Isn't it just good manners to look eye-to-eye when meeting
You log into another video meeting. Five faces beam back — the project lead, the HR manager, the marketing rep, the intern. And then there’s your chief financial officer: a grey bubble, microphone muted, camera off. You wonder, just for a moment, if it’s time to ask. After all, shouldn’t you be able to look your colleagues in the eye, even through a screen?
New Zealand’s workplaces have shifted dramatically over the past five years. The pandemic turned remote work from an experiment into a fixture of professional life. Now, hybrid work is normal — but the etiquette around cameras remains anything but clear.
What the research shows
A team led by Stanford University’s Nicholas Bloom, working with researchers from the University of Chicago and ITAM in Mexico, has been tracking how remote and hybrid work habits evolve. Their ongoing Survey of Working Arrangements and Attitudes has shown that hybrid work has stabilised at about one and a half days a week from home. A related study, Camera Use During Video Calls, digs into how visual presence affects collaboration and morale.
Their findings suggest that turning the camera on does make a difference — sometimes. Workers who appeared on video in smaller, interactive meetings were rated by managers as more engaged and easier to collaborate with. They also reported feeling more connected to their team and more confident that their efforts were recognised.
But the benefits fade fast when video becomes constant. People who spent most of the day on camera described higher fatigue and lower focus. The researchers’ conclusion: cameras build connection when they serve a purpose — not when they’re used as proof of attendance.
The dark side of ‘always on’
It’s not just intuition that tells us too much video is tiring. Studies from Stanford’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab show that virtual meetings trigger what psychologists call “nonverbal overload.” The brain interprets the close-up faces and unbroken eye contact of a video call as unusually intense, activating stress responses usually reserved for intimate, in-person encounters.
Other experiments have found that being on camera for long stretches increases fatigue more than the number of meetings themselves. In one study, women and younger employees reported feeling especially drained, partly because they felt pressure to “perform” on screen — to appear alert, smiling, and composed at all times.
All of which helps explain why so many of us end the day feeling as if we’ve run a social marathon without ever leaving our desks.
The Kiwi context: Practicality and privacy
New Zealanders tend to value informality and trust at work. That culture extends to hybrid communication, where most teams rely on a mix of video, chat, and shared documents to get things done. But camera norms can still get tangled up with perceptions of effort.
Unlike some overseas jurisdictions, New Zealand doesn’t have specific laws about camera use at work, but privacy principles still apply. Employers must collect only the personal information necessary for legitimate business purposes. Recording meetings or requiring cameras in private settings could be risky without a clear reason.
Workplace relations experts generally recommend a balanced approach: be transparent about expectations, explain why visibility helps in some contexts, and avoid blanket policies that treat camera use as a measure of commitment.
So, should you ask the CFO to turn it on?
Maybe — but only when it matters. The research indicates that face-to-face interaction (even virtual face-to-face) helps when nuance or trust is at stake. That includes performance discussions, strategic planning sessions, onboarding, or delicate client conversations. A simple, purpose-driven request — “Let’s go on camera so we can walk through this together” — is reasonable.
But for routine updates or large team calls, insisting on cameras can do more harm than good. It may reduce engagement and increase fatigue, especially for those working from home in shared spaces or on slow connections.
What matters most, say workplace researchers, is the intention behind the ask. If the goal is collaboration or connection, the camera can help. If the goal is surveillance, it won’t.
Five guidelines for smarter video meetings
- Link the camera to purpose.
Ask for video when visual cues improve the discussion — for coaching, brainstorming, or client contact — but not for one-way briefings or large updates. - Normalise flexibility.
Leaders can model balance by occasionally joining off camera and noting it: “I’m off video today but following closely.” This makes it safer for others to do the same when needed. - Design meetings to reduce fatigue.
Shorter sessions, camera breaks, and options to hide self-view all help counter the mental load of constant visibility. - Measure engagement, not optics.
Track participation, decision quality, and follow-up actions instead of judging how many faces are visible on screen. - Respect privacy.
If a meeting needs to be recorded, say so upfront, explain why, and delete the file when it’s no longer needed. Avoid recording by default.
Beyond the lens
Back to your CFO. If you’re working through a tricky budget or sensitive forecast, there’s value in seeing each other’s reactions — even through a webcam. But if it’s a standard progress update, let the grey bubble be.
Hybrid work has changed the way we connect, but not the need for mutual respect. Cameras can bridge distance when used thoughtfully, but trust still carries the conversation. Whether the CFO turns the camera on or not, what counts is that everyone stays switched on where it matters — in attention, effort, and integrity.
