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 think I'd be ok for 1:1's but in reality, lots of meetings are so dull I did other work during them so you'd be able to see me doing this.

And then there is my WTF face when some college talks rubbish.

And I'll be honest, I look old and tired without makeup, but I don't want to waste my time or money wearing it every day.

I certainly don't dress in a suit when working, but I have to get up, shower, shave and have fresh clothes every day, if I wasn't washed and dressed, I'm not ready for work.

I’ve never ever used a camera for video calls. If I’m WFH then I’m not made up etc and I absolutely hate how I look on web cameras so I just won’t use it.

You say you’re giving your team a choice, @bbcessex but is it a real choice that respects how your team members feel and what they’re comfortable with or being ‘that’ type of manager with a “it’s a choice but you’d better choose what I prefer”?

I’m a freelancer and I’ve got very into zoom lately - it’s making a big difference. Zoom is waaay more stable than any other option I’ve tried before and works with rural clients on poor bandwidth.
But generally I keep it to 2-3 participants. Bigger calls are really inefficient whether audio only or video.

I wouldn't like it but will do so if it means I don't have to commute.

As an aside, you can get sliding covers for laptop cameras. Slide back when need to video call, cover the rest of the time. Dirt cheap off eBay.

I don’t make it a personal choice any more than having laptops off in workplace meetings is a choice, unless you’re presenting. It’s accepted professional behaviour.

Maybe it depends to some extent on the type of work you do. I don't often visit an office, but last time I did noticed that nowadays many colleagues arrived in a meetings a bit early to plug their laptop into the network (the conference rooms have lots of power and network sockets, they're designed to support this). This is because often someone other than the main presenter would need to find a document, need to share screen etc. We're a software company, maybe we're focussed more on using laptops for more than as a social medium.

I work from home so this is standard practice, I don't mind it but leave it switched off most of the time. But I always make sure I'm presentable (ie showered, hair and make up done), just as I would be if I was in the office just in case anything unexpected crops up that needs a face to face call.

I suppose it must depend on the type of work you and your office environment.

But I do think that it's unnecessary to force someone to use a webcam if they want to work from home. If you want to - great - but at least have the decency to respect the fact that we're not all the same.

I wouldn’t like to be on camera but equally, if people are being honest (and I am), it would be because I don’t want people checking where I actually am or what I’m actually doing/am I dressed. Like maybe if you’re working from
Home you’re lounging on your sofa or in a cafe. Or maybe you’re meeting friends for coffee and only on your phone email.

I don’t know a single person IRL who doesn’t massively take the piss WFH. If I were a boss, knowing this, I would probably want to see what everyone was actually doing 😂🙈 I think you’re being paid to work so can’t really refuse...but no I wouldn’t like it (i would feel it looked suspicious to say so though...)

Myself and 80% of my team wfh full time. We are not required to use our cameras.

I think you’re being paid to work so can’t really refuse

Of course you can. Unless it's in your contract and part of your job role to be available for video calls throughout the day, a boss can't force it on you.

This thread especially is about people WFH due to coronavirus, so they may not have a home office type set-up in place, nor will it be part of their contract. It's not the same as WFH on a regular/permanent basis.

Ours video callsystem has an option to blurr the background which i use at home. otherwise, its a face to facd meeting line any other

To be clear, we are only talking about camers on for meetings right? If so, it's a no brainer that cameras should be on, it's the equivalent of attending a meeting in the office.

For some people it will mean making yourself look somewhat presentable, others are comfortable with no makeup etc. Listen, after all it's work, and it's not asking too much that staff engage and interact with the tools they have been provided.

Cant help but think if you want a day to slouch about then take a day of annual leave...and I say that as someone who would much rather not have the camera on myself

I WFH full time and have many calls. We'll often turn the camera on just to give a wave and then turn them off to save bandwidth.

