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?

No-one is staring at your face during Zoom meetings, unless you’re leading the discussion or you’re a teacher (no apols).

Worth noting that 9 times out of 10 everyone on a zoom call is worrying about how THEY look on screen and couldn't care a fig about anyone else. I barely even glance at my colleagues, I'm usually lamenting that I've got the angle wrong again and have 3 extra chins in shot

I think the real problem is a directionless "check in" meeting every day. It's different if there is a daily agenda which you follow and cover as fast as you can, but chit chat every day would be draining. Why don't you propose a team meeting agenda and screen share it so people can look at something business related rather than other people's faces? I have the camera on for a few seconds and then generally say "I'll show you X/y/z" and screen share, turning the camera off. This would also highlight how little actual work is done in these meetings.

@FFSAllTheGoodOnesArereadyTaken I love that idea! Ours are just stale with nothing to talk about.

They tried enforcing a morning quiz for a while and that didnt last either. The fact they are every day and quite long periods of talking about nothing is problematic. Plus there is a fear culture where we dont the management cares about us or our input. It is very much 'we want this so do it.'

@DuzzyFuck the manager does occasionally comment on what is going on in a background or on a person's hair etc. They look for cues for things to talk about based on what they can see.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable. People engage much less when their cameras are off, and if people are working they should be able to pull together a reasonably professional appearance for a meeting.

Reading these replies is genuinely shocking. Maybe these managers should try having one to one meetings with their staff rather than trying to second guess their mental well being via a webcam 🙄

Im amazed that people have all apparently got cameras that work! . Mine definitely plays up (generally all the time, must be the wi fi)

Once a week is plenty for a check in! No need for every day

Someone I work with has stopped using video. My main concern is that her husband might be hitting her. But almost impossible to check as he is in the home with her every time we speak.

If I’m running a meeting I couldn’t care less whether cameras are on or not, I’m only interested in what people have to say. What they’re wearing, etc has absolutely nothing to do with the me or what we’re discussing. As for the pp saying you’d be f2f in the office, not true in a global team where previously meetings would be often held over a conference call anyway. I’d prefer everyone to be comfortable at work.

@GreyWall

I wonder what your opinion on live lessons is for teachers

My children are in live lessons, no one has a camera on! The children are told to turn off and the teacher talk through PowerPoints that are on screen

I find it a bit rude when people won’t turn their cameras on. Not as a one off but I do note it when it’s a recurring thing. Tends to be the junior end of the team. I wouldn’t ‘enforce’ it though for internal meetings.

It's quite probable that younger, lower paid members of staff are more likely to have lower quality/speed internet that can't cope with video calls.

Other managers are so bizarre! I would never mandate people had their cameras on - we do most of the time, but it's something that has evolved and that works for us as a team.

When there are lots of people in the meeting, we're presenting or someone is sharing their screen, you don't see everyone anyway. There are days when the network is just too busy and some people's broadband just isn't up to it.

I rely on lots of clues - especially 1-2-1s rather than needing to have a gallery view with people performing for the camera. I don't really care what people are wearing either, or if they've brushed their hair or not as long as they are doing their job competently.

As for non verbal clues, one of the reasons that video calls are so exhausting is because the slight delay means timings are slightly off and the cues aren't quite right. Honestly, some of you need some empathy, imagination and recognition that one size does not fit all. Don't paint yourself as a caring manager if you can't even adjust for different people's personalities.

If you are worried that people won't engage unless they are properly dressed, or have their video on then you're running poor meetings!

Its a pain in the behind doing video calls all the time imo. it's an invasion of your home environment for a start. the work isn't renting your home so aren't entitled to see into it more than you want them to. For me, i have my laptop connected to my screen so to use the camera, i need to open up the laptop etc to access the camera.

For daily team call we do that by voice only and we do a weekly camera on catch up and I might do a video whatsapp/messenger call or something with my boss from time to time using my personal phone but that's my choice.

