It goes without saying that work meetings are a bit of a chore. Maybe not just a bit. Under regular circumstances, many of them are a redundant waste of time and resources. But once the pandemic hit, they also became an extra annoyance with all the cameras on requirements.

Sure, there might be a reason to encourage folks to use their cameras during meetings, but it’s not a one-sided issue and it certainly shouldn’t be an issue at all as long as the employee engages. Right?

Management never learns though. So, malicious compliance time.

More Info: Reddit

Being in a meeting with your camera on is probably a very relatable experience for many following the pandemic

Image credits: Radiofabrik – Community Media Association Salzburg (not the actual photo)

That doesn’t mean people like it, and sometimes you need a bit of malicious compliance to make it stop

Image credits: u/k1ll3rkitten

Image credits: deldevries (not the actual photo)

A new mom decided to rebel against the cams on policy by just being out of frame all the time. Hey, the cam’s on!

A new mom who has just returned to work recently visited the r/MaliciousCompliance subreddit with a meeting-themed story.

OP works a remote telemarketing via chat and text job selling windows. But, as you might have guessed by now, she also has a roughly 2-month-old to tend to at all times, including work. Well, work includes very frequent online meetings that could have been emails, but, so be it, she still went through them like a champ. All the while holding her baby in her arms.

Well, all fine and dandy, they don’t need to see that, the cameras are off, right? Well, not any more. Three weeks before the post, OP found out that cameras would now be mandatory during meetings. Management did not care what folks looked like, cams on, that’s the end of that. Oh, and, everyone was expected to engage and participate.

It didn’t help that the manager decided to also comment that being a parent is unprofessional, but I will let your own mind obsess about how this statement is of questionable logic.

So, cams on? If you say so! OP runs her maliciously compliant plan past her coworkers, all’s set, and the show begins. In two weeks, OP has had 21 meetings. In every meeting, she has logged on, turned her camera on, but was never in frame. She was on her office floor. But nothing more than that.

She did, of course, engage with the meetings, but in an extra mile kind of way where it was too extra. Her approach was to be as obnoxious as possible, derailing the meetings and throwing in everything she could with the amount of engagement, questions, interjections, and corrections she offered to the meeting.

Image credits: Bridget Coila (not the actual photo)

Heck, she even has a routine meeting with the super that she plans to approach in pretty much the same way. All that for as long as it takes for the manager to gain some common sense and back off with the cameras on rule.

“Your demand: cameras on. I listened. Not once did she say we had to be SEEN on said cameras,” concluded OP.

And folks online brought in a round of applause. Immediately, one of the most mischievous comments rose to the top in the comment section, suggesting OP breastfeeds the kid on camera. Yeah, that’ll show Mrs. Manager.

This was followed by people suggesting alternative solutions to the problem. One fella suggested, if OP’s camera is sensitive to this kind of environmental distortion, to angle the camera towards the sun. That might just make her into a silhouette.

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There’s also the option of using camera-altering software like OBS Studio, as suggested by this commenter, where you can simply change the direct camera input into a customized video or visual. The commenter changed to a loop of them sitting in front of a camera. Secretly, they were working.

Then there’s the classic I can’t turn off the cat filter gag, which does require some self-deprecation, but who cares if it gets the job done? The list goes on and on. You can scroll through it here. The Reddit post got a modest 2,200 upvotes.

Image credits: Hector_Only (not the actual photo)

OK, so, what’s the deal with the requirement to keep the camera on during meetings? The Society for Human Resource Management discussed the topic at length and explained that the main reason behind keeping the camera on is face-to-face interactions, even if it’s on the internet, are important in business.

With cameras on, folks can see body language, facial expressions and just plain read the room for contextual communication. There’s also a factor where, if you engage in a discussion, but don’t have your camera on, there is a greater likelihood coworkers might remember your words as those of employees who were visible in the meeting.

There’s more to be said about that, but there is also a contingent of people who are against it. And rightfully so. Meeting fatigue diminishes an employee’s desire to be on camera. Same goes if folks aren’t feeling all that well, but can still do their work.

It also makes sense to have it off if you’re having lunch in the meeting (sometimes an hour isn’t enough for eating because eating is life) and ain’t nobody interested in your chewing. But by far the most beneficial aspect of not having a camera on is how much more efficient it makes brainstorming—folks who don’t have to worry about what they look like can focus more on generating more and better ideas. No kidding, it’s a thing.

But do you know what else is a thing? The comment section. It’s below. Go brainstorm some ways to avoid being on camera and share it with everyone else!

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Folks online thought it was brilliant. So much, in fact, that they offered other ways to do it too

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