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?

It's ridiculous to force the use of cameras. Open offices have not been productive for workers for many years due to the sheer impracticality of getting anything done or maintaining a relaxed privacy (and many children prefer papers to work with or a pre recorded lessons, NOT being on a group video). The visual pressure of social interaction alertness keeps people on edge - bad management can make this work for them. Effective managers do not require it. Everyone knows the home has it's own stresses. To turn it into a real life show office is mad.

I'm a data protection lawyers. This has been addressed by the french data protection authority and it was deemed that it was
Not inline with french data protection law to ask people to have cameras on during meetings as it was not necessary given there is a microphone to hear people and you to see people also is excessive. Essentially you don't need to see people for the purpose of the call. This is obviously french law, not binding in the uk but I wouldn't be surprised if carries some weight. A sensible response IMO.

@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!

How on earth do you manage when you're in the office then?

As someone who frequently hosts meetings I find it rude when people have cameras off and are muted. They’re always the same people that claim “you just cut out there, could you repeat the question”

@CherryRoulade everyone says they are ok if the manager asks because they are not going to say otherwise in front of the entire team. I know colleagues who struggle but who always say yes, I'm fine.

This whole situation is so hard on everyone sometimes and I think not giving the occasional option to then the video off on those days is unreasonable. I really do.

I also insist on it. As a manager I can now rarely see my staff in person, and it is hard enough to pick up the non-verbal signals that tell me that they aren't coping, are upset, or whatever. Having the camera on isn't a replacement for real contact, but it's the next best thing. And if you are saying that the reason you might not want them on is poor mental health or stress, that is exactly WHY I want them on! I want to know because I can't do my job as a manager and support people if I don't know how they are. And my staff know this is why, and they also know that I won't let anything get past me if I can help it. They work hard, I value them, and I need to support them. But if they start turning cameras off they will be in conversations with me, and quite possibly with occupational health. We do not leave staff to struggle on regardless. The quid pro quo is that they don't expect us to ignore their circumstances.

I briefly turned my camera off in a meeting today. Only because i had something in my eye, and I wanted to put drops in it, without subjecting everyone else to the view up my nose!

Unfortunately it coincided with me being asked a question, I flicked it back on to show I was still there, then explained I had something in my eye.

I have a colleague who often turns her camera off or it freezes, the joy of three kids studying on zoom!

I think if your mental health is really struggling on a particular day it would be better to dip out of the meeting than to sit there with your camera off.

There are a handful of people where I work who refuse to turn their camera on and I just find it so odd, it makes everyone else uncomfortable talking to a blank screen. It’s like going into work and sitting at your desk with a bag on your head.

@titchy on the days when I was in work there were times I wanted to scream out loud but had to stay silent. I had to take 3 days off work last year due to endometriosis.

Since wfh I have been able to work through even the worst days by being on the couch with a steady supply of hot water bottles. That has been a plus.

I request that all cameras are on when I'm paying people their wages to work. I'm not paying them to sit in their PJ's . I expect my teams to be as presentable working from home as they would be in the office. I haven't had anyone ask to go off camera yet .

But other than a morning meeting you CAN be unseen - if you were in an office you'd be seen all the time.

It is soooo difficult to have meetings, sessions , calls etc when people have their video off. It really is. You don't know if people are engaging, listening, doing their Tesco shop, even if they're physically there. It's unprofessional. Just switch the thing on. Blur your background if you don't want colleagues seeing your home.

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!

Shouldn't you then be on sick leave? If you are that bad, how are you working? And as a manager that is exactly what I would want to know - people who are ill and can't work shouldn't be working.

@cupofteaplease1 I’m surprised as a data protection lawyer you’re suggesting that advice from a foreign supervisory authority might carry some weight in the U.K. quite obviously it doesn’t.

French data protection law is more conservative than most of Europe and CNIL particularly conservative in their advice, which is strongly weighted in consideration of French employment law.

Lizzie523 It’s precisely because people tend to say they are fine that I want cameras on when I speak to them. You can pick up someone whose disengaged, whose struggling or on edge if you see them. Then you can have a private call and address the issue. It’s a professional setting and I do expect eye contact and engagement when we speak.

That said, I don’t do daily calls; I do think over management and excessive check-ins build stresses.

I am a TU rep.. but even I can't see the issue. If you are well enough to work then you are well enough to be visible. If - as you say , you can work, the you would be in the office AND VISIBLE !

My concern is that a lot of people who should be on sick leave due to MH issues should NOT e working. .. if 'in work' we're required you WOULD be visible 'n

But it isnt comparable to being in the office. We are living through a global pandemic. Before this I wasnt an insomniac or crying myself to sleep some nights. We ARE under different pressures, some more than others.

I think it shows a lack of empathy not to consider this.

If I was running a meeting, I would want people to have their cameras on.

If you’re on the couch contorted in pain, I’d expect you to call in sick.

We had the same request yesterday to turn the camera on for each daily meeting. The manager says it’s to see who is struggling. Well I’m struggling with it on it gives me massive amounts of anxiety. Before that I was fine.

I agree with you OP

I also think what is happening with teachers is unfair, in case anyone is curious.

I am 45 so worked at home in the days of conference calls with no video. Obviously the job has to be suitable but I am now off camera as much as humanly possible. Freelance, so far no one has objected.

I can't see why faces need to be visible for a check in meeting. They are so pointless, it's more productive if you can do some other work at the same time!

I manage a team and it’s not part of the company culture to have cameras on, I wish it was in some ways but from a selfish perspective I’m happy with them off!
I would never force people. I tried to lead by example last year & asked people to consider it for MH reasons but they didn’t & tbh they are adults so I’m not going to make something ‘mandatory’ which isn’t a massive issue.
I prefer not to look at myself too!

[quote Lizzie523]@GreyWall we are not children, we are adults.

I have a relative and a close friend who both work for large companies and neither make this a requirement.[/quote]
Teachers are also on live lessons with adults in the room?! With primary age children teacher are on live zoom calls every day (school dependant) where a parent must be present due to safeguarding. I would love a day or two or not putting my camera on but I can't. I don't like it but it's also my job...

It's possible they've noticed a dip in the quality of work in general OP. This is a way of pulling up people's performance.

@CherryRoulade well that is commendable of you. The thing is that my manager says every morning 'how are you all' but we would never be approached 1 to 1. I've never been asked how I am personally.

The calls are every day, lack purpose and I think people resent them now.

I actually agree with you and I manage a small team. Personally, I feel very vulnerable and exposed with my camera on and end up looking at myself rather than focusing on the discussion- it’s quite distracting. I also feel like I have invited the whole office into my home for a meeting. My 3 year old very occasionally makes an appearance and although the team are lovely and understanding about it I want to protect her privacy. I don’t insist on my team Showing their faces either I trust that there in front on their computer working and I don’t need to see them to know this. I think some companies use this as a power tool to watch employees which is not necessary.!