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Ask HN: Camera off during most of the meetings?

30 points by tkiolp4 ↗ HN
For the ones who work remotely and interact via video calls: what’s your experience? I find that most often than not:

- camera off during daily standups. Most of the team (if not all) do not turn on the camera “just” for the standup. I kinda like it (because I wake up like 15 min before, so not my best face)

- for 1 on 1s, camera always on. Haven’t found anyone yet who does 1 on 1 with camera off

- for team meetings that deal with grooming, technical discussions, planning, retrospectives, etc.: usually off. Maybe 20% of the time, someone turns on the camera. But 100% of the time there’s always someone not turning it on

- for meetings with other teams: there’s always more people with camera on (around 90%)

- all hands meeting: majority with camera off

- socializing video calls: camera on (it’s a non mandatory session, so the ones who attend do so properly)

I have worked with people mainly from Europe, Middle East, and Africa. Zero experience with people from Asia and America.

45 comments

[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 117 ms ] thread
palata
I have been working remotely for a long time (before covid). I think you can link that to my degree of engagement in the meeting. If my camera is off, chances are that I'm doing something else in parallel (meaning that if I could politely refuse to participate, I would) :-). For 1 on 1s I always have my camera on, even when the other doesn't (happens to me). An exception would be if I take the call on my phone (e.g. in the train), in which case I explain it at the beginning of the call.

So if I organized a daily meeting and most cameras were off, I would actually question the very existence of the meeting. But standups are a popular cargo cult ceremony, so it seems difficult to question them when they don't seem to make sense :-).

Buttons840
I turn my camera on whenever possible. If nobody else wants to, that's fine, I'll monopolize the visual communication channel for my own interests then.

I will turn it off for large meetings, unless several other people have theirs on. And I'll turn it off if I have to go to the bathroom or something.

snthpy
Same. I think it's weird, almost dishonest or shifty to have the camera off. In a big meeting ok, but with two or three people?

Body language is part of communication and you can't just hide that. No wonder companies want to force people back to the office if they're going to hide themselves online. You can't hide yourself in a meeting room.

thunky
> I think it's weird, almost dishonest or shifty to have the camera off

It's the opposite for me. With the camera on, I could be zoomed in and focusing on a part of your face and you don't know it. That feels dishonest.

Camera off is like a phone call. Nothing dishonest or shifty about that.

treis
Who do you think is zooming in to focus on part of your face?
thunky
I don't. But the point is that with your camera on you have no way of knowing what any given person you're meeting with is looking at.

Someone could have you in full screen when you're not the one speaking and you have no way to know it. That'd be the equivalent of getting right up in your face and staring at you during an in person meeting while you're not speaking. You can't do that in real life but you can on video calls with nobody knowing, which seems dishonest to me.

tailspin2019
> Same. I think it's weird, almost dishonest or shifty to have the camera off.

With respect, I find this opinion to be more weird than someone having their camera off :)

gardenhedge
Such a bad take. Cameras off doesn't mean you're hiding yourself. That's pretty crazy. Do you think if someone voice calls your phone instead of video calling that they're hiding something? If someone messages you instead of video calling do you think they're up to no good? Your stance literally does not make sense.
palata
That's their feeling. Feelings don't have to make sense, you just have to accept that everyone is different :-).
gardenhedge
lol I turn off people's cameras if they're so oblivious to be the only person with it on
stevekemp
Exactly the same for me.

The camera stays on, unless the meeting has >10 people in it, at which point not all participants tend to be visible at once anyway.

Smaller meetings I leave the camera and mic on, larger meetings I mute unless I'm speaking, and turn off the video.

octokatt
Having worked across three very different companies over the pandemic (tech start-up, boring mid-range company, large conglomerate), and what you've described is about what I've seen.

In general, stand-ups and presentation meetings had camera off, team meetings and 1on1s were camera on.

At the tech start-up, more cameras were on, even during large team meetings and intradepartmental presentations. But people could and did go off camera, and managers were widely recommending to normalize people being off camera.

