you have access to a Wi-Fi connection.
