Work from home: turn on your videocam often?

[shootingstar]

I only do it maybe 25% of time or less for all meetings that I have with other employees.  This is when I do it:

• with my manager in 1:1 meetings since she turns hers on too
• sometimes with another team member for short meetings
• if everyone else in meeting turns on their video
• quick for lst 5 min. when I begin teaching a group of employees online for next 1 hr. or so.

I seem to average about 5-9 meetings / wk. Different time lengths.

Part of my job is employee training and support issues which means sharing my desktop applications to teach/demonstrate/present. So I can't show me.

[ChrisL]

I’m work from office but since everyone else is WFH we have video conferences.  I turn mine on when I speak but otherwise have it off.

[12string]

We were directed to always have our video on in meetings.  Faces need to be seen.  I agree with the idea

[JerrySTL ★]

Zoom meetings only.

[Razors Edge ★]

I keep my laptop (with camera) closed and under my monitor using external keyboard and mouse.  Usually, someone is screen sharing so video is less important.

[Prophet Zacharia]

I’m 90% video, 10% camera off when I work from home. I actually prefer working from the office.

[shootingstar]

3 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

I keep my laptop (with camera) closed and under my monitor using external keyboard and mouse.  Usually, someone is screen sharing so video is less important.

My desktop/screen at office doesn't even have a camera.  

Much of our work does involve screen sharing on software, concepts etc. to solve certain problems/know of certain features.  It's faster sometimes to illustrate something quickly...a picture is worth a thousand words. Unfortunately we're limited on useful/flexible virtual whiteboarding tools.  (I hate SmartArt in word and some of the other virtual business process modelling software is just too expensive in terms of our licensing costs.)

[shootingstar]

4 hours ago, 12string said:

We were directed to always have our video on in meetings.  Faces need to be seen.  I agree with the idea

As an instructor online yes to see course participants..but impossible to know how several different learners simultaneously, are interacting with their software. 

[Dottleshead ★]

I turn it on for every meeting. Unless I gotta hit the head -- and then I hope to remember to turn it off - but mainly the audio.

[Ralphie ★]

Hell no!  Thankfully I don’t even have one. I used the phone on the forum zoom and one work hoppy hour zoom.  

[Kirby]

I'd say about 25-50% of the time.  I use it for department meetings and small group meetings of people I know well. Larger conference calls, I turn it off.

[Ralphie ★]

It is very distracting when people have them on. 

[shootingstar]

1 hour ago, Philander Seabury said:

It is very distracting when people have them on. 

For 1:1 meetings if both parties are ok, for me it's fine.

I agree for more than 3 people, I find it abit distracting especially if it's a thinking session on punching out a solution collectively. Sometimes it's just better 1 person, drafts a list of thoughts on screen for everyone and people can look at the screen of some words, to mull over without seeing other people's faces /movements.

It now makes me realize when I am using flip chart in a meeting rm. or jotting down on a projected screen collective thoughts of meeting attendees, I don't look closely at everyone's face in the rm. alot of the time.  I look in their direction vaguely from time to time.

[shootingstar]

1 hour ago, Philander Seabury said:

Hell no!  Thankfully I don’t even have one. I used the phone on the forum zoom and one work hoppy hour zoom.  

Because of some problems in my home set-up and our corporate network for me to remote into my office computer, I was using phone to join in with everyone else...during lst few wks. when covid lockdown started.  It was very limiting for me since I couldn't respond back with sharing my desktop.

thankfully resolved later. I still have a problem with audio when trying to remote in, corporate network for online learning internal videos mounted on our internal corporate platform for bunch of virtual educational training sessions....long story.  I just have to dedicate probably an hr. and follow IT's instructions, to get myself set-up. I keep putting it off because have been very reliant on corporate applications on our network, to get priority work done.  This is not just using MS Office software.  Like some folks here, my job is over 75% dependent on corporate specialized applications software, not just only MS Office.

[shootingstar]

LIke everyone else here, I'm learning which employees has a pet cat or dog resting away or walking across their desktop.

[MoseySusan]

I turn off my camera when I want to eat something. 

[Zephyr]

Always have it on...., we are a small group and regularly see each other in our underwear, so they are used to seeing me without my makeup on