Yep, working for a BigCo and the culture was just as a matter of course to turn cameras on and see each other. I am really curious where the opposite is coming from
During the pandemic, it was HR’s policy that people shouldn’t be pressured to turn on their webcam when working from home. Reason being that not everyone had an ideal working environment, and being forced to turn on your camera would only add to the stress.
That policy has kind of stuck around with our team, and now people rarely turn on their cameras during team meetings. I would prefer to see peoples’ faces, but it seems I'm in the minority, and I’ve given up on trying to advocate for it.
For what it's worth, the Zoom Linux client didn't have decent support for virtual backgrounds (i.e. without requiring a green screen) until the 5.7.6 release in August 2021.
I can also understand how Windows and Mac users might be hesitant to put their full trust in the technology, as it does occasionally glitch and blur out more or less than it should. Virtual Backgrounds also don't really help with poor lighting, or pandemic induced weight gain, etc.
So would say it's not that they didn't understand how virtual backgrounds work - just they were aware of their limitations and decided to err on the side of being lenient toward employees during a stressful period in a lot of peoples' lives.
Yeah same. I have found a strong correlation between people who always(not sometimes) have camera off and people who are average-to-poor at their jobs and end up getting let go. It’s a decent indicator of someone who is checked out or mediocre.
It’s such a low effort thing to do, and shows respect to your colleagues. If you can’t be bothered doing that… (obviously excluding folk who have legitimate reasons, but that’s a tiny %)