To think British people could bother to turn on video during introductions?

[GinDaddyRedux]

So I've joined a new department. It's based in the UK, but we work across geographies - Asia, parts of west Africa, and Europe.

We had a core team introduction video call on Tuesday. Everyone at the moment is working from home due to COVID-19.

For information, I'm relatively senior, but the incumbent manager was hosting the call. It was specifically labelled on Teams as "Video introduction with XXXXYY team" etc.

We go on the call, 15 people, and those from Asia and Africa and Europe? All had their video on, all very friendly and positive.

The Brits? I couldn't actually believe it, but aside from the manager who was excellent, not one person had their camera on. Just a black screen with their initials.

Now this is not the first time I've experienced this. At a previous department, it was the same sort of culture. Some folk especially from IT or HR were happy to have the camera on, but anyone from the project teams? Oh no, not us...never ever on.

I think that's fine if you're sharing slides, or you know the people, but this is team building in the time of COVID. Surely it's not unreasonable to expect that when the only tool for connecting is video, then someone could be bothered to quickly say "hello" and smile at folk to make them welcome?

It was also notable how the people with black screens/letters, barely spoke. The critical in me was thinking whether they come on the call, mute their mic, then wander around doing other tasks. Yes video calls can be too numerous and lengthy, but it's such a poor way to make a first impression.

AIBU here? I remember seeing a topic on this last year on here and being roundly told to "keep my nosey (sic) beak out of my house", as if I want to see into someone's furniture and upholstery choices!! Nope couldn't care less about your house, I just actually want to interact with my team!

If it is bothering you (which it is) can you not ask the host to stipulate it on the meeting invite?
I’d prefer not to have my camera on but I would if it was requested in the invite.

I can imagine it’d be annoying if some people are on and some people are off. Either are fine - I’d rather “on” personally unless it’s just a quick straightforward discussion - but I’d have thought the main thing is everyone observing the same work/social behaviour.

I wouldn't want to be seen, I object to sharing photos on social media. I think it's OK to talk but fail to see any reason to be looking at anyone.

For those who don't want to be seen, what is the problem? I presume in an actual meeting room you don't cover yourself with a blanket, so how is it different.

I had a Teams call with one of our Asian offices last week and I didn't put the camera on and no one has complained. It was before the start of my working day so I was wearing my dressing gown and hadn't brushed my hair so I didn't think anyone needed to see me like that!

I also had a call with an external customer with no camera. Again no complaints.

In my Teams picture I look smart - I'm wearing make up, my hair is tidy and I'm wearing work clothes. Working from home I don't do any of those other than brush my hair.

I presume in an actual meeting room you don't cover yourself with a blanket, so how is it different.

I don't have face to face meetings with customers, only with colleagues. Customers don't need to know what I look like.

I think that's really rude, not to show your face on a video call.

Worked from home for years for an international company, no one ever really does video calls, just audio. I've never seen some of my team members apart from their profile pic.

The key points I take from the original post were:
It was about building a team.
How can you have a team that is involved if we cannot see each other?
How can you build confidence with the strangers in the overseas teams who cannot identify the Brits.
We are all going to wfh more, the background must be as part of the planning as your desk and file storage. We must become more committed and more professional.
Management and line managers MUST get to grips with building confidence in their employees. Give people training in the use of the kit you expect them to use.

Factor in TIME for training.

My broadband can’t cope with me speaking, being on video and presenting at the same time. It totally slows down and miss every other word - mainly because I have 2 kids home school in and DH also working using bandwidth - this is reality for lots of us that still have kids out of school trying to do lessons via video ....

YABU and being quite precious. I don't think it's an issue to not have video. DH cannot use video at all where he works due to security and he manages to run and participate in quite complex technical meetings. He's not travelling for work nearly as much either and doesn't really see the need to go back to face to face meetings nearly as frequently when things go back to normal.

I think the etiquette changes depending on the type of meeting to be honest. I would say general team meeting, not covering a project, cameras on but not connected to the server due to bandwidth problems. Therefore these need to be brief. External stakeholder meetings where you are all just giving verbal updates about your organisations/projects, then cameras on. If it’s external and you are going through presentations or documents, then cameras on as you do introductions, then cameras off. For an internal meeting going through a presentation or document then cameras off, even if you haven’t met them before. You should be concentrating on the document not looking at Wendy’s lockdown haircut. However, people can choose to turn their cameras off if they aren’t comfortable or if their bandwidth can’t cope. Regardless of whether your camera is on or off, you should be muted if you aren’t talking. It cuts down background noise and so you can actually hear the person whose laptop/microphone isn’t picking them up 100%.

This isn’t a Covid thing by the way, I’ve sat in a number of meetings in which people take their laptops and are clearly working on other things during a presentation. Or will actually start responding to emails on their phone.

I think if this was a case of ‘hi, I’m Wendy and I’m in charge of document control’, ‘hi, I’m Shaun and I take care of the database’, then yeh it would be nice to have video on. However, if this was a presentation highlighting the team structure, their KPI’s, current projects... then video is completely unnecessary.

Team building is bad enough, but team building over a video is pure hell.

