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?

Cameras are always off. Work for a charity that takes their net zero carbon commitment very seriously. Cameras - having video on meetings eats up way more data which creates way more CO2.

Cameras on for small meetings, cameras off if there are a larger number of participants and a lot of people are only listening.

I could not manage my team effectively with cameras off. We all work remotely and I rarely see any of them in person as we don't have an office. Having cameras on means I can see how people are. I can pick up on if they are tired, not engaging or other concerns. I can't tell you how many times I've been able to pick up on non verbal cues and called them afterwards to see if they're ok on not to discover they have personal issues or illness etc. nobody has ever considered not turning on the camera. We have daily team briefings which are only about 10-15 minutes and that's our main 'team' interaction. Cameras off would not encourage that team connection in the same way.

That said, I think the context of the call/meeting dictates when cameras need to be on or off. If I am failing in for some generic training I will always turn off my camera unless forced to turn it on. But that IS because I will likely be doing other things so ultimately I AM hiding something, even if it's just my Bored expression.

Webcams cost less than a tenner.

I agree.

We have a similar thing. I've never used the camera, my laptop is shut on its dock on the back corner of the desk. We're usually sharing screens to look at code, documents or demos, much more useful than looking at people. Occasionally someone presenting will be on camera for an bit between slides but that's the exception not the norm.

Depends on the meeting. Big divosion all-hands or company presentations - no cameras except for speakers. 1:1s or team meetings, definitely camera on (unless WiFi playing up.) Those are the meetings which would have mostly been face-to-face in the old days.

I care more about people muting themselves when not speaking, especially if typing loudly/slurping coffee/eating/dog or child in background...

I’m a senior manager in civil service and couldn’t care less if someone has their camera on or not during meetings. I don’t often put my camera on either unless I’m with SCS/directors. Otherwise I feel like I have to watch myself and it’s awkward and throws me off a bit. Sometimes it’s hard to get the right angle whilst also being able to access your device and change slides, type messages etc so I can’t get the best version of myself across.

I'm actually glad my job doesn't involve meetings after reading the whole thread
I have a 121 about every 6 months which usually gets pushed back as we are too busy

Genuinely curious how you could make such a sweeping statement and attempt to pass it off as pseudo-fact?

Perhaps the productivity issue is something endemic in your workplace, but projecting your workplaces shitty ethos and bullshit "camera on" baloney onto others is flat out wrong.

We have a camera on rule, so that's what people do. The only exception would be massive meetings/whole dept type things. Given you can blur backgrounds etc, I don't know why anyone would have an issue with this! But I guess cultures are different.

Im office based and if someone WHF calls me to talk and complain they cant see me, i tell them to come in to chat and see me. I absolutely loath teams, i cant abide seeing their kids nor dogs on it which happens when i use it. So i tend to either email them.

i prefer a good old telephone anyway. My line of work is public based which a telephone is perfect for!

Nor me. Weird. Anyway it is mandatory where I work to your camera on for meetings.

We have a cameras on policy.

Really interesting thread. My organisation seems to match up with many here, we always use cameras for 1:1, small group or team meetings (my team is 10 people and monthly whole office meetings (about 35 people) but when we have big whole company training with well over 100 of us being presented to, cameras and mics are disabled other than for speakers, and we can ask questions in the chat.

I have one colleague in my team who usually finds excuses to have hers off and I feel like I barely know her compared to the others.( we are fully virtual with only an annual in person meet up). It definitely helps team building in my experience. But saying all of that, it did take me a bit of getting used to when I first went fully remote.

Works for me. I can understand some of the arguments made in this thread but I do feel like using cameras is a fair trade/request of employers for the benefits I get being able to work from home.

I also hate the virtual backgrounds that make people's hands and edges disappear like they are in the Back to the Future photograph. How hard is it to sit with your back to a wall or neutral space for video calls? But I would rather colleagues used them than didn't turn on cameras at all.

Teams calls are just telephone calls though.

It depends. For bilaterals, team catch ups and scrums, I will have the camera on. For larger meetings the etiquette is to put the camera on if presenting / speaking - which works well. For external meetings, I will follow what others are doing. If I am chairing, I will always have my camera on. To be fair most seniors across the industry have seen my tiny little home office and me with wet hair and no make-up given I've chaired a lot of short notice crisis managements.

So you put on the camera if you are the junior in the meeting, but don’t put it on if you are the senior person there?

Have you stopped to ask yourself why the people more senior to you have an expectation of you being on camera/why they think it important for you to be able to see them?

Why would the same a principles and courtesy not apply when you are the boss?

How hard is it to sit with your back to a wall or neutral space for video calls?

Completely impossible for many.

If it’s a big meeting (ie I have a Friday Teams meeting with 35 others), the chair has her camera on and we only put ours on when speaking.

All my other meetings throughout the week are cameras on. I think it’s important to be able to see the team.

I prefer camera on for small groups as it lets us observe body language of the participants. It's as close to being in the same room as it can get. I definitely find that if anyone is speaking or contributing in any way - they must be on camera or it appears like they are slacking. No one says anything but it's what's being thought. In my org people do apologise or offer a reason why their camera is off - in the case that it's off (unless there are dozens of people on the call and most are just listening). I don't see how it's acceptable to have the camera off and expect remote working to be successful long term. Eventually such teams will get called into office more often and they then complain why this is the case!

Yeah I'm currently in the process of renovating a house we bought last year so behind my desk is 1960s wallpaper and a big hole in the wall from rewiring. That's embarrassing.

I have mine on for calls with the same team but off for any others, especially external customers. One creepy customer insisted I turned the camera on as he wanted to see what I look like and I refused to go into another call with him. I don't have face to face meetings so he wouldn't have seen me pre-Teams so why does he need to see me now?

They should be dressed and groomed appropriately for work as well.

Groomed appropriately?!? I'm not a bloody dog!

DH is a scientist and his meetings are very technical and intense and with members from different countries. He never puts his camera on as he says it’s a distraction. He says the Americans always put their cameras on though.

A lot of colleagues live rurally/semi-rural like me, I wouldn't rely on anyone's bandwidth so understand completely having cameras off.

I usually minimise the telecon window & just listen while culling / answering emails or doing some mindless editing if I have a suitable document, participating where I am part of what's happening. Since I'm not watching anybody, I don't know why they want to watch me. 😕😕 😕 😕

I never bother with my camera. It gives me a stiff neck and face ache from trying to look interested and hide my double chin 😂😂