Do you go on video on teams meetings?

I do about 70% camera on. Sometimes it's not required. I am never offended if someone keeps their camera off - in fact I will make them feel more comfortable and turn mine off.
We need to be considerate - some people don't have a lovely bookcase behind them, some people look like shite in the mornings... it's ok to have your camera off!

Camera on for small team meetings and ad hoc calls (I always get ready in the morning as though I’m attending an office - hair make up etc). Bigger meetings always camera off. Maybe a couple minutes on at the beginning.

Always. Very rude not to. The only time I might not is if it’s a huge meeting and I’m an observer (we usually have these monthly over lunch so we eat while listening).

Same here. One on one or small groups - camera on. Large training webinar or something training, optional.

Yes. Unless it’s a big meeting with loads of people where it’s mainly just information for me (like we have big “town halls” or something with dozens of people so I tend to work with them in the background and camera off).

I think people occasionally have a day where they don’t want to turn their camera on for whatever reason. People tend to accept a “sorry, my camera isn’t working today” from a person who otherwise has it on 99% of the time. Even if they don’t totally believe it, it’s not pushed.

No, most people in our company have cameras off all the time. Very rarely turn them on.

I agree it is a bit soul destroying to stare at a mosaic of profile pictures all day, but I find all the moving pictures on a camera-on meeting distracting! Plus I am then distracted wondering whether my hair is sticking up or my washing is in the background.

I could work with either culture easily. I’d get used to whichever was normal for that job.

It's incredibly rude not to be seen

We don't have cameras on when meetings. If I'm having running a meeting with people I've.never met then I have camera on for the intro. Basically I've had the camera on less than 10 times in the past 5 years. Never a full meeting with cameras on. If others had theirs in then I'd have mine.

Rude.

Saying you don’t feel up for it when you think you look crap - what would you do if you had an office based job? Wear a paper bag over your head??

I am selective, depends on the call. Not concerned about appearance.

The default should be camera on unless you have valid mental health reasons to not have them on. In my last job I was working on an international team and I never saw the faces of more than half my direct colleagues and found this incredibly rude.
I once turned a job offer down because of this. Sure to COVID the interviews were fully remote. The final interview was with 8 people interviewing me and only the lead had their camera on and I was offered the job, but turned down the offer as the interview was so disrespectful. I fed this back to the HR person I was dealing with and they were shocked that it happened.

I should add that our company tends to be pretty understanding, eg no one minds if someone turns their camera off for a second and then comes back on to say they are WFH and had to shut their dog out or whatever!

People with persistently 'broken' cameras would be made by their manager to get them fixed, same with persistently dodgy internet connections.

We do have a couple of people with work passports who don't have to have cameras on all the time, but in my experience they tend to be the ones who are very present, at I think a lot of people with disabilities worry about being seen not to be up to the job. I only know as they've shared with me. It is occasionally mentioned at the start very large staff briefings as they always remind people to have cameras on and will sometimes add unless you've got agreement not to.

I don't think anyone particularly likes being on screen but it does make it difficult for other people, especially if it's meant to a collaborative discussion.

Camera on for all small group meetings or 1:1. If it’s a townhall or similar big meeting with 100’s dialling in, most people go off camera unless they’re coming in with a question or are senior LT. It’s not like you can see that many faces on screen when there are more than 9 or 10 so it’s fine.

Sometimes people will have camera off and they usually explain, eg having lunch at the same time and would rather not be watched eating on camera, or if they’ve got poor internet so prioritising voice over visuals. There are v v few people who are “persistent offenders” of no camera, usually it’s for sensible and intermittent reasons. And we really don’t tend to get the “people sloping off and not paying attention” during important meetings like others have mentioned, generally everyone is pretty professional.

Never, unless im on a 1-1 with people leader. My cam is usually "broken"

We don't if it's a quick call in the same way as you were sharing a big office with these people you might just pick up the phone and ask them a question. When it's a meeting rather than just a call then yes, always on camera.

Unless it's a really important meeting where it's clear that a camera is required, I generally take the lead from the others on the call. I start out with it off, but if others join with it on, I turn it on. I'd never sit on a call without my camera on if there were others with it on.

I use two screens and often end up looking at the other screen during calls, so often look like I'm not engaged, even if I am.

Many of my calls though are just because it's something that would usually be discussed on the phone, but we need a third person involved, so cameras aren't really necessary.

Yes, I put my camera on if it's a meeting with our immediate team or professional network. I don't if it's a webinar or training event though, unless it's a very small group and we have to interact. I don't often bother with doing makeup or anything much with my hair, but try to look neat. Laptop cameras don't tend to be super high definition so they do disguise a lot 😁

Always; unless it’s a huge training course or town hall type meeting.

We’re a global company so work with people in different countries so it’s hard to build up rapport otherwise. Camera off in a 1:1 or small call feels rude (obvious exceptions are tech issues or something has happened) and I know often it means people aren’t listening and doing something else.

I do, at my last company during covid there were some colleagues whose face I didn’t see for 2 years. They NEVER had their camera on. Even on 121 calls. Things were said but the same people never did. I started turning mine off when starting at a blank screen.

My new company it’s pretty much mandatory and it’s really nice, no one cares what you look like. Nothing worse than talking to a blank screen.

As others have said on a large meeting some cameras are off.

Same as most people - camera on unless it’s a huge meeting. I might also turn it off if there’s a load of document sharing so I can peer at the screen more easily without looking like a weirdo. But once document sharing is over, camera back on.

it's clear that engagement suffers. The tell is that when you ask someone to comment you get that little panic-y response and then they make up some bullshit that they had a dropout and could you repeat please

That. There are two people on our board of 9 who don't have their cameras on. And when we ask either of them something, there's a long silence and then a flustered response. They're clearly not really 'at' the meeting. It does my head in. They're on the board for a reason, and we often have really difficult decisions to make. If they're not listening or engaged there's really no point to them, and there's the possibility that we could end up making sub-optimal decisions without their input.

I’m with your manager - after all, if you were working in an office, you wouldn’t be able to to opt out of showing your face - why should a virtual meeting be any different?

Cameras off in my office, and thank god for that. Nobody needs to see my cat trying to get involved in my Teams meetings when I’m WFH.