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?

@VodselForDinner

I manage a large team and would be really annoyed if anyone had their camera off as a matter of course. It’s really rude, IMO.

I don’t care if they’re in hoodies or pyjamas, but I do expect people to look at me while I’m speaking with them, and vice versa.

Also, as an endo sufferer, I’m at that being used as an excuse. If you’re too ill to work, you need to take time off sick.

Just out of interest why do you need someone to look at you when you speak? Do you not feel like you can get your message across otherwise? Also you talk about being ‘annoyed’ , but your personal feelings should be irrelevant when managing a team of people, your focus should probably by outwards and on how they feel. So if they don’t want to stare at you , why would you enforce it?

I don’t think it’s great for mental health if you’re staring at a screen full of people with their cameras off either. If it’s a catch up with your team then I think they should be on if possible. Large meetings are impersonal anyway so not too bothered then. It is a problem if you don’t have a good internet connection though.
I’m intrigued by the person who said they are encouraged not to mute their mic. Surely you get feedback, echoes, people slurping their tea in your ear!

@Girlyracer

You should have your camera on and be in work mode. Or you're not well enough to work. Which is it? Why don't you go in to work it might spark you up a bit.

Or your company is a bunch of tight arses who wouldn't cough up for a decent working environment. Or your kids are playing behind you because pandemic. Or you've had a rough night and simply don't want to be on camera. Or whatever.

Managers who insist on rigid rules like this are usually shit managers.

Must make calling Asda when your online shop is late a bit of a pain in the arse

You seem to be hard of reading, or else just being purposefully obtuse and making yourself sound rather silly.

Anyway, I’ll humour you-

Calling a supermarket about an issue is not my work environment. I don’t have meetings with supermarkets. I don’t pay them to meet with me on work issues.

When your shopping is late, do you arrange a video meeting with Asda?

@justanotherneighinparadise

I have some great advice. Little bit of sellotape over the camera. Makes for a very flattering filter.

I'm going to try this!

@Lizzie523. What has become apparent to me since the dawn of zoom/video calls is that some people just find the intensity of being on screen much harder than being present in person. I have no idea of the psychology behind it but it seems to be a genuine thing. I feel it myself. I hate it, even the social calls with close friends, and find it exhausting but am fine in person. I have no sensible explanation for it. But not everyone feels this way and I think the people who are fine with it often think it’s a ridiculous way to feel. I would love to understand it more. I don’t get it but it’s a very real thing.

I much prefer to see the person who is speaking, as I am hard-of-hearing so lip read.

I started lockdown one as a no
Camera person, i hated it. But then i took part in an enormous recruitment drive where you cannot video interview a candidate without a camera. Now i am so used to it i give it next to no thought. Blur my background/hide it depending on whats going on. Like wise headset or no headset depending on background noise. It also means i generally care fare less about my appearance too these days which also is mostly a good thing.

I think you can politely request cameras are on but not demand it. I find if someone starts others often join. But these days ill put mine on even if others dont as i like people to see my expressions when i am communicating.

I do enjoy the occasional cameras off and auto mute of an all hands or company meeting as its fantastic for getting your ironing done whilst listening 😂

@Lizzie523

I think a lot of workplaces are thinking about mental health more these days and how to create a more compassionate environment while getting the job done.

Some of the replies above clearly demonstrate this is not the case for many of you. There is no point in making comparisons about 'if you were in the office...' - I'm not in the office due to a global pandemic. The consequences of that pandemic to peoples lives must be taken into account

And the PP saying 'I have endo and dont see that as an excuse' - well that is your experience, not mine. I have clearly stated having the option to work from home has allowed me to keep working on those few days of the year when it is particularly bad.

People of my generation will be asking about what is in place to support employees and if people insist on staying rigid and doing things the old they will miss out on a lot of fresh talent and new ways of thinking...for the better.

Totally - I think this is one of the reasons why we have been told to reduce our use of video calls because people were finding that it adversely impacted their MH. Like a number of PP, I've run large global teams through conference calls alone in the past so not sure now why that isn't considered good enough.

@VodselForDinner

Must make calling Asda when your online shop is late a bit of a pain in the arse

You seem to be hard of reading, or else just being purposefully obtuse and making yourself sound rather silly.

Anyway, I’ll humour you-

Calling a supermarket about an issue is not my work environment. I don’t have meetings with supermarkets. I don’t pay them to meet with me on work issues.

When your shopping is late, do you arrange a video meeting with Asda?

You said it's rude to not look at someone if they are talking to you.

I was merely pointing out that a device enabling people talking to each other has existed for, oh, about 140 years now and people seem to manage to use it without being mortally offended by it.

What will you do when you return to work OP? Turn up with a bag over your head on your endo days?

