Surely being on camera for most virtual work meetings is now the standard?

[CantFindTheBeat]

I've just read a post where someone said that not wanting to be on video for a work Teams call whilst working from home was perfectly fine.

Surely this is no longer the case?

Obviously illness, rare WiFi issues and other and minor exceptions happen, but on the whole, don't most employers and managers expect people to be seen as well as heard these days?

I’ve worn my Oodie with the camera on before! Idgaf what I look like on camera, I’m not the one that has to look at it 😅

Definitely not the norm in my company to be on video, and we are a multinational with approx 120k employees...

Its the norm where I am and so it should be. Seeing people helps the connection rather than just hearing.

Not sure why people don't like being on camera, it's no different than being f2f.

@GeraltsBathtub that's a very good point 🤣

My home set up doesn't allow for camera on, as the laptop lid has to be shut to make room for a two large screens. Work won't pay for a webcam. Therefore they will have to tolerate my camera being off. When I'm in the office, camera on as the set up is different and its screen + laptop riser so the built in one is on

@CantFindTheBeat to be fair though I never understand why its so hard to manage adults when they should be perfectly capable of just bloody getting on with it!

People who don't pull their weight are the absolute worst.

It sounds like a lot of people work in orgs with too many meetings, never mind meetings they don't need to 'fully engage' with. I think that's a company culture issue that isn't really about being on camera.

Lots of neurodivergent people struggle with cameras.

However, I am autistic and need the visual input in order to process. I also need to lip read.

So people struggle with cameras, or with no cameras, for different reasons and by insisting and judging you are potentially being ableist.

There is also the issue that people’s needs re cameras might be conflicting.

it is completely different from an in person meeting. Not comparable. The communication, visual cues, etc are completely different, acoustics are different, it is harder to hear and keep track of conversation.

Cameras on also makes my bandwidth slower, and makes the whole meeting glitchy.

I need them on though.

We only have 121 meetings and no camera required. My desk doesn't have room for my laptop open as well as the giant screen so it's just practical reasons for me

My staff have to have their cameras on.

No excuse in a meeting for not showing your face. It's poor manners.

Wouldn't people just use the closed captioning?

And my ND isn't trumped by someone else's needs. It feels physically painful to me to see my image on screen surrounded with a blur which randomly cuts off parts of my body. I'm not listening at all at that point.

Camera off, or in person, or on the phone, or email? I'm your woman. Cameras on? No thanks. My camera was 'broken' for a few months recently until IT got on to me. They can't do anything when asked of course.

Of course it's different. Of course.

Really?

I have mental health issues and find being seen hard some days. So, I contribute in the chat. Good to know some people judge me.

Ours are usually off

My current team leader is fine with cameras off in all meetings. Others I've had were adamant they had to be on at all times or you had to answer as to why. Other meetings it depends on what it is - where I know all the participants I'll leave it off and only put it on when speaking. If I don't know everyone, then I'll go on camera by default. One meeting I go to, I know one colleague has a seizure condition and as my desk is next to my window at home, I'll leave it off as she's said sometimes flickering backgrounds can cause seizures for her and I'd worry the sun moving in and out might be problematic. I do a lot of work in the disability/diversity and inclusion space at work and have a lot of neurodiverse colleagues so honestly, cameras on or off doesn't bother me.

At home I work on one larger screen and use magnification software and occasionally a screen reader. So my laptop lid is closed while I'm working. If I open it to have my camera on, it sometimes messes the layout up so I'm spending time after the meeting getting things back to a point where I can work comfortably. In the office I have 2 larger screens so it's not an issue as we have webcams on one screen.

I find face to face meetings uncomfortable too - I'm an introvert and just prefer being left on my own to get on with work.

I find it distracting seeing myself on screen. But I'm in the office most days and always book a meeting room for meetings so if you want to see my face you know what to do.

*bsl not back (typo)

Will do.

It's probably been said, so sorry, but for people who don't like seeing themselves or find it distracting, you can hide your own image on Teams.

@storminamooncup I'm sure people will be happy to facilitate the disabled who need it by turning their cameras on.
Otherwise it's just a preference much like having it off. Rude and discriminatory is a tad dramatic.

But logically speaking bandwidth and connectivity usually make it difficult.

Also ... unless you have a massive, very high resolution TV screen monitor and colleagues with quality cameras it's impossible to see every single face enough to gauge their reaction. Especially if it's enough people to be a 'sea' of screens, as you put it.

Maybe you just have superhuman vision.

I put it on to say hello, on if I'm actively contributing to the discussion, but if it's a large scale thing, or sitting there being presented AT - I turn it off. I actually have it negotiated as a reasonable adjustment for my autism so good luck in making snide comments to get me to turn it on.

I find it doubles the cognitive load of autistic masking for me to be checking my eye contact towards the right screen (I often have multiple screens and so don't always have a teams call lined up with my webcam), checking I'm not fidgeting out of frame, being distracted by that strange not quite working right blurred background and I can come out of a long cameras on call feeing incredibly burnt out and drained - like someone said, you're not quite functioning on the same set of social cues you are in a face to face meeting which makes things harder for me to manage - so yep, if I'm not an integral part of the meeting I will turn camera off for a bit to give me a bit of a break from that extra workload my brain processes compared to a NT person.

Plus MN during the pandemic showed what utter judgemental twats people can be about how others go about working from home when they were making demands about specific backgrounds (I can't cope with the CGI ones - they really do distract me so much I struggle to focus at all) and people not wearing makeup and the like (hah hah good luck cos I never wear it) that I don't particularly want to risk an unknown knobhead encountering my autistic communication style and being an arse about it.

And when I'm working with someone with communication needs, which I am usually incredibly aware of since I'm the person who has assessed those needs - I'll have the camera on, and sign if required - but for a bunch of suits telling us about some random initiative or whatever - nope.

God I hope you don't work in the disability field if you think "the disabled" is appropriate terminology. We aren't clones.