To think mandatory video calls is a ridiculous request?

[Lizzie523]

After nearly a year of working from home our manager has requested we all turn our cameras on for every daily team meeting (which is every day).

I can't say what my colleagues reasons are for turning theirs off some days, but I tend to do it on days my mental health isnt great or I've had a terribly sleepless night due to the stress of this whole situation. Probably once or twice a week. They are arguing we should appear like we were in the office - but in the office we got on with our work and were not having a daily meeting or sitting in front of all our co workers faces.

The meetings are usually pointless check ins where no one has a thing to say. It is always the same extroverts talking about personal stuff. The fact the videos on is now mandatory because they say so has annoyed me quite a bit. AIBU?

@dontdisturbmenow

Really? Just get on with it - you're at work Exactly that. What difference does it make to people seeing you in the office?

Or is it that people associate working from home with not making effort to wash their hair and bother with make up and do show think it gives them a right to demand not to be seen.

Working from home when otherwise in an office is only to ensure health safety, it's not a mean to lower standards because it makes life easier.

Why shouldn't it? Personally I'm just as good at my job if I'm doing it in a dressing gown.

So glad I have a job with a company that treats people like actual people rather than slave drones.

I have worked from home since 1994 for myself. I refuse just about all video calls as I have enough work without having to consent to them. If I am being paid for a presentation as I was the other week for a client then it's fine but I don't mind who has the camera or or who does not as long as I am paid.

However I don't think employers know how bad UK broadband is. In many cases it just not possible to pay for the extra use or it interferes with someone else in the house's use of broadband so lots of reasons people might be able to refuse or say yet if you pay for a separate broadband line to my house and arrange installation ever mind £10 an hour childcare costs when I am on the call.

@alienspiderbee

I wonder if there's an age split? If you've been taking part in telephone conferences for well over a decade are you less likely to suddenly think that video is essential?

This could well be the case. I have wfh for several years now so camera on/off makes little difference to me, personally - and I tend to do a mix depending on the audience and my goal for the meeting.

I honestly find it no better or worse to present to a sea of video faces than a sea of blank icons, probably because I am well used to it by now.

Those who recently started wfh may well struggle more, being used instead to seeing people each day, face to face.

@Lizzie523

I quite agree with you *@Ciaobaby92*. Why give people a hard time for a small thing when we are all working hard?

I also have endometriosis and I simply wont turn my camera on on bad days when I'm on the couch face contorted with pain!

Would you normally be at work those days or would you call in sick?

Thankfully you’re not in my team

On bad mental health days would you stay off work? If you'd still go in use whatever would get you into the office to get into the mode needed for working on camera.

Sometimes that won't matter to the company who will simply replace
them with someone better suited to the company; sometimes it will matter because it will be hard/impossible to find a suitable replacement, depending on the market for those skills

There isn’t very many people with specific skill sets that are vital for business. Most people are completely replaceable.

Also so many people are looking for work right now. I put a job advert on a recruitment site for part time receptionist job. I’ve had over 300 applicants. The vast majority are well over qualified.

I think it’s mind boggling that people in employment are causing a fuss over switching a camera on for a meeting.

I didn’t know you could change the background because I don’t use Zoom or Microsoft Teams. Never the less reading this thread has reminded me why I am self employed. I don’t miss being managed

People need to get over this mindset. WFH is not the same as working in the office. I've wfh when feeling a bit grotty to avoid spreading germs or from having to commute. It's not a binary decision. If a person can wfh more comfortably then they would in the office, what exactly is the problem?

I've declined to attend daily meetings before because I don't feel they're a valuable use of my time/or i have other priorities
And if your boss is fine with it then it's not an issue. Would you still say the same thing if they said it's mandatory that you attend?

A valid reason - if there are lots of people, it can cause the tech platforms (zoom, Teams etc) to glitch and lag, whereas if you have the cameras off it doesn't glitch
Absolutely but it's not a reason discussed here.

And if you think people are slacking, introduce performance metrics and manage the slackers
So more work for managers already overstretched, not I my to put in place but monitor it which might prove even more difficult with staff WFH just because some people are too precious to show their faces!

This whole privacy talk is so clearly a mask for not wanting to show that they can't be bothered to make themselves presentable or not wanting to concentrate on the conversation.

As for the black t-shirt, totally depends on the role, but that's not what this about here.

I dislike video calls and have had to take part in a few lately. It's stressful having to make sure the room is tidy enough and that someone isn't going to walk in, but I just get on with it. |It's not that big of a deal.