At boring mid-range company, managers were the most likely to insist on cameras being on, and were off-put if they weren't. I'm willing to chalk this up to discomfort with being remote, which was fairly rampant.

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dementis
I've worked remotely for Australian, UK and USA based companies(spanning about 15 years) and the camera on or off has been highly dependent on the individual teams and managers involved. That even includes 1 on 1s meetings; the first few generally have the camera on and then after that it seemed more based on if I took the initiative to turn my camera on first.

Even when it comes to job interviews, I've had a large number of them that didn't even set up a video conference call until the 2nd or 3rd round. Some jobs(particularly contract/consultant) only required phone interviews and my first video call was during a team introduction.

While not having to worry about turning a camera on is nice in some respects, I personally found that the companies that had the cameras on more often than not seemed to have a more pronounced company culture and more engagement between managers and employees. It doesn't however seem to affect the amount of work getting done or the inter-team cooperation but having the camera predominantly off does seem to require people that can handle social isolation better.

Humans are fundamentally social creatures so using a camera while working fully remote can really help some people on a psychological level not feel socially isolated from others.

https://publichealth.tulane.edu/blog/effects-of-social-isola...

andirk
I have it on if I am at my usual desk and all is set up, else not. I suggest people turn on your camera when at your desk.

My previous job was a joke so I took most calls from the golf course. Camera off.

Follow Q: Do you augment your background?

I don't. My home is beautiful!

tonyarkles
Lol my home office is a complete disaster at the moment and I’ve been using one of the default backgrounds for weeks while building new shelves and sorting stuff.
dementis
I keep the background of what the camera can see "sanitized" so to speak. I don't go for full on Hollywood "Programmers desk" but I make sure a prospective employer or client doesn't get any strange ideals about my personality or any of the "Taboos"(IE, politics(if your dealing with an American that includes firearms), religious views, relationship status, medical, etc) that you really shouldn't talk about at work much less bring up during a first meeting. I only do this because some people have a hard time separating work and personal life and project that problem onto others.
grepfru_it
I have been working remotely for over 10 years. It wasn’t until about 2018 when cameras became the norm. Now I can’t go back. You’re engaged with me/the team when I can see your face. If I can’t see your face then just call me, my phone provides QoS for the convo, my internet connection does n.€\£^#7!7...NO CARRIER
grumpitron
My company's culture is to have cameras on in all meetings other than company-wide events where you're not presenting (if you are presenting, you're expected to have it on).

Personally I prefer it as it helps me make more of a connection with the person/people I'm speaking with, and keeps me more engaged.

out-of-ideas
I dont agree that "culture" is defined to include having cameras on (or off for that matter). The general concept of "working" involves not staring at somebodys face (unless youre editing pictures?) - but coding; not needed. In a meeting where the idea is to present either data (sharing screen) I would also say very not needed. Somebody mentioned needed 1:1's - and I also disagree, it is a want. I've had plenty of 1:1's over the ol cell phone, same effect; video not needed. I typically base small daily meetings based on who is asking questions, and engaging in said issues. And even if engagement is forced (IE calling on somebody to get their attention) video is not needed, I do not need to see them. Somebody's face is not the topic of discussion - maybe for onlyfans but not currently where I am at.
bvanderveen
Camera off, 100% of the time, just like the conference calls of olde. I need to pace around to think.

Also, I can’t concentrate on anything anyone says if I can see my own beautiful reflection.

browningstreet
Camera off 99% of the time. Even when everyone else turns theirs on.
kesava
Me too. In fact, I have noticed I am far more attentive, when I turn off the camera and don't look at other people’s camera feeds.
2rsf
I actually have a collegouge that paces and insists on keeping the camera on
gardenhedge
Luckily teams lets you disable incoming video
octobus2021
I have camera on for most of the small-team (10 or less) meetings, esp. with the clients. Typically off for larger meetings. I notice that once people see I have the camera on they tend to turn theirs on as well. It helps tremendously.
kypro
As someone with social anxiety while I don't mind enabling my camera for 1-on-1 meetings I have noticed I'll often shy away from talking when my camera is on in a large meeting. I really hate that people are probably looking at me and thinking, "what a freak lol".

