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'm was chatting to a colleague before, he had camera off, and his dad chipped in!

Very weird.

DH had a job interview recently where the interviewer kept their camera off the whole time.

Rude.

I regularly run educational sessions at work and actually, I don't care whether the camera is on or off. My screen is filled with the presentation anyway so how am I supposed to see any faces?
I DO care about no questions being asked, or the group chat being quiet.
But then again, this is intense technical stuff, and I deliberately seed my presentation with stuff to check people are listening. Each 'mistake' always gets a barrage of people immediately pointing it out so I'm good.
If people don't want to listen that's on them. They're going to find it very difficult to get their stuff up and running.. their loss!

Yes you can communicate just as effectively. You only fear that you cannot.

A lot of visual noise that clogs your brain with subjective observations are lost.
Nothing vital.
Half my career we communicated with mass telecoms that had no video capability. We were just as effective, if not more effective then.

Going on camera looking vaguely presentable is not a big ask, especially in exchange for zero commute! Eye contact and body language are important.

I don’t fear anything and no we can’t. In the olden days when I started work we used desk phones and faxes (we certainly weren’t more effective) but even then we knew that speaking face to face when we could was a far more effective way of communicating - speech, as everyone knows, is only a tiny part of how we communicate.

This morning my hair needs washing and is scraped back in a pony tail, I'm wearing the same top as yesterday and my face and eyes are puffy because of hey fever which is making me feel crap. I don't feel like making any more of an effort than turning up for work today.

If I have to use the camera I blur the background but it's still possible to see DH walking through. Which is worse, non-work people in the background or the camera off? I'm curious.

My screen is filled with the presentation anyway so how am I supposed to see any faces?

I have 2 screens unless I'm on my phone. but those phone meeting are usually ones when I got stuck on a train or at such silly o'clock that they are outside normal working hours.

To add a different perspective, I wear hearing aids, and rely on lip reading to communicate. As I said to a colleague recently, it's not that I want to see your face particularly, but if we are to have a meaningful conversation where I can contribute effectively, switch the camera on.

We are mostly cameras on, we are engaging with people and faces matter. We wouldn’t be penalised for having them off for some random reason or because we were walking while on the meeting though. And large meetings are cameras off for most.
i do miss working from bed in my pjs in the old wfh days… now I can’t as a call might come in and then I’d be on camera!!

But communication is NOT as effective with the camera off.

You could save some carbon by not using the internet for frivilous things, like posting on Mumsnet.

PowerPoint Live?

Use one of the many generic backgrounds - no-one can see non-work people in the background that way

Again, completely disagree. I also have colleagues with some hearing difficulties who need to see mouths and body language to complete the picture of what’s being said. I’m glad I don’t work for an employer that makes life harder for my colleagues because someone else can’t be arsed to wash their hair (as if anyone cares what someone’s hair looks like on a Teams call anyway).

Obviously people managed when video capability didn’t exist (often by meeting in person but never mind) but that functionality is there now and it adds something in many work environments. I think it’s rude not to have cameras on if you are contributing to a meeting unless there is a specific reason for it.

I work for a large multinational organisation and it's very rare for people to have their cameras on. Despite the insulting comments on here I'm perfectly productive. There are people I work with regularly while having no idea what they look like. I like it, I communicate better than if I was forced to have my camera on, in fact if they introduced that I'd probably leave.

Yes, but I still have to look at the other screen - so if I'm concentrating on presenting what's in front of me and monitoring the chat I'm not going to look at another screen to see people's faces.

I do think either stance is silly btw. Cameras on or off depends on the meeting context and requirements. And remote working maturity.

As an organisation that has had home working for years we have a lot of staff in rural areas, also in foreign countries with not great networks. We can't ask them all to put their cameras on at the expense of audio.

We also tailor our communication style to the audience..

I did and got asked where I was as though I was somewhere I shouldn't be. I now don't care if they see DH or the outline of the washing drying in the background!

Where did they think you were?! I don't blame you - if they haven't grasped the concept of virtual backgrounds yet they fully deserve to see your washing on the line!

I have no idea where they thought I was or why I would be stupid enough to join a meeting when I was somewhere I shouldn't be.

Thank fuck I don't work with you. I'd really dislike that.

I really dislike it when people don't have their cameras on. What are they hiding from?

From my own face

Just came across this - it's great for this thread 😂😂

In my team, we never have cameras on for Teams meetings. The approach is that cameras would be nice, but not mandatory. That includes 121 performance meetings too. Not a big deal at all.

Well... if that at all represents the level of professionalism in your organization, maybe you need to treat your colleagues like feckless kids.