Covid has taught us a lot of lessons in the last few years. It has changed the way organizations operate, and employees engage with each other. It also improved digital adoption in multiple industries.
I have been thinking about the employee engagement aspect of business operations for some time now. Messages like – “I am on a call”, and “I am in a meeting” are common phrases. There are many articles on making these virtual meetings effective and improving the performance of employees.
One area that has always been at the center of these discussions is – “Should an employee switch on the camera in these virtual meetings”. Interesting and powerful arguments have been made on both sides. “Camera fatigue”, “efficiency”, “productivity”, “long-term growth” etc have been the topics of debate. But all of these debates are geared toward improving the company’s productivity.
Company efficiency is important, but I wanted to spend some time talking about the benefits you (as an employee) will get by get by switching on the camera in virtual meetings. This is important for both existing and new employees as virtual meetings are here to stay:
- Dressing up: Sitting in Pajayams all day was fun at the start of this pandemic. But the thought of wearing casual clothes/ Pajayams throughout your professional life is disturbing. Dressing up doesn’t mean wearing formal clothes all the time, it is essentially geared toward wearing clothes you would wear while you are in the office. Dressing up improves your confidence, lifts your mood, and brings a schedule to your life.
- Focus and visibility: Switching on the camera in the calls helps focus better. You will focus on the meeting content much more when the camera is switched on. “Being watched” is not a good feeling but at the same time you get the “visibility” you need in the organization.
- Clean surroundings and clear demarcation: If you know, you have to switch on the camera- you will maintain an office space at home and keep it clean. This helps in dividing your space/time in your personal and professional life. e.g. you will not take calls laying on the bed and rather reject those meetings (the way you would have done to any call after office hours while working in an office environment).
- Avoid distractions: Helps you avoid distractions while in meetings as you would have already taken care of “known” distractions.
- Builds trust:
- Will you be comfortable marrying a person you have not seen? It also applies to how your colleagues/managers build a relationship with you.
- When you switch on your camera, people are unconsciously making memories about you. They are establishing a connection with you. These connections build trust which can help you in many ways.
- It also helps you build trust with your manager which can lead to you getting good projects etc.
- Ability to keep working from home: With the “back to office” trend picking up – the biggest advantage of switching on the camera is that it will help you to stay at home and keep working from there. Managers trust you, you are dressed up, and you are always visible in meetings- what more can a company expect from you? If you want to work in a successful remote job and keep growing – switching on the camera is important.
- Promotions: Keep other things the same (i.e. potential, performance) – you can get promoted faster compared to your peers as you will have additional visibility in the company.
- Reduces gap: Virtual meetings can not replace the office environment. One end is communication through emails and the other end is working from the office. Switching on the camera moves you towards a more collaborative environment and reduces the gap between working from home and working from the office.
Certainly, there are benefits of switching off the camera as well but generally speaking the benefits of ‘being visible’ are more than ‘being hidden’ in a professional environment.
Switch on your camera !! Engage, Connect, and Build Trust !!
Disclaimer:https://vinaysachdeva.com/disclaimer/. The opinions expressed in the blog post are my own and do not reflect the view(s) of my employer.