Not minimising health problems but if you can cope with an office you can cope with a camera.

We insist on cameras on for team meetings because you have to get dressed and be concentrating if you go to the office, so it's the same professionalism required online. But we don't have team meetings every single day, that's a bit much. A few of my team do find it a bit draining and for one to one meetings some prefer a phone call.

From a wellbeing perspective, our company is promoting 'walk and talk' meetings, to try and get people to have a change of scene and some fresh air etc. I think that's much more beneficial than a manager trying to scrutinise your face in a group setting over video for signs of stress.

waitrosetrollydolly
And -
"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 ."
I think it's absolutely no body's business what I wear at home, for an internal team meeting. There are a lot of shit things about working from home for a long period of time but the two main ones are no commuting and no getting ready for the office. If you're taking away one of the main benefits of wfh when things are already personally shit for a lot of people then you're really going to disengage people

To be honest, loads of people at my office used to dial in to in person meetings pre-pandemic because they couldn't be bothered to leave their desks.

waitrosetrollydolly
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 .

Lord I bet your team hate you

our company is promoting 'walk and talk' meetings, to try and get people to have a change of scene and some fresh air etc.

I don't necessarily go outside, but I try to do our twice weekly catchup on the mobile so I can wander. Otherwise I'm spending too much time sitting in one place.

I don't have my camera on unless I'm "meeting" someone for the first time.
There is no need to see people's faces, we're sharing info on the screen most of the time anyway and keeping cameras switched off tends to improve the audio quality

To be honest, loads of people at my office used to dial in to in person meetings pre-pandemic because they couldn't be bothered to leave their desks.

Same here. Or everyone would briefly meet outside a meeting room to find it double booked and go back to their desks and do it over the phone instead.

We have to have our cameras on and while casual dress is fine, PJs / robes are not. They're paying us to do a job and at the moment video calls are part of that job. We call business partners in other offices / countries for meetings too and can't have our cameras off for them as it would be rude, so why would we for our own colleagues?

I thought the whole point of a video call was to see each other anyway, so you can read facial expressions etc. Otherwise you might as well just conference call?

I've been working from home for probably the same length of time. I dislike video calls but can absolutely see the importance.
Daily team meetings, we have our cameras on. Like I said, not a fan but that is MY issue and I don't think my team needs to pander to me.
I can see the importance in staying connected in this way. We don't have to have our camera on for larger organisational meetings and I don't.
Our team meetings are brief, often not a lot to report/say but it gives us a chance to 'connect' and that is important.

Our corporate VPN plays up if too many people on a call have their Video on.

And when I am working I don't tend to have people staring at my face or peeping over my shoulder at what I am doing. I wouldn't be happy if that was happening - and would be looking for another job.

I think a management culture that insists on staff meetings with cameras have to consider the impact that has on some people. The stress of having a video call in your home is debilitating and counterproductive if you are introverted and anxious. What is gained by pushing people into doing that and at what cost?

I don't really care, I find meetings equally effective with or without visuals. In fact today I had a Skype meeting and a Google meeting both times technical difficulties. First mine then a colleagues made me long for the beautiful simplicity of a conference call. I ended up on speaker phone while everyone else used Google meet but I didn't really feel I lost anything.

I don't find it helpful talking to a constantly glitching frozen face which is out of sync with their words. I have excellent broadband but currently there are 5 of us working/ schooling from home. The kids are interacting with their teachers, me and DH using phone, email, messaging services, etc. etc.

I have used Skype to speak to clients but as I am constantly note taking or checking info I am only glancing at them occasionally so again not much is gained. I would find subtitles helpful though as I have a hearing disability, trying to read lips is only marginally helpful and can be unhelpful if they are out of sync!

Why is everyone prattling on about teachers? Start your own fucking thread stop derailing this one and FYI neither of my sons have teachers on the screen they are a name on the screen as are the children and my youngest has prerecorded youtube videos to go through mostly filmed at the school or against a plain background

Op if your feeling too rough just have technical difficulties for the odd day as long as your productivity isn't affected it should be fine or maybe message your manager and say you are struggling with face to face interactions this pandemic is seriously bad for mental health

If you are really struggling and are having problems with your mental or physical health and you are finding it difficult to cope, you are hardly going to open up and discuss all of that with your manager on camera in front of everyone in a group meeting are you?

Just to add, I attended an external (quite lighthearted) training webinar a few months back and of 40 attendees about 3/4 had their cameras off.

I thought that was just plain rude to the presenter, for whom it must be really difficult to present to an array of black boxes and receive next to no visual feedback from the people she was presenting to (and we all had mics off so couldn't hear anything either) Everyone had warning, it was full a week or two in advance so nobody could claim to be caught unawares