You’re not the only one – we’re all tired of turning our cameras on when working from home. But what if we told you that keeping yours off may actually be preventing you from a promotion?
According to Essence, a recent survey revealed that 92% of U.S. executives have reported “employees who are less engaged, either frequently on mute or don’t turn on their camera during virtual meetings, probably don’t have a long-term future at their company.”
The research study conducted by Wakefield Research surveyed 200 U.S. executives at companies of 500 and more employees, between the dates of March 9th and March 17th. And results, released by Vytopa, revealed that “business executives take facetime very seriously among their subordinates.”
Executives believe that whether workers show their face during digital work meetings, directly correlates with how engaged they are with their company. And furthermore, when executives notice a lack of digital engagement, it reveals to them a sign of “subpar performance to come.”
Ninety three percent of executives shared that workers who usually keep their cameras off, are also usually less engaged in their work overall.
In addition, the lack of engagement leads executives to pile on more negative assumptions about their employees’ work, with 2 in 5 suspecting that “employees who are on mute or off-camera entirely are browsing the internet or social media,” texting, or chatting with friends.
However, the blame for low engagement wasn’t entirely placed on workers. The survey also explored the effects of deteriorating company culture, a decrease in trust of remote workers, and companies just simply dropping the ball.
“Many executives admit their company is not doing a good job of facilitating engagement. In fact, nearly half of U.S. executives say they are not providing the tools to allow their workers to be as engaged as their in-person counterparts,” the survey stated.
“To be more specific, the executives say the responsibility lies at the very top. About half of executives say C-level executives bear the greatest responsibility for increasing employee engagement at their company, followed by HR and division leaders.”
So while those executives are figuring things out at the top, strive to turn your camera on more often if you’re interested in extending longevity at your workplace.