Six Ways to Keep Camera Usage from Making A Toxic Remote Workplace

By Stephanie Diana Eubank

A topic that comes up a lot in my consulting and dissertation research is forcing employees to turn on their cameras. Because this is such a hot-button issue, when asked about my opinion, I always ask, “What is the company in question’s camera policy.”  Often there is no policy because having such a policy can create legal hardships for a company.  With across-the-board remote work being so new (even though remote work has been researched since the 1980s), many companies do not want to address the legality.  And for good reason. 

During COVID, many were forced into remote work with no training or correct work-from-home setup or support.  What I mean by this is that many of us who work from home have a setup around our kids going to school on-site, and any other people in the house are also off-site. So, during COVID, when health care and childcare were hard to come by in small spaces, many were dealing with chaos in their workspace that could not be addressed.  Then there are those like my family who moved when able to accommodate space needs. The healthcare and childcare sectors are still trying to recover, and we are still addressing more needs and support for people to have a work-life balance. 

Mental and physical health issues must also be factored in when discussing camera use in remote work.  One of my friends who died a year ago was balancing taking care of his father and fighting cancer simultaneously.  He was doing his best to hide his struggles so that while he fought for his health and cared for his father, he would not lose out on growth opportunities.  His career was a lot of what was keeping him going.  Often within leadership, we feel showing vulnerability is a weakness. As many in leadership still operate on this concept, it creates a toxic culture of hiding illness and life from management to protect one’s earning capabilities.  I have known several women who went through a divorce or domestic violence, and working remotely helped them continue to afford to provide for themselves and their families and escape the situation.  Having the camera on would have not only shown a vulnerability but could have endangered their lively hoods as well, and for many, cameras were used as tools to harm them.  So, cameras, for many, can be triggering and harmful to mental health. Not to mention women victimized in this way are often persecuted in business, and their ability to make solid business decisions is called into question. And for many, their ability to make money is their only tool to protect themselves.

There are also privacy issues and cultural concerns around the use of cameras. The background filters can only do so much.  This brings us to issues of Wi-Fi.  Many times, when we are dealing with cameras, this can strain the internet connection, make for spotty reception and loss of communication, and increase frustration. 

So, for leaders who want to encourage the use of cameras without hurting their workforce and establishing connections and trust, here are my suggestions to help leaders with this issue:

1. Touch base with each team member and ask how they prefer to be communicated.  Everyone is different.  Some may prefer phone calls, instant messages, etc.
2.   Share with your team how you prefer to convey urgency.  Such as an instant message on teams means this is a priority.  Or emails are a priority for tracking.  Or maybe the instant message is when you can, and emails are the priority.  It is up to you so that you and your team are all on the same page.
3. In big meetings, have cameras on for the intro to the meeting and turn off the cameras when not presenting. This makes sure to address any Wi-Fi issues.
4. In one-on-one, once there is flickering in the signal, give the verbal ok to your team to turn off their camera. 
5. As your team members one on one who does not want to use cameras, why they don’t?  Not everyone is comfortable.
6. If you have team members who say often they are not camera ready, show your team that there are days you aren’t either, and lead by example.  Show not being camera ready, and if decorum is important to you, show little things your team can do to help.  Tell them you want a one-on-one camera at the meeting and why.  Then offer to have the meeting in 10-20 minutes and give them time to get ready.  Sometimes, we all need to plan self-care, and taking 10-20 to look presentable is good.  So, be flexible and show humanity on your end as a leader. You’ll earn more points than you think, showing you are also human.

If you would like to learn more about how you can train your teams to better balance the changes to leadership that the remote work revolution is creating for the future of work, please check out my social media and my consulting practice for ways to help develop more comfort levels for remote work.  Remember sharing is caring, so like and subscribe.  As always, remember that remote is here to stay.

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