Disastrous Teams meeting - is it as bad as I think?

[BoringSilentHill]

Name changed as work related.

important teams meeting. I’m sat on couch, suddenly my dog jumps up and rams her nose into my eye, my mic is off . I try to push dog away and she thinks I’m playing so starts wrestling with me. Big dog. I notice the talking has stopped and colleagues are half way between amused and horrified.

I manage to sort this one out and everything is back on track until DH suddenly starts belting out Rule Britannia - this time my mic is on and in his defence, he didn’t know I was on teams. It was because we watched the choir.

this is a new job / one week in. How bad is it really or am I overthinking it?

It wouldn’t leave a good impression no. Working on the sofa isn’t great and is a bit sloppy, dog and husband in the room is a no no for me.
if I’m in a meeting so home I usually warn everyone in the house that I’m not to be disturbed

Yep it’s really bad. Definetly didn’t do yourself any favours.
You can’t wfh based on the sofa - not with pets and/or other people in the house. You need a proper work space.

At my firm and at a week into a job, doing this in front of clients would be a sackable offence. The appearance of professionalism is extremely important and it would make us look utterly ridiculous, to the point that we could lose business over it.

On an internal call as a one-off it could probably be laughed off. But it does suggest that you don't take your job seriously. At the most basic level, if you're working remotely you need to ensure you're working in a quiet, private room with a professional background. That's a 101 of remote work.

The fact you're "sat on the sofa", the fact you haven't shut your dog out and the fact that you haven't informed your DH you're on a work call would make me think you don't take it seriously. I get the impression your DH thinks its all a bit of cheeky banter, which makes me wonder if he takes your job seriously, too.

It's not so much the fact that its happened, its the fact that your behaviour all points to someone who doesn't think professionalism is important.

Very unprofessional. What were you thinking? You need to be in a quiet space without interruptions for wfh. If this is how seriously you take an important meeting, it doesn’t reflect well on how you approach your work when the cameras are off.

I'd probably try to pass 'Rule Britannia' off as 'some noise from outside' if questioned.

I would definitely send an apology email.

If you had been there months/years and they knew you were a hard worker/professional then it would be different.

But you did act massively unprofessionally and I’m quite surprised that you thought this behaviour was ok.

You’d been there 1 week and didn’t think to tell your DH you had a teams meeting or put the dog in another room and you were sat on the sofa.

I question your professionalism and I’m not even in your team.
You need to just prove yourself now.

Send an apologetic email to all attendees. Explain that your dog thought it was playtime and your DH forgot about your Teams Meeting and emphasise that it won’t happen again.
Then allocate a quiet room where you can have these meetings, undisturbed and uninterrupted by the playful pooch and Pavarotti.

This.

I'm normally pretty laid back and was expecting to find this amusing, but the combination of being sat on the couch and not being in a private place wouldn't go down well at work. It's really stressed to us that no one should be able to hear. I work upstairs and if I have a meeting I warn DH not to come bumbling in with a cuppa.

Are you sure they heard your husband? My teams background noise cancelling is pretty amazing (sometimes too good) but maybe it was obvious and they were laughing?

😆 Sorry but it's hilarious. Unprofessional, yes, but it made me laugh.
My pet hate is people coming onto Teams eating their lunch. Some high flying manager ooh look I'm so busy and it's 2pm and I haven't had time to eat. So bloody rude.
They won't sack you for it but be more organised in future.

I think if a one off that’s fine, I’d be more concerned that you took an important Teams call on the couch rather than having a designated work area. I see dogs, cats and kids on work calls all the time so wouldn’t bother me.

Absolutely pathetic.

Frankly there's so much bad in the world, that would have just made my day! People have lives and are not machines! Does your DH at least have a good voice? In my mind, I can hear a bass (which is really what the song calls for!) 😂

Think it very much depends on the workplace culture. Personally, wouldn’t bat an eyelid over the dog- would find it funny.

However, working on couch and in shared space with husband I would have an issue with. For working you should be sat at a desk, and would expect some privacy. Otherwise I would be thinking you are not really fully concentrating on task at hand….esp as you are only one week in and have not yet built up your equity

I’m shocked at people being outraged by the sofa. I always wfh on the sofa. In fact, I work in the office and hold meetings at a sofa!

I mean, it's unprofessional. Still made me laugh because my entire TL is full of ICE slaughter.

I would take a dim view of this especially in week 1. Sit on a proper chair to start with. I have a team of 40 odd, two thirds are remote.

I would of laughed at the dog, my cats have been in teams meetings loads.

I wouldn't be sat on the sofa working in the living room though. We are supposed to have dedicated work spaces if we are working from home. Also things like a monitor and a proper chair or we have to go in the office. Also work calls are supposed to be confidential.

Thats a proper work space in the office though? Your sofa in your living room with not designated work space is a bit odd.

Well everyone knows who you are now. If it's recorded could go viral😄.

When I applied for my hybrid working position (3 days WFH and 2 days office) my employer stressed that my WFH days must replicate office days as closely as possibly. Prior to my job offer being formalised I had to show my WFH set up and clear rules were given to ensure that everyone knew what was expected. Were you not given clear guidelines of what was expected when you WFH? If that happened in my first week I would have been told to be in the office every day!

I guess some people will hold first impressions, hopefully not too many.

I would make sure whenever your are on a call perhaps tell everyone at home before you join and close door so they don’t disturb. You don’t have want to the crazy teams person at work.

Hopefully everyone will forget soon!!

Different work environments and different sectors have very different cultures. In some jobs this would be absolutely routine and normal. In a professional services role it would be highly frowned upon unless you were extremely senior.

But part of the job is learning how to behave appropriately for the environment. If OP was in a senior role and after five years the sofa wouldn't be a big deal but when you're starting out you need to err on the professional side. Someone who, a week into a new job, can't be bothered to find a quiet environment, get off the sofa or remove her dog from the room, looks very much like they can't be arsed or think it's all a bit of a laugh. It wouldn't inspire confidence in me.

When wfh I would never see clients whilst I was sat on my sofa.
It just looks unprofessional like you’re just sat in your front room whilst discussing their confidential matters.

I would treat the teams meetings with my colleagues with the same importance - especially in my first week.

Having a sofa in your office is different as that says you want the clients/your team to feel comfortable.
My boss has comfy chairs for this reason too.
It’s still professional.

I agree.

When I wfh I set up a space like I would in an office.

I told everyone when I was going on meetings and made sure pets and other people didn’t disturb me, phone was on silent, I had a notepad and pen etc.

This is why wfh isn’t for everyone as you still have to act in a professional manner, in some ways even more so.