Working from home - cameras on laptops?

[bbcessex]

I work from home at least two days a week, and regularly have conference calls etc.

In the past, it's not standard to have laptop cameras switched on for conf calls as we are a financial services company and it's not been common, but that's changing with teams about to regularly work more remotely due to corona policy.

I actually much prefer seeing the person / people I'm talking to and i think it helps with connecting / focus / communication. I've given my team notice that as we are all going to be working from home more (not formally told to yet but likely) I'd like to have work laptop cameras on during team calls wherever possible going forward.

Most people are fine - I've had the obvious comments 'oh no, I'll have to get dressed, ha ha', but a couple of people are really not happy about it (without being specific about why).

It's not mandatory of course, and i can't / won't enforce it, but I will encourage it.

Does anyone else have a view on this? Is it unreasonable to encourage?

My home, my computer, my internet connection.NO to this. Also I have no idea how to do video conferencing/ Skype and do not want to know. email and actual speaking on phone acceptable but only in normal working hours.

I don't think you can enforce it in peoples homes OP.

Our company does dozens of conference calls per day and if anyone is working from home and doesn't have a suitable space i.e. a permanent home office with an impersonal background, they always turn off their camera and it is totally accepted.

It does feel like an invasion of privacy. Not everyone has a study and kind of feels like colleagues are looking through a window into your home.

I'm fortunate enough to be able to work from home. The odd video call really isn't an issue when people will lose their jobs, their businesses, their income, or be working on the 'frontline'. I think seeing the bigger picture is important.

Also I have no idea how to do video conferencing/ Skype and do not want to know. email and actual speaking on phone acceptable but only in normal working hours.

The video part is unnecessary, but Skype is well worth using. It's really easy to use, you can talk to several people at once, type in info and share documents, you can start a quick Skype conversation using text and then turn on the 'phone' if you need to.

Refusing to use Skype is daft.

My manager informed us today that because we're now all wfh, from tomorrow they will be enforcing group skype calls all day within each team, with cameras on, just so we're always there and in touch with each other.
I'm seriously not happy about it. I hate they idea of having my camera on all day while I work. Plus it doesn't even achieve anything, because they cant see my screen so can't see if I'm actually working, or online shopping or whatever. Plus I hate the complete lack of trust in our ability to work without constant monitoring.

It's not unreasonable in any circumstance for you to expect to have to be suitably dressed for work, and it really does make a huge difference to the quality of the conversation

I will not be dressing for work if I am sitting in my living room! I be wearing a t shirt and jeans and it won't make an ounce of difference to the quality of my work. While I am working from my living room, using my heating, my internet connection and my mobile I will wear what I like.

@NaturalBornWoman

My, my. Not everyone has a home office as you do or indeed much space to carve out permanently for WFH especially if their partner is quarantined. And as PP have pointed out as well, domestic bandwith can be limited and sound only is the way to go for people not on super fast.

And didn't Teams go down the other day as WFH became normal?

I agree with OP that seeing peoples faces can help but depends on how large the conference is. What you can't see is the raised eyebrow or eye roll from the back of the room. A good manager on sound only would hear inflection and have a mental note of who wasn't responding.

Skype has been on its knees today with capacity, and voice calls have been degraded. If fewer selfish companies were using video, more important conversations would be able to happen

Yes, insisting on video unnecessarily in this situation is just selfish.

Gosh, I'm surprised at so many people who are uncomfortable with the camera. Nit judging at all but just wondering.... if this situation goes on for months you may not see your team/colleagues for months.

It does make a difference to how you connect with someone. Eye contact and body language adds to rapport. I think I'm just more used to it as my company use it very frequently so I wouldn't even think of it as an issue.

I never used video when in the office as my screen set up made it a nightmare and there were people on the background- I just had my photo on team and google hangout. I don’t care at home and for my one to one I will probably be on video but bigger groups also just my photo-so no one can see me rolling my eyes when people say stupid stuff.

If you are on a VPN ie and connecting to everything through a box somewhere in your IT dept, it may be better not to use video to save bandwidth.

We have just been advised to turn cameras OFF. With everyone wfh the bandwidth can’t cope with the extra pressure now.

We have also been reminded of client and business confidentiality if there is more than one person in the house wfh.

So those of you saying it’s unprofessional to work from a bedroom, that may be the requirement for some people now if someone else is using the dining room/kitchen/office (particularly those who live in a house share set up)

It does make a difference to how you connect with someone. Eye contact and body language adds to rapport.

Maybe for you. Others find it to be a really unhelpful distraction.

Webcams usually make you look like you’ve got about 16 chins 😬

Had our first meeting today, it was a disaster. I couldn't hear anyone so had to dial in rather than using my laptop and everything was distorted and video was pixelating.

Seeing myself wasn't too bad but to those earlier who said it would only be my face, I can assure you there was a lot of the door behind me and DH put in a couple of appearances as he walked through the living room! Other than that and the cat snoring loudly it was fine!

If DP and I both have to work from home, we'll have serious issues around confidentiality (he's a payroll manager and I'm a benefits adviser).

We live in a tiny house, so no space for us to work in separate rooms.

DH would have heard everything that was said today but what can I do? Work know the situation so have to get on with it

My client that previously encouraged camera use on Teams is now discouraging it to save bandwidth.

I don't like it, but im encouraging it - working from home can get very lonely very quickly if you arent used to it and/or if work is one of your main sources of contact with the wider world. Seeing people helps to break this and makes people feel a little more connected I think.

I have spent the whole day on video call and it has actually been rather fun meeting 1 cat, 1 dog and 2 children :-)

The all day on Skype call is putting one hell of a strain on our marriage and is utterly and totally unreasonable on other family members - especially now schools are closed. I'm now basically being expected to stay at one end of our lounge in quiet and keep the kids (off school) pretty much quiet constantly so they can all sit on fucking Skype to "feel part of the team" ALL day.

That's a hell of a lot different from keeping the kids quiet and completely out of the way for some scheduled calls with set business and keeping them at a functionable level the rest of the time. I have work to do for uni exams as well and I can't do that because I'm on silent child duties so some fucking employer can make them keep a skype line open continuously. Couple of days of it and I've been in tears over the thought of having to do this for months - DH's employer is going to HAVE to relax this shit now the schools are officially closed.

Of course I don't matter and the fact that this is going to mean I have to fuck my degree because I need to childmind to facilitate constant office conversation is irrelevant.

If you are on a VPN ie and connecting to everything through a box somewhere in your IT dept, it may be better not to use video to save bandwidth.

We've been advised to turn our VPNs off while connected to a Skype meeting - I was a bit surprised by that , maybe business Skype is encrypted and so ok to to over the public network without vpn?

@Kuponut can your husband put his mic on mute, so no one can hear what's going on his end. Then he can unmute when someone talks to him? My boss is making us sit there with our cameras on all day (which is a special kind of hell) but we can at least mute the mics.