'Your camera is off' – Here’s why it shouldn’t be

Jabra's newest hybrid work report reveals that employees joining an online meeting with video are taken more seriously and seen as more engaged in the conversation. And with two-thirds of meetings being either fully online or hybrid, there’s a lot to gain from turning on your camera. When face-to-face in the office, we constantly give away body language and social cues that impact how our peers see us. And while we can’t (yet) replicate an in-person interaction through online meetings, turning on video can boost how we are perceived. Almost half of those we surveyed say that colleagues with video on seem more involved in meetings than those with video off. With a simple act of turning on your camera, you present yourself as a more active and engaged contributor — which I believe most of us want.

At the end of the day, a lot of people are uncomfortable turning video on all the time. It can be cognitively fatiguing, drive heightened self-awareness, and research shows that it impacts some more than others.

According to our research, this applies more to the younger generations than others. GenZ and millennials are not only those who most often feel left out in online meetings, but they’re also feeling the most pressure to use video. They are typically in the early stages of their career and equipped with less experience, when many of us know it can be intimidating to be seen and heard.

In general, the choice to turn the video on is highly influenced by the number of attendees in the meeting, one’s role in the meeting and who else is attending. Sitting in a small meeting, GenZ is more likely to turn on video because it will be noticeable if not doing it. Meanwhile, generations further into their career, GenX and boomers, either care less or are more relaxed — 37% and 47% of GenX and boomers, respectively, say that they never turn on their video. However, in a scenario where the boss or other superiors are joining the meeting, there’s an even likelihood across generations to turn on video.

In other words, while there are different drivers for using video in an online meeting, the younger generations suffer most from social pressure. It emphasizes that the stage of your career is influential in how you present yourself in meetings. This poses a challenge for building organizational trust if certain groups systematically feel uncomfortable or alienated. Especially because I believe, that employees share their best inputs when joining a meeting in a way that feels most comfortable for them – remote or in-person.

While turning on video can have a positive impact on your career and how others see you, there’s still some work to be done to ensure that each employee feels comfortable at the meeting – video or not. By considering clear guidelines for different meeting scenarios to try to ease the pressure felt to turn video on, business leaders can build a better meeting culture – and better meetings for all.