Clap on, clap off. According to recent surveys, many companies have settled on a hybrid work arrangement where employees are in the office for a certain number of days each week. (Right now the magic number seems to be 3.) Because of that, remote meetings are still a thing. And so is video meeting stress. The politics around cameras on or off during meetings remain contentious. While some managers and powers-that-be insist that active cameras make meeting attendees more present, awake, and focused, research says otherwise.
Camera rationale. We should collectively agree at this point that video meetings aren’t true substitutes for in-person meetings, that cameras are mentally tiring, and that forcing people to have them on is likely doing harm. And they’ll resent it. If you feel that cameras are really necessary for a meeting, try persuasion instead of mandates. Explain why—and that it might only be for a part of the meeting, not the whole thing—so that attendees understand the logic. Then the decision becomes less about coercion and more about practicality. Create guidelines to reduce insecurity and guesswork and increase a feeling of independence. Note that resistance to being on camera might be a symptom of something bigger. In which case, employee dissatisfaction and disengagement should be your focus, not whether a camera is live.
More guidance: “What hybrid meetings reveal about workers’ state-of-mind.”
