The Reality of Running Errands During Virtual Meetings
Have you ever been on a Zoom call and noticed a coworker's laundry pile growing in the background? But or maybe you've been the one folding shirts while nodding along to a project update. Steve occasionally runs errands during virtual meetings — and honestly, that's not the scandal it used to be. Remote work blurred the lines between office and home in ways nobody fully predicted. And for a lot of people, squeezing in a grocery run or picking up dry cleaning during a meeting is just part of the new normal. But there's more to this story than meets the eye Small thing, real impact..
What Is Running Errands During Virtual Meetings
Defining the Behavior
Running errands during virtual meetings means handling personal tasks — grocery shopping, picking up prescriptions, dropping off packages — while technically "at work" on a video call. Steve might be muted, camera off, and quietly placing an Amazon order while his team discusses quarterly goals. It's more subtle than that. It's not the same as working two jobs or slacking off entirely. Or he might be walking the dog with the laptop propped on a park bench.
And yeah — that's actually more nuanced than it sounds.
Why It's Different from Old-School Multitasking
In a physical office, running errands meant leaving your desk, which was visible and somewhat frowned upon. But virtual meetings created a loophole. You're technically present. Your name is on the roster. So your status says "active. Worth adding: " So the social contract gets fuzzy. Here's the thing — being present on a call and being engaged on a call are two very different things.
Who Does This Most Often
It's not just one type of person. Parents juggling childcare do it. Consider this: people with chronic health conditions who need to attend appointments do it. Freelancers managing multiple clients do it. And yes, some people just... do it because they can. Steve occasionally runs errands during virtual meetings, and he's not alone by a long shot Which is the point..
Why It Happens
The Blurred Boundaries of Remote Work
When your kitchen table becomes your office, the walls between work life and personal life get thin. In real terms, steve doesn't necessarily want to run errands during a meeting. Really thin. But his 10 AM slot is the only window he has to pick up his daughter from soccer practice, and the meeting runs from 10 to 10:30. So he joins, mutes himself, and handles the pickup.
Time Poverty and the Juggle
Many remote workers feel like they're juggling more now than when they commuted. Errands that used to happen on weekends or after work now compete with meeting hours. The commute time didn't disappear — it got redistributed into other tasks. And for people without a dedicated home office, the line between "work mode" and "home mode" practically doesn't exist The details matter here..
Easier said than done, but still worth knowing.
Meeting Culture That Allows It
Let's be real. So not every virtual meeting demands your full cognitive attention. Some are status updates you could read as an email. When meetings are low-engagement by design, it's natural that people drift into other tasks. Some are brainstorming sessions where your input is only needed for five minutes. Steve occasionally runs errands during virtual meetings partly because some of those meetings don't leave much room for him to be fully present anyway That's the whole idea..
Why It Matters
The Productivity Question
Does running errands during meetings actually hurt productivity? Now, the answer is complicated. If Steve is on a call he doesn't need to actively participate in, and he uses that time to handle a task that would otherwise eat into his evening, that might be a net positive. But if he's on a client-facing call and his mind is half on a grocery list, that's a different story Worth keeping that in mind..
Trust and Perception
Here's where it gets tricky. Even if Steve is muted and off-camera, what happens if someone catches him? The perception shifts — even if Steve's work output hasn't changed at all. But a colleague sees a moving background, hears a dog barking, notices a grocery bag on the desk. Trust is fragile in remote environments, and small things can chip away at it Less friction, more output..
Easier said than done, but still worth knowing.
The Equity Angle
Not everyone has the luxury of running errands during meetings. Steve occasionally runs errands during virtual meetings, but that doesn't mean everyone can or should. Others are in noisy households where a private errand run is impossible. And some roles — client-facing, leadership, on-camera presentations — simply don't allow for it. Some people are caregivers who can't step away. The equity piece matters.
How It Works in Practice
The Mute-and-Go Technique
The most common approach is straightforward: join the meeting, mute your mic, turn off your camera if possible, and handle the task. Steve uses this method when he needs to swing by the pharmacy. Even so, he keeps one earbud in just in case his name comes up. It's not elegant, but it works — most of the time.
The Async Meeting Alternative
Some teams are catching on and replacing live meetings with async updates. Recorded videos, shared documents, comment threads. This reduces the pressure to be "present" in real time and gives people like Steve the freedom to manage their schedules without sneaking around.
Setting Boundaries With Yourself
The best approach is intentional. In real terms, steve occasionally runs errands during virtual meetings, but he's learned to be honest with himself about which meetings he can multitask through and which ones need his full attention. He asks himself a simple question before joining: "Would I notice if I missed the next five minutes?" If the answer is no, he might let himself handle something else. If the answer is yes, he stays focused Simple, but easy to overlook..
Common Mistakes People Make
Pretending to Be Fully Engaged
The biggest mistake is performing engagement when you're not actually engaged. Typing responses in the chat while your brain is somewhere else. And nodding on camera without absorbing a single word. This doesn't just hurt you — it can hurt the team. Misunderstandings happen. Action items get missed. And when the truth comes out, the trust damage is worse than if you'd just been upfront about needing to step away.
Making It a Habit When It Shouldn't Be
Running errands once in a while during a low-stakes meeting is one thing. Making it a pattern during every meeting is another. Steve occasionally runs errands during virtual meetings, but if he started doing it daily — even during important strategy sessions — that's a problem. The slippery slope is real.
Ignoring the Social Cues
Even in virtual settings, there are social norms. Consider this: if the team is doing a round-robin check-in and you haven't spoken, people notice. Think about it: if the meeting is collaborative and your input is expected, running an errand is disrespectful — even if no one says so directly. Reading the room, even a virtual one, is a skill.
The official docs gloss over this. That's a mistake.
Forgetting About Audio Cues
Muting helps, but it doesn't make
Muting helps, but it doesn’t make you invisible to auditory cues; a sudden laugh, a sigh, or the rustle of papers can still betray distraction. And when you’re only half‑present, background noises can leak through even the best‑engineered noise‑cancelling setup, alerting teammates that your attention is elsewhere. Still, worse, those unintended sounds can derail the flow of conversation — someone might pause to ask if you’re okay, or the speaker might lose momentum waiting for a cue that never comes. Recognizing that mute is a privacy tool, not a cloak of invisibility, encourages you to either fully engage or step away honestly rather than rely on a technical fix to hide inattention And that's really what it comes down to..
Moving Toward Healthier Meeting Habits
Balancing productivity with presence doesn’t require perfection; it calls for intentionality. Start by auditing your calendar: flag meetings where your input is essential and those where updates suffice. For the latter, consider proposing an async alternative or a brief stand‑up that respects everyone’s time. When you do need to step out, communicate it openly — a quick “I’ll be back in five minutes to handle a prescription” builds trust far more reliably than furtive multitasking. Finally, give yourself permission to decline or defer non‑critical gatherings; protecting your focus ultimately benefits the team’s output and morale Nothing fancy..
Conclusion
Virtual work has blurred the lines between professional duties and personal errands, but the core principle remains: respect for shared time fuels collaboration. By recognizing the pitfalls of performative engagement, habitual distraction, ignored social signals, and overlooked audio leaks, we can replace sneaky multitasking with transparent boundaries. When we treat each meeting — whether live or recorded — as a space for genuine contribution, we protect both our own effectiveness and the trust that makes remote teams thrive.