I generally try to do whatever everyone is doing though... But might be worth noting some people in your team might prefer to have their cameras off for a reason.

dutchCourage
My experience matches yours exactly. Team meetings tend to have a visual support, either someone screensharing or some Miro board/FigJam. So the cam is off.

Camera is on during 1 on 1s or when working with new people. I find it important to put faces on names.

TranquilMarmot
My experience mostly matches yours. I keep my camera on in standup, 1-on-1s, sometimes during planning/grooming/etc but usually off.

The only one that gets me is the standup- we all work remotely, so the standup is the only time that I interact with some members of the team. It kills me that I literally do not EVER see some of their faces. It's hard to think of them as a coworker/friend if the only interactions we have are minimal text messages and some voice chat.

Anecdotally, when I started at this new company, one of the coworkers on my team always had his camera on. At some point over the last year, he started keeping it off all of the time (I think he had to start taking care of kids more often, so they were sometimes in the room with him). I really feel a lot less connected to him than I did when I saw his face every day and our interactions have become a lot curter (but maybe that's also because of the kids haha)

Like somebody else said in the comments, if nobody else has their camera on, I'll still keep mine on more often than not. I feel like if people see your face more, they'll think of you more often when they need to ask for help (or when they're giving out promotions...) and I love helping people out.

out-of-ideas
Camera off 100% as well; there's no reason to enforce seeing somebody's face; I often do not consent to giving MS Teams or Zoom my facial details in any form.

I find next to no benefit in it especially when talking abstractly about something as easy as a simple "i edited code" during SU; other than the bully-tactics of a company/boss to flex muscle and see who is obedient to their standards.

Also find looking at a wall of video's is highly distracting, and eats up the bandwidth - not really a fan of a voice-call when the audio drops out and gotta ask "what" 200 times.

Adding to the distraction is any screen-share (often with the tickets) adding in extra flashy videos of people is simply not needed.

palata
> I often do not consent to giving MS Teams or Zoom my facial details in any form.

That's actually a very good point: I never thought about the fact that I was sharing my video with those companies.

busterarm
I have turned my camera on only once in a year and a half...Plus a few trips to the office.

Working voice-only has been fantastic.

I can enjoy my life as a nudist and nobody has to know.

kobaroko
Daily - on. 1:1 - on Team - on Other teams - on All hands - off Socializing - on
ranguna
I turn it on when I'm 100% paying attention to the meeting and when the other person turns it on on 1:1, off otherwise. I tend to touch my nose a lot without thinking, so that'd be pretty embarrassing.
IceDane
I don't turn my camera on at all and no one has ever complained about it. I don't support this notion that just because we are working remotely, people are entitled to get a close-up view of my face. It just feels uncomfortable to be on display like that constantly and I prefer not to be.
jstx1
Always on for the meetings in which I actually need to talk to people. Everyone else at the company has video on too. I could occasionally turn it off for big meeting with 30+ people in which I'm just listening.
peruvian
I only turn my camera on when we have a new team member to welcome or a very important meeting (perf reviews). Otherwise, I am faceless. Hasn't affected my career at all.
anta40
Asian here. All of my work meetings are done with camera off... except onboarding ones. So does with social/church meetings. I may turn the camera on for a few minutes, then turn it off.
muzani
Asian here. Camera off most of the time. 1-on-1s we usually have it on, as well as presentations and dark (non-negotiable) news.

We've been mostly remote so I think at this point, it's normal to not see each other. Some might be ugly, obese, or cats, and at this point it's discrimination to force it on.

Hoover889
I never turn my camera on... I don't want the other attendees knowing that I am not paying attention.
potta_coffee
About 2% of my meetings are not bullshit. Camera off for all bullshit meetings that don't communicate any useful information regardless of camera status.
giantg2
For me: 1-on-1 - on. All others - off.
schwartzworld
Camera off almost all the time. One on ones, stand-ups, all hands. I don't need to see you and you don't need to see me. I've yet to hear a compelling argument for cameras on, especially if there's an active screen share.

Only exception is if I'm giving some sort of formal presentation.