I have asd and I find video calls extremely overwhelming. I am not sure why, but I hate them and they've made my anxiety much worse. Maybe it's partly because I actually end up 'visible' more now than pre-pandemic. I've always worked from home for a couple days a week and used those days to decompress. Not from my work itself, but from people. Now I suddenly have people looking into my home, which is my personal space, on a daily basis. Even if it's only 30 minutes a day, it's got bad enough I've had to ask to be allowed audio only as a reasonable adjustment.

[quote Lizzie523]@FFSAllTheGoodOnesArereadyTaken I love that idea! Ours are just stale with nothing to talk about.

They tried enforcing a morning quiz for a while and that didnt last either. The fact they are every day and quite long periods of talking about nothing is problematic. Plus there is a fear culture where we dont the management cares about us or our input. It is very much 'we want this so do it.'[/quote]
While they are endlessly fannying about making you all join in with these utterly pointless meetings, how and when are you supposed to get any actual work done?!

@bluecheesefan precisely. I end up working late most days to catch up, as do most of my colleagues.

However I'm getting a grip of that this year and taking the attitude that if they want to waste our valuable time in pointless meetings why should I consistently make up for that in the evening?

@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 .

I physically recoiled when I read that. You are ridiculous.

I would be really unhappy if my husband’s workplace insisted on all calls being done over video. He can be on calls most days that last for hours, not always meetings, often to work together on something or figure out a problem with what they are making.

The problem is that our house is small with only the kitchen that has the space to have the proper set up for him to work. I work shifts (not from home) and I want to be to do normal things like make a coffee or grab some food before or after work without worrying whether there’s a camera on. Yes it might be his work but it’s my home first and foremost.

Luckily he works for a company that actually treats him as an adult and doesn’t need a camera to see that he is working, the quality of his work shows that. Also, the fact he doesn’t have to shut down and drive home means he will work far later than he would in the office, especially if I’m on a late or night shift. The fact that they aren’t hardline on things like having a camera on creates much more goodwill.

I don’t think cameras should be mandatory but blurring your background or adding a backdrop does get rid of everything in the background

Not RTFT but those saying well you don’t sit in the office with a bag over your head so it’s just the same it’s really not - you don’t sit with a mirror on your office desk looking at yourself during an office conversation

Anyway it’s perfectly reasonable to not have a camera on for various reasons. Your home is your private space that you may not want or have to share.

Some people are wfh in really bad home situations that they potentially don’t want their colleagues or managers knowing about - doesn’t stop them performing their job

They may be sitting on their bed because they live in a bed sit or flat share - there was a thread on here right at the start of lockdown with a manager saying it was completely unacceptable for people to work from their bed. Unfortunately that is the reality of many people, particularly young people, right now

From a practical perspective multiple people on camera (both in the one home and also on a call) can affect buffering speeds which can impact the flow of a conversation

Fortunately my employer knows what I look like so doesn’t need to see me and also knows that I can still do my job without a tiny square of me in my living room appearing on the side of the screen.

Finally if the only way you can tell that your team need support is by looking at them on camera then that’s pretty poor management

GreyWall this is not a teacher thread. Yes if you choose a career that requires instructing others you could reasonably expect to be on video if class room is unavailable. You are changing topics from the OP though.

My main issue with it is just practical. With the video on it takes up more bandwidth and with 2 kids on live lessons and DH wfh too we physically cannot all have the cameras on or it crashes.

I also think it doesn't affect someone's work whether they are in their PJs or a suit (unless it's client facing stuff) so I would resent feeling I had to fulfill some pointless aesthetic standard on camera. But then again I don't wear make up and dress for comfort in work anyway.

I probably wouldn't join the call from my bed but yeh I've chucked a hoody over my PJs before now. If I'm turning up on time and getting stuff done then why would my grooming standards have an impact? I mean DH would have a right to complain but not my boss.

Live and let live with my team, if some want to have their cameras off then it's completely up to them. No skin off my nose.

Work and life is hard enough without having this kind of pettiness, as long as the work gets done then no issues. Need to make any allowance that's possible with this pandemic and if someone is more comfortable with the camera off then that's completely up to them. Life's too short.

Most meetings are pointless and I try to encourage people to go for a walk outside and do it over the phone so they can get some air and time away from their desk when a meeting can be held in that way.