Can employers make you use a camera when you work from home. 25 October 2022 at 9:35AM in Employment, jobseeking & training 58 replies 9.5K views

DE_612183

The OP will say but I read it as the tablet is provided purely for the use of virtual office

Davearia

grahamgoo said:

If the requirement is to have the tablet + webcam on constantly during working hours, where management can just start watching whenever they like, I would totally sympathise with this, and would be equally troubled by it.
But I am wondering, is that actually what they are saying?  Or could it be that they just want the team to get together on a video call every so often?
Personally I'd be tempted to suggest or organise a 15 or 30 minute daily team video call to discuss the days objectives / check how everyone is, have a chat etc etc, then outside of those calls and other pre-arranged meetings just turn the tablet off and see if anyone says anything more.
I was a bit confused though - are you doing your main work from a separate laptop/device, and this tablet has been provided for the sole purpose of acting as a webcam?

The honest answer to your first question is I don't what the real reason for the tablet being on all day is for and I wouldn't know as I'm in front of the camera not behind it if that makes sense. The virtual office reason might be true but even if it was I don't need something like that. Early days of remote working my manager back then would refer to people getting "cabin fever" working remotely and it was harder than I thought learning to communicate at home as you did in an office, but I'm beyond that.

We have daily stand ups where we discuss progress and impediments daily which are good.

So I have a works laptop going through my 2 monitors for work and this tablet is just for the VO/surveillance.

To say again the company is not all that bad. I'm not saying anything about them detrimental on this post other than their decision to have you on camera all day. Whether it's just me who feels this way (judging by you post and others I'm not) is besides the point I don't think I want to work in this way. 

Sea_Shell

I'd wonder who in the organisation has time enough on their hands to monitor the cameras, for longer than a cursory glance??

Surely they have "boss" work to do.

I'd have a bit of fun with it, push boundaries, if asked to do this.


There are lots of costumes in the shops at the moment 😉👻

OrbitHeadache

Catsacor said:

Probably, the, previous, actions/conduct of some employees has now created a need for this course of action by the employer.
As an employer i understand this.

That is just lazy management.

If you suspect some employees are taking the P that justifies requiring all employees to have cameras turned on all day than quite frankly I would be looking for another job if I was in your company.

If companies can't trust some of their employees they need to be managing them better not punishing everyone.

maisie_cat

If you were working in an office would it be open plan? Assuming it would the tablet is no more "intrusive" than what colleagues can see when you're at a desk.

DE_612183

maisie_cat said:

If you were working in an office would it be open plan? Assuming it would the tablet is no more "intrusive" than what colleagues can see when you're at a desk.

Um, I work in my kitchen sometimes, I doubt in an office you'd get my two teenage children wandering round in their pyjamas

If you have a home office - thats fine - but not everybody does

TELLIT01

Catsacor said:

Probably, the, previous, actions/conduct of some employees has now created a need for this course of action by the employer.
As an employer i understand this.

You may be correct in that assumption but the employer should be acting against those who have created the problem, not 'bottling it' and introducing rules for everybody.  That is not good management.  In my final job before retirement I worked for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) for a few years - the only time I worked in the public sector thankfully.  There was a period where we were being overwhelmed with work but senior management insisted that weekly 'group meetings' were held and they had to last for an hour.  The information imparted may only take 5 minutes, but our team leader would have been in line for disciplinary action if they didn't comply.  Things came to a head when senior management decided a whole office meeting was needed.  This again was to be for 1 hour.  The meeting started informatively enough, but then a senior manager started reading out a newsletter which had been sent to staff - in full.  When I realised what was happening I asked why this was happening given our workload and the fact that it had been sent to all staff.  The response was that not all staff read it.  I then asked why the problem wasn't addressed directly with those employees rather than wasting everybody's time.  That was actually met with applause by staff but a manager nearly bursting a blood vessel.  I was later told my by team leader that they had been told to tell me to apologise.  I refused.

Longwalker

maisie_cat said:

If you were working in an office would it be open plan? Assuming it would the tablet is no more "intrusive" than what colleagues can see when you're at a desk.

An open plan office is a completely different situation from a home

If the op has family, their privacy is being undermined as well as the ops 

You do not ever expect to have surveillance cameras focussed on you in your own home operated by someone else

I cant imagine it sitting well with anyone 

Davearia

Longwalker said:

maisie_cat said:

If you were working in an office would it be open plan? Assuming it would the tablet is no more "intrusive" than what colleagues can see when you're at a desk.

An open plan office is a completely different situation from a home

If the op has family, their privacy is being undermined as well as the ops 

You do not ever expect to have surveillance cameras focussed on you in your own home operated by someone else

I cant imagine it sitting well with anyone 

Like someone said earlier if someone looks at you in an office it's open and apparent. But a glass eye in some device in your home office all day has a totally different feeling to it. I can see some people agree with this and some don't, that's good with me.

amazonian17

I'd be looking for another job as that's too invasive. No wonder they didn't inform you about the camera situation until after you had handed in your notice at your previous job. That's even more of a reason to leave.