It’s just become a whole lot harder for Google Meet users to enter video calls covertly, thanks to a new feature that singles out participants who are late to meetings.
The update also lets meeting hosts monitor call attendance by checking the RSVP status of attendees through their meeting screen — leaving little wiggle room for tardy or absent workers.
With Google Meet releasing a ‘bandwidth tracker‘ earlier in the year, which lets admins see if participants are faking a bad connection, it’s clear the web conferencing solution is taking employee accountability seriously. Below we break down everything you need to know about Google’s new call feature.
Google Rolls Out New Call Features
As of yesterday, Google Meet hosts are now able to identify which attendees are late to meetings, from the convenience of their call screen.
By checking the “Also invited” panel on the right-hand side of their display, organizers can view which workers were invited to the call but haven’t yet joined. For eligible users, this heading is located underneath the lists of participants who are currently on the call.
“We hope this feature makes it easier for you to start meetings more efficiently by quickly determining who has not joined and sending them a nudge via Chat directly from Meet.” – Google blog
Besides pinpointing late-comers, Google’s update also lets organizers reach out to those users via a chat to follow up on their attendance. What’s more, hosts will also be able to see the RSVP status of attendees on the call screen, a feature that was previously only accessible on Google Calendar.
These changes come just months after the video-communication service released a bandwidth tracker helping admins to identify if their participants were faking a bad connection.
While employees may not be delighted by these changes, these tools make it much easier for managers to monitor the attendance of their team from afar. And in a time when 26% of project management professionals cite team collaboration as the biggest challenge in remote work, the rollout of these features couldn’t come soon enough.
Who Are Google Meets’ New Features Available to?
Currently, these attendance monitoring tools are only available to Google Workspace, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, Business Starter, Business Standard, Business Plus, Education Fundamentals, Education Standard, the Teaching & Learning Upgrade, Education Plus, Non-profit customers, and legacy G Suite Basic and Business customers.
If you’re a Google Workspace Essentials, Enterprise Essentials customer, or a regular Google user, you will not be able to access these features.
Should Your Business be Using Google Meet?
There’s no denying it — Google Meet is a solid web conferencing tool. But you shouldn’t let its prevalence fool you. There are lots of other effective solutions that provide businesses with equally good bang for their buck.
GoToMeeting is another competitive option, with a reliable service boasting excellent video and audio quality. Its plans are very affordable, too. For smaller businesses looking for a shallow learning curve, Zoom is another cost-effective solution.
If you need more help separating the wheat from the chaff, learn more about the best web conferencing on the market here.
