Professionalism is important in the workplace no matter the situation With that being said, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced a majority of society to combine their personal and professional lives in a way we have never experienced before. Here are some reminders on how to handle this new era of virtual professionalism that we are all learning to manage together.
The new world of virtual meetings.
Do you ever start to see your coworkers tilt their head or squint their eyes during a meeting? Well, they have probably tapped out and stopped paying attention to whoever is speaking and are secretly spying on your personal life behind you. But, is it spying if you are willingly showing it to them? If you don’t mind your colleagues or potential customers you’re meeting with to get a good deep detailed look of your life then, I commend your confidence! Personally, I am a little too messy and I know that my cat (who likes to sit behind and on me at all moments of the day) is probably pretty distracting. This is why I like to use virtual backgrounds during my meetings.
Virtual Backgrounds
Plain and simple – having a zoom background is less distracting for those you are meeting with. Even if you don’t care that folks are potentially trying to deep-dive into your personal life (including those embarrassing family vacation pictures behind you), you should probably care if they are paying attention to the meeting or not. I’ll be honest, I know that the virtual backgrounds are not perfect, with movement you see little snippets of the physical room behind people’s heads. In my opinion, those imperfections are significantly less distracting than someone trying to read what books are on the shelf above your head.
It will also protect you from embarrassment if you forget you are on camera and do something terribly awkward… like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7OmMIhASqk
Things to think about for the future
During this “new normal”, there are a lot of important lines that are being drawn and crossed between colleagues in the virtual workplace. There is now a significant overlap between work life and home life and if you want there to still be any sort of distinction when we come out of this pandemic, you need to set those boundaries for yourself by doing the things that you can control, most importantly protecting your privacy & your family’s privacy.
Protecting your privacy does not mean you have something to hide and working from home doesn’t mean we have to let go of workplace professionalism that is so important to all of us. If you are one of the lucky folks who still have a full-time job, it’s important to honor that and respect your colleagues by getting dressed (and I mean more than just sweatpants!), setting the stage, and acting as you would in the workplace.
Virtual Studio Backgrounds
If you are in the news industry or just like the idea of setting your stage in a studio background. Take a look UNISET’s free downloadable backgrounds here: https://unisetcorp.com/virtual-zoom-studio-backgrounds/