How remote captions can help your employees

As we head into winter, there’s a good chance we’ll also be heading into another lockdown.

Covid-19 hasn’t gone away, and with the usual colds and flu that winter brings, it looks like this year might be a bad one.

Whether it’s government enforced or individual choice, working from home is more common than ever and doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon.

If your team is staying home this winter, remote captions might help them be more productive in their work.

What are remote captions?

Live captions are a transcription of what’s being said appearing across the bottom of a screen in real time. Usually there’s a stenographer in the room typing at an incredible 300 words per minute, but with remote captions, they can be anywhere in the world.

All the stenographer needs is a good internet connection and a microphone for the speaker. They simply listen to what’s being said and type it out really fast for everyone else to read.

Not only are remote captions cheaper than on-site captioning, but also allows for bookings at short notice.

Why remote captions are perfect for lockdowns

As many people discovered during the first lockdown, working from home brings its own challenges.

Online conference calls and one-to-one meetings feel very different when you’re at home compared to an office environment, and the more people involved with the call, the harder it is.

Remote captioning helps people understand and participate fully in meetings, training, and seminars. More than 100 empirical studies document that captioning a video improves comprehension, attention, and memory of what’s being said.

Imagine being an employee working from home, and you have a speaker/microphone issue during a meeting.

Do you stop your boss/co-worker/client from talking and ask them to repeat what they said? Or do you plow through and hope it wasn’t an essential part of the conversation?

Remote captions can solve this problem in two ways.

One, you can read what’s being said, as people are saying it. And two, even if your internet connection fails and you miss the rest of the meeting, there’s a transcript available to read afterwards.

As an employee, live captioning makes you feel included, helps you to better comprehend and retain what’s being said, and is a safety net in case technology lets you down.

The Equality Act still applies at home

Passed in 2010, The Equality Act encapsulated all nine previous anti-discrimination laws and rendered discrimination illegal in the workplace.

This included discrimination against gender, sexuality, race, and disability, which, of course, includes deaf and hard of hearing people.

The Equality Act applies to businesses and employers, and, during lockdown, means that working from home is also the workplace.

Deaf and hard of hearing employees must not be discriminated against in any way, and that includes being left out in virtual meetings.

Remote captions are not only beneficial for everyone, but a legal necessity in some cases.

Call the experts when it comes to remote captions

Live captioning for potential clients is a huge boost to your business brand.

It not only helps with comprehension and understanding, but is particularly useful for those who speak English as a second language.

Other problems like noisy work environments, unreliable phones or laptops, or harsh accents can all be alleviated with the use of remote captions.

A company that goes out of its way to accommodate new or potential clients is making a statement that they care and are willing to prove it.

With a network of over 300 captioners across the globe, we can provide a stenographer at short notice and easily accommodate changes to scheduled teaching.

And when we say across the globe, we mean it! 121 caption online in several languages, and offline in over 80 languages, ensuring no matter where you are or what you need, we can help.

If you think you can benefit from remote captioning, then please don’t hesitate to contact us today.

Our friendly, professional staff will be happy to answer any questions you may have.