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?

Nope. If I had to do it at the office, then I'd dislike it. But my home is my private space, and I would absolutely hate people seeing into it.

I hate this. Microsoft teams means seeing your own face which is massively distracting. Plus remote working horrible when in meetings where you're the only remote, everyone else talking at same time, need to be off cam to eye roll and remind ppl I cant participate if they're like that

I WFH a lot and only turn my camera on when everyone else does it as well. I hate it! I also think it makes Skype run slower on our already crowded VPN.

I work from home and thankfully have only had two video conferences (while “meeting” new clients and not as a team call thing) in over 10 years.

Totally unnecessary to video call, especially when you can screen share/webex and it’s generally pretty distracting and not pleasant if you don’t like being filmed/seeing yourself on screen etc. YABU

Mumsnet, where everyone has the perfect house until a laptop camera turns on

I find it easier to focus on what is being said without distracting moving images, especially if one is of me. Plus I think it's a waste of bandwidth, which is likely to become a valuable commodity when the WFH rate sky rockets.

I dont use my camera when working from home. In fact I hate calls using them.

I find it distracting and everyone is always so awkward and uncomfortable looking.

I will if I have to in the office but I wont at home as while its my work environment at that time it's also my private home.

Calls can have large numbers of attendees across multiple countries and really the interior of my home is none of their business.

This was always a rule for us, when I worked at a financial institution. You were not allowed to have your camera off. If you didn’t have anywhere suitable to work, you weren’t supposed to work from home, and there’s an unwritten expectation that you make yourself look somewhat decent from the chest up or wherever shows on your camera.

I didn’t love it, but it probably did mean people were more up and “working”, and it definitely did keep the team feel going as we could see each other.

Had one colleague comment that he’d pulled my screen up and watch me the whole time and thought I looked as bored as he felt.

My god, why would anyone say this to you?

You are being paid to work - I think it is a reasonable request to make.

Work != being on camera, surely. For most professions.

A lot of our meetings are done on ZOOM , so we can share doc's and screen info with out us been in the picture,

Perhaps that could be a option for you ?

Oh and if you have cats they always know if you are on a conference call. Even the laziest cat will get up and wander over. If you shut them outside the room they will scratch and meow to be let in. You will see a lot of cat tails. The cats will totally ignore you after the call ends.

You might want to consider having smaller sub team meetings where possible as it is easier to work remotely in smaller groups. This might also make some of the more reluctant members more likely to participate.

I think this really does depend on the nature of the business you are in, the culture of your company and relationship you have with those on the call.

My team work remotely, as do I, therefore we often do phone catchups and will FaceTime or conference call with videos - we all know each other's pets names as they take starring roles and kids names as they often appear also. We have a chat before it starts whilst waiting for everyone to log in, like you would in an office when you get in for the day.

However, when we run an external meeting with a client online or training sessions then it is a different format and familiarity therefore we have set rules about the video conferencing (what's in the background, attire etc). For many of those i tend not to share the camera but share the corporate screen instead.

To the PP who said it's checking up on the team - it's absolutely not. I have a great team who I trust.

The calls we are about to have remotely are the ones with a small section of the team that we'd usually be in person for - developing projects / programmes of work / etc which are far more interactive than box ticking exercises. I absolutely think there's more connection if you can see each other.

We will either be using Teams, Skype or Zoom.

We are all used to doorbells ringing / dogs barking / alarms going off, so that's not frowned up.

I think it will either gradually settle one way or another...

This was always a rule for us, when I worked at a financial institution. You were not allowed to have your camera off. If you didn’t have anywhere suitable to work, you weren’t supposed to work from home,

"Suitable" as in desk + chair, or "suitable" as in nice-looking backdrop? Surely the former only needs checking once! I'd be super uncomfortable with that policy.

@AnchorDownDeepBreath

I always have my camera on working from home, we're a multinational company and I work across time zones. I much much prefer video to audio as it's more personal, you get more interaction and the dynamic is much more similar to being in an actual meeting. If you're in a professional role I'd expect you to use remote working technology to assist in connecting teams in this way.

Our 365 Teams videoconferencing tends to dip in and out if we all use videos. On 121s I insist on it so I can see facial expression and body language. On virtual coffee calls we use video to reduce isolation of remote working.
If you’re at work then you should be at work. If you want to appear in a onesie or have no makeup, that’s fine, but video usually goes on to promote good communication.
You just have to be careful where you scratch.

I hate video calls when wfh. I have to give a shit what i look like and put a shirt over my pjs

We do it all the team, my team is in multiple locations. I think it is really important helping us to communicate better.

I work for an international organisation where Skype is our standard way of communicating even within the same building - we never use phones.

No-one ever uses the camera and I have duct tape over mine. As others have said, if I can see my own image I can't think. It's my brain they want on the call, not my mug.

I do loads of video calls! I think it's much better as people have to focus and not do other tasks!

I often do wear make up as it's work and I'm not being judged on my looks but my ability! I will try do against a blank space though!

My laptop camera is at an unflattering height: it looks straight up my nose. Plus if both DH and I are on Skype calls with just voice at the same time our WiFi struggles. If we are both WFH long term we can't be on video calls all day .

Finally I find looking through a slide deck or sharing a Skype whiteboard to be much more useful for discussing ideas than looking at jerky videos of my colleagues.

Sorry *dont wear make up!!!

I always find these threads so interesting to hear the varied thoughts of everyone and the things they fixate on as a concern

I do not have time in my meetings to open up each person and scrutinise in detail the wall behind them to make a judgement about the state of their house! Nor am I remotely interested in stalking them via their webcams.

Honestly, couldn't tell you anything about any of my colleagues houses from what I've seen behind their head on a call.