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?

I remember one memorable meeting where a colleague had his laptop angled down and hadn’t realised that his was beaming his crotch to 15 others. No one said a word...

@elenacampana - thanks for your feedback and management advice 😂!

I've said I've encouraged it... it's not mandatory.
I will continue to assess and see how it pans out; it's an evolving situation.

If I’m not in a face to face meeting then I don’t want to have to .... feel like I have to be at attention all the time.

Conference calls are tedious at best. I spend most of mine on mute doing other work at the same time.

So many comments like this. I think you are probably highlighting why video calls are a GOOD idea. You are supposed to be engaged in the meeting, not ignoring it.

I work mainly fh. With regular colleagues, it's normal to have cameras off. It slows the connections and is frankly unnecessary. If the meeting is with a 'new' client, we'll often have cameras on for the first few minutes, to make the connection, but then switch off. I don't think you can insist on it. It doesn't take long to get used to meeting online and it's not something you can enforce anyway.

Op YABVU using the pathetic term “going forward”. Using the video swallows up bandwidth and robs the already lamentable audio of any remaining quality so I don’t use it. I have a great face for radio and people actually take me much more seriously if they don’t see me. I work with lots of people who have no idea what I look like - we still get the job done.

@Hingeandbracket blimey 😂😂

I remember one memorable meeting where a colleague had his laptop angled down and hadn’t realised that his was beaming his crotch to 15 others. No one said a word...

Whereas I once had to fiddle with my laptop and camera to get it working properly - and shared with the rest of the (all male) callers the view down my cleavage. Funnily enough, they said quite a few words.

What @elenacampana said. I give my team a choice whether to have camera on or off - too small a benefit to pull rank and risk making majority of team members unhappy.

You are supposed to be engaged in the meeting, not ignoring it
90% of Conf calls I do have about 3% content relevant to me hence I do other stuff during them.

And another reason why cameras on isn't always advisable

(The toddler marching in makes me laugh every time!)

I video call every day at work (from home). I think it's actually in our contracts that we must be dressed/presentable during working hours and available to call in - which seems reasonable to me.

I have one client that has the same rules for its employees. I've noticed that since they brought in the rule that you should switch on your camera during calls, suddenly people are paying more attention, and meetings are much more effective and shorter.

Yuk no, awful idea.

@BuzzShitbagBobbly - one of my favourite videos of all time 🙌🙌🙌

OP How do you think people used to "contnect" when they only had telephones ? You dont need to see people to connect

Absolutely hate having the video footage of myself on the screen. Distracting is the least worst thing about it.

So many comments like this. I think you are probably highlighting ..... how pointless and pointlessly long many meetings are for many people?

Remember too that soon it might not just be one person working from home but husband/wife, children, all needing to use the wifi and your preference to see people could affect three or four other people trying to work.

If you’re managing a meeting you need to be able to read the room, and when people are on the phone you miss all the body language - you can’t tell if someone’s looking puzzled or unhappy with a suggestion, and if they don’t speak (which a lot of people when they join by phone) then you may never know.

Most of us hate being on a screen but it’s work - it has a valid purpose so you do it and you get used to it. At my place it’s becoming poor etiquette not to turn the camera on.

I hate telephone conferences because it's never clear whose turn it is to speak. They all too easily degenerate into an audio mess where it is very difficult to tell what is going on.

I much prefer video conferencing because everyone can pick up on non-verbal cues and the discussion becomes much more structured.

And while I appreciate that I am male, equally in most of the video calls I do the people on the other end know me in person so probably don't care what I look like.

I work from home as the norm for my role and have blutack on my camera. I have a photo attached to my profile that shows during conference calls etc. Some of the staff show their photo some show video. Generally, the more senior the staff member the more the expectations to show on video.

I work from home full-time and we use the camera on a regularly basis, most days in fact. Doesn’t bother me at all. Company policy for home workers is that you work in a dedicated office in your home. You can’t be a home worker and sit on the sofa or at the kitchen table. Never occurred to me that people might be looking at my walls or bookcases whilst on a video call. I’m always dressed and presentable, why wouldn’t I be? It’s a workplace just like an office in the company building is.

How do you think people used to "contnect" when they only had telephones?

They didn't work from home for starters!

I’m always dressed and presentable, why wouldn’t I be? It’s a workplace just like an office in the company building is.

Agreed. And, while I realise it's not very MN, I work much better when I'm dressed for the part.

I video call all the time. I find communication much better if I can see the person. It was distracting seeing myself at the start, but I got used to that quickly.

Thanks for all your comments - interesting to see the variance.

Lots of unknowns and new situations of course. with as people have said, possibly young children at home, partners at home, and working from home when that wouldn't usually the team member's preference.

I'd want a pull-down rollerblind, or maybe plain curtains.

Or perhaps a screen covered in one of those wallpapers resembling library shelves.