One Surprising Response From Our Recent Work-From-Home Study

One of the major trends we at Creative Strategies, Inc. have been following as a technology market research company has been the work-from-home trend. The Covid-19 pandemic forced most workers into a work-from-home setting. Using video conferencing tools like Zoom, WebEx, Microsoft Teams, and others allowed people to communicate with work teams from their homes. 

Our first study for our clients was done about a month into the pandemic lockdown in May 2020. We did a second study in the summer of 2021 and a recent one in December of 2021. We looked at the evolution of work-from-home trends from mid-2020 through the end of 2021. During that time, people using these video conferencing services had become savvier about the process. They desired more quality and functionality in their tools when working from home. 

One surprising change in their attitudes about video conferencing was their awareness of how they looked on camera. At first, people wanted to look presentable but did not give much thought to their environment. Indeed, since the pandemic caught them off guard and most just grabbed their laptops and used the front-facing camera for the video calls, they did them from any quiet spot in the house. I know of some cases where people did their initial calls from a closet as it was the only quiet place they had in their homes or apartments, especially where there were kids and pets.

By the time we did the second survey in the spring of 2021, most had created some form of workspace to do their video calls from inside their homes or apartments. Many made a dedicated room or home office where they could shut the doors and have a quiet environment. They also discovered virtual backgrounds and, in many cases, defaulted to some type of background other than their home. While some started using third-party video cameras instead of the ones on their laptops, most were still bound to the embedded camera on their computers.

But in our recent survey, we saw a distinct trend towards greater awareness about their video conferencing presence. 

We found this through a series of questions we asked about their working environments. 

The survey questions asked were an "agree or not agree" format. The first statement presented was, "I am highly aware of how I look when on a video call, e.g., including lighting, camera position, camera quality, etc." Those who strongly agreed were 36.97%, 41.10% agreed, 16.08% neither agreed nor disagreed, and 3.96 % disagreed, with only 1.89% strongly disagreeing. 

These responses highlighted the need for higher quality cameras than the cameras installed in most laptops. And this desire reflects demand and growth for third-party cameras that can be attached to the back of computers' displays and used as webcams. 

Grand View Research recently published a report on the U.S. webcam growth and reinforces this growing demand.

The second question asked in the survey, "I find meetings more productive when everyone has a high-quality presence, e.g., lighting, camera quality, and camera position.” Of these respondents, 23.9% strongly agreed, 34.65% agreed, 29.32% neither disagreed nor agreed, 8.08% disagreed, and 4.04% strongly disagreed. 

The third question asked, "I find it distracting or unproductive if someone is using a virtual background in a video meeting." Again, 18.8% strongly agreed, 27% agreed, 30.70% neither agreed nor disagreed, 16.60% disagreed, and 6.88% strongly disagreed. 

The response to this one surprised us. Up to now, we have not heard much about people's reactions to virtual backgrounds. Indeed, many participants in video call meetings have blurred their background or used other scenes that do not represent their current setting. There are even dedicated photo sites to obtain thousands of location photos to hide their homes or apartment settings from others. 

I have been doing video calls from my office for over a decade, and my live background has been my tech museum (see pic below). Unfortunately, we had to close our offices during the pandemic, so my video call background is a virtual picture of my tech museum today. 

In my case, I have only had great comments on this virtual background and have never picked up that it has been a distraction to others. 

I have seen some virtual backgrounds that were busy or out of context to a meeting environment, which some responders may have disliked. 

Although our last survey asked many more questions, I want to call out one last one as it is highly relevant to the work-from-home subject. 

This one stated, "I am concerned that how I look and sound on video calls negatively impacts my credibility." Again, the respondents strongly agreed with 21.41%, 36.37% agreed, 24.68% neither agreed nor disagreed, 12.64% disagreed, 4.9% strongly disagreed. Fifty-one percent agreed with this concern, while the rest leaned towards it not being an issue. 

This one surprised me. I would have expected a larger group to be very concerned about how they look and sound on their professional image and credibility on video calls. In our follow-up survey on this topic later this year, we will delve deeper into this question to understand why so many had fewer concerns on this subject. 

This recent work-from-home study clarified that people see the role of video conferencing, and working from home is now a regular part of their business life. That means that they are much more aware of the setting and tools they will use for this long-term transition towards using video conferencing as a way of life.

This trend of from-home video conferencing should entice companies to create better tools that make the work-from-home a more professional experience. As a result, there is a need for better hardware, software, video cameras, sound systems, and vanity lights. Those users utilizing these tools have become savvier about the work-from-home environment. They want to have better tools since they will now integrate this into their everyday business lives.