My only camera is on my Macbook, which I plug into a large monitor so when I've got the camera on you get a god awful chin-nose profile as I'm looking at the monitor not the laptop. If I do need to see people (for smaller meetings it can feel more productive) then I'll just use the Mac, but it's not so comfortable.

If it was a requirement for my work then of course I would turn it on.

I don’t know a single person IRL who doesn’t massively take the piss WFH.

You probably don't know us IRL because we're in our homes working.
(I work part time, so it's ok for me to still be on MN at the moment, btw. )

There's probably a difference (broadly) between people who WFH routinely and those who do it occasionally. I wouldn't have been allowed to wfh in the first place unless my company had valued me and it was the only way to retain me when DHs job moved. I wouldn't have survived the various cycles of layoffs through the last 30 years if I'd not been doing my job effectively, including being able to communicate effectively in the pre-video era.

I can sort of see why in the current situation some managers may feel the need to literally keep an eye on staff who aren't used to wfh.

And? Why can't you work in your pyjamas, or gym gear, or leggings and a T-shirt if that's what you want to do? How does it have any impact on how well you can do your job?

I never worked from home as my job did not really lend itself, but if I had, I think I would have to get dressed as though going to work and put a bit of makeup on to get myself into the work groove. I wouldn’t get much done otherwise. But that’s just me!

For some people it will mean making yourself look somewhat presentable, others are comfortable with no makeup etc. Listen, after all it's work, and it's not asking too much that staff engage and interact with the tools they have been provided.

But this is a thread about people who are being made to WFH due to coronavirus, not those who do it as part of their normal job.

So they may not have a dedicated workspace, or all the same equipment as those who WFH as standard. I don't have a dedicated workspace - I'd have to sit on my sofa to work as my dining table is simply too uncomfortable to sit at for 8+ hours a day and I don't have a desk or proper office chair at home, for example.

If I was forced by my employer to work from home I’d hate to be required to have the camera on. My home is private.

If it was enforced I’m afraid my camera would be “broken”. Entirely believable as tech often doesn’t work well around me. I have plenty of form for killing laptops. My record is 3 in 2 months

I do video calls all the time - all of my clients are remote. I MUCH prefer being able to see people's faces - I can tell if my client is getting tired, distracted, if a silence is an enthusiastic "hanging on to my every word" silence or an "OMG she's still talking" silence. I also do group calls once a week, and I think seeing each other helps keep us all focussed on the work at hand!

I would not like NOT to be able to see the face of the person I'm meeting with.

Yes camera for calls only. It's not about big brother checking you are ever present.
We use them to chat too. It's nice. We see each others pets and wave to each others children and spouses. We can spot if someone is looking miserable and check all is well.
We have facility for 'aside' conversations too.
Our contract has a clause about any other reasonable request. I can't imagine any tribunal suggesting a video during professional meetings was unreasonable.

I don’t know a single person IRL who doesn’t massively take the piss WFH. If I were a boss, knowing this, I would probably want to see what everyone was actually doing

If I’m working I’m logged in to the office servers. That’s easily monitored so they don’t need to see where I am physically.

I don’t know a single person IRL who doesn’t massively take the piss WFH.

What a shame you only know people with a very poor work ethic then.
The company I work for has a work force of which about 70% work remotely (we have staff all over the world). We are a very successful company, with great staff and a brilliant manager.

I don’t know a single person IRL who doesn’t massively take the piss WFH. If I were a boss, knowing this, I would probably want to see what everyone was actually doing

You don't hear about the people who aren't taking the piss because they're busy working and not drawing any attention to themselves!

I don’t know a single person IRL who doesn’t massively take the piss WFH.

I assume you work in an environment where people equate presence with work.

I've been WFH for 10+ years self employed - if I don't do the work, I don't get paid, but I can dress how the fuck I like and work at 2am if it suits me.

I plug my laptop into a screen to make my home workstation more ergonomic so I can't do this anyway.

I also regularly do conference calls with overseas colleagues who have very poor internet connection so we don't usually use video for them as it keeps dropping.