@Seasaltyhair for a company not to want to re-recruit doesn't take a skillset to be very specific or very vital. It just needs to be more hassle to exit the existing employee and recruit a new one than the perceived hassle of allowing them to work how they like.

Which way that decision is made will come down to the variations of the business, industry and people involved. I personally think 'leaving be' is the decision more often than not. But I also work in a specific field of IT where skillsets can be very unique, where recruitment is very costly and where it can be hard to attract good people to anything but the bleeding edge companies. So most people are left to decide their working practices and my view of the world may well be skewed to that industry's approach.

bloody hell some of you are in for a rude awakening when you have to return to the office.

Which is never, as I've worked from home since 2014 and have no intention of ever returning to an office again.

@TheSmallAssassin

Just because you are comfortable with your video on, it doesn't mean that other people are. Just because it helps you communicate doesn't mean that it doesn't make it worse for other people. Just because it makes you work better when you are professionally dressed doesn't mean that other people don't work better in their PJs. Just because you would be slacking off or not paying attention if cameras and mic were off, doesn't mean that other people would.

What matters is productivity and getting the job done, as managers we should motivating and supporting our staff in a way that works for them. "Suck it up, buttercup" is a pretty poor management technique.

I lucky in that my company is more understanding, because we are all more understanding of each other and willing to make adjustments and allowances - that is our culture
(there are a couple of thousand of us). We have been told by our CEO and board right from the start that staff welfare is our number one priority, core customers are second, everything else we know we might have to adjust. And guess what? People are trying their best precisely because of that culture. But they might be doing that from their bed, all made up and professionally dressed, or slobbing in their PJs with their camera off. It does not matter.

This thread has made me so angry!

This! I wonder if we work for the same company as that is the message from ours too.

We are constantly told let’s get through this and do whatever makes you feel comfortable. And funnily enough last year (where most people had cameras off) was one of our strongest performance wise for years. And we are not linked to any business that has benefitted from covid, just a company where everyone has got their heads down and worked.

And all these ‘you will be in for a shock when you go back to the office’ comments, well sorry to say I can’t wait to get back and very much looking forward to seeing everyone but I want to see them in person not on a screen

Would you normally be at work those days or would you call in sick?

This is a pointless comparison as sometimes you aren't well enough to do the commute but you are still well enough to work.

@Crowncan

What?! It’s no different from being seen in person! Ridiculous that you would need to turn your cameras off. I work in several teams in a large organisation and nobody ever has their cameras off. You lose so much interaction in a meeting if you can’t see facial expressions/gestures etc.

My late DP was working from the spare bedroom. He once sat through a whole zoom meeting with my underwear clearly visible, drying on the airer in the background.

I was not pleased!

It never bothers me, because I work in a small team of lovely people who aren't judgey, but I can see that it's a bit intrusive for everyone you work with to see the inside of your house.

NEFT, but it's awful to make people put cameras on so managers can " see who is struggling". If you are a decent manager you have enough 1-1 conversation with your reports, and enough of a relationship with them, that you can ascertain that from them directly, not from a while group of people literally watching their unhappy facial expressions! That's just sadistic.
As for teachers. It's totally different! Teachers,when they do live lessons are presenting, not just sitting there. I often have to present online. I'm prepared for that, I'm talking, I'm in charge of proceedings. I have absolutely no problem with being on camera for that. I never turn my camera on to sit in a large meeting where I am not speaking. Why would I? Just to sit looking self conscious and trying not to examine myself on the screen!? It's like sitting with a big mirror on your desk.

Video conferencing is much worse for the environment than audio only calls, something that people don't really consider. OP say you're going green :-)

YABU

Seeing colleagues’ faces is important, it’s the next best thing to in person.

Pathetic

people are genuinely struggling and they dont take our wellbeing seriously

I have little empathy with those outside of teaching and the NHS or policing after the huge amount of teacher bashing we've been subjected to. Makes me feel better to give it back #violin

We do half half. Some teams like to see faces, others don't and one country in the region has shite broadband. I always have to look presentable JIC and actually it helps my work mindset. So few on MN seem to be able to manage either a go with the flow or a professional mindset, i find it baffling.

#violin

#twat

Those who are criticising have clearly never spent 30+ hours a week on zoom, week after week, month after month

I love meeting people in person. I now hate video calling.

There is a huge difference.

Those who are criticising have clearly never spent 30+ hours a week on zoom, week after week, month after month

Yes I have.