This article evaluates the impact of online meetings upon mental health and inequality in the wake of COVID-19. Over the last few months, People Know How have effectively adapted all their work and services to continue running throughout the pandemic. Therefore, understanding the impact of the shift to online meetings is important to continue working productively without sacrificing the wellbeing of staff, VIPs (volunteers, interns and placement students) or service users. The briefing highlights three types of negative impacts: social, cognitive and general. Overall, it shows that online meetings have the ability to worsen anxiety and mental health and exacerbate existing inequalities. However, there are similarly benefits to online meetings. Particularly, these are felt by people who experience that they struggle with in-person communication. Some key solutions to address difficulties that online meetings are also presented. These include effective time-management, maintenance of breaks between meetings, introduction of codes of conduct and an overall flexibility towards wellbeing. Ultimately, the evidence shows that while online meetings have a number of negative impacts on mental health and inequality, we have the ability and responsibility, both as organisations and as individuals, to mediate them as best we can.