We all have our videos on for internal meetings (university). I think it's pretty rude, also noticed that the couple of people who don't have theirs on don't interact, so it's more like a webinar for them! I think it's odd, I would only turn off if my internet was playing up, I'm getting super-fast fibre broadband next week to try to stop this happening. Students will need to see us at least some of the time, so all this coyness needs to stop.

As for not getting ready for a video call, presumably you had to look presentable for meetings before that? So it's hardly a big deal to brush your hair and get into a t-shirt before switching on the camera.

I am used to appearing on video though, as we do video lecture capture for all our classes, so I know how bad I look and I've got over it!

That should say 'I think it's pretty rude not to switch on your camera when everyone else has theirs on, unless you are having tech problems' which you could explain.

YABU.

I work from home, have a lot of video conference calls and whether my face is on screen or not has no relevance to my work or the meeting. If others on the call don’t like that then that’s their problem not mine.

If it was specifically an introduction meeting, then YANBU to expect people to turn their camera on to say hi at least. If you're on Teams or Zoom you can blur your background or set a backdrop, so no need to worry about noseyness into your personal space. Generally, I turn my camera on for meetings where I am an active participant. Sometimes others will notice, comment and turn on their cameras too. I keep it off for meetings where I am just listening in, to save bandwidth.

I find face-to-face interaction much easier for small meetings - I find "reading" voices hard, and difficult to recognise when different people are speaking. I much prefer to see someone's face to make sure I fully understand what is being said and meant. I'm also the kind of person that in "normal" times, would come and find you in the office to talk about something rather than ringing you up. On a video call I really don't care if you're still in your jammies or your children are wandering past, it's you I'm talking to.

YAVBU to say its an issue with Brits only.

I think a lot of people have an inflated sense of how much other people are arsed about whether they are slobbing about with unwashed hair, or what they have on the walls behind them. In reality no one really cares, and for those who wilt at the idea of anyone seeing their face through embarrassment, I'm confused what they think happens at work normally. We have someone who struggles with their hearing in our team, work bought them a modified phone etc to try and help, phone calls are really tricky, so we use video a lot. Someone else in the team refuses to just for the meetings where it is an issue, and feels that their reluctance because surely when working from home a perk is you don't have to bother looking smart (their words) is more important than someone else being able to fully partake in a meeting due to a health condition. She types in the messenger alongside speaking, but it's really irritating. Other than that I'm not bothered, for introductions it's reasonable, but people seem to get really almighty about all of the reasons they can't.

Beautiful3 Fri 03-Jul-20 15:16:11
I think that's really rude, not to show your face on a video call.
.....
Not rude at all, people are entitled to privacy in their own homes, it's different when you out at work.

[quote GinDaddyRedux]@BronwenFrideswide

"How do you team build with Europe, Asia and Africa outside of the time of COVID? Travel to the various countries? "

Yeah....we do travel. A lot.

"They may well be working from home but it is still their home, they may consider it intrusive to have a video call with people they don't know whilst they are in their home"

But the Asia/Europe crew don't consider it intrusive. They were at home too, they had every right to feel offended by intrusion, but they didn't. They switch their cameras on, they have done on every call since I've been with this department, and others have done in previous departments.

So why do the UK-based lot seem to have an issue with "intrusion" more than the other countries?

From the looks of this thread it seems to be a "don't you tell me what to do" approach, which my colleagues in other countries don't seem as hung up on as a concept.[/quote]
Well, you know the saying An Englishman's home is his castle. Which obviously doesn't account for the Scots, Welsh or Northern Irish. But I think there is something in that. We don't necessarily welcome all and sundry into our personal space. As an Englishwoman, and a Briton, I think I can say that. I haven't yet been called upon to video call my colleagues, but, not knowing them well, I would find it a bit intrusive.

What I want to ask about is your use of the word geography. To me, that means the study of the earth. Surely you mean geographical area? Or even continent would fit your purpose nicely.

As a fellow Brit, I agree with you OP.
It’s a superiority complex/culture thing.

In other countries, they don’t differentiate between being sat in an office building or sat wfh, you get on with the job as required which includes being available on video and audio, as necessary.

Brits who normally work outside of the home are too hung up on the ‘my home is my castle/sanctuary’ and really don’t like mixing the two.

I'm not British and I don't use my webcam. Does that mean I'm not being unreasonable because it's only British people who are unreasonable not to use their webcams?

Slightly off topic, but is there a way to not have to see yourself on zoom calls? My eyes always stray back to me when on a zoom call and I'd prefer not to have to keep criticising/judging my own appearance when I'm supposed to be paying attention to the speaker 😂

1. Why are you wasting people’s time with introductory videos?

1. Not having the camera on can be helpful if you have a crap internet connection.

Not everybody has the space to have a dedicated office in their home. If you have other people living with you, and the only place you can zoom in private is your bedroom, sitting on your bed, well, plenty of people would rather their colleagues didn't see into their bedroom. I don't think that's a precious "my home is my castle" thing.

And re backgrounds - my laptop won't support backgrounds.

I find telephone calls less tiring than zooms, anyway.