Online meetings require new forms of etiquette

Look at you, work-from-home expert. You’ve taken COVID-19’s imposed new workplace environment and owned it. You’re wearing a button-down shirt with fourth-day-in-a-row shorts, you’re drinking coffee from a cereal bowl and your dog is licking the toast crumbs off your feet — and nobody notices. But don’t let the informality of your setting at home carry over to an informal attitude toward your on-screen co-workers.

“I’ll admit if people saw below the surface, they’d probably be horrified,” says Jon Harris, a 25-year-old public relations specialist in Morristown, New Jersey. “And sometimes, you get so lulled into thinking you’re off-camera and safe that you do dumb things like get up to close a door or grab some headphones and then you realize you’re in a sweater on top and underwear on the bottom.”

And all the forms of etiquette you scoff at during your day-to-day life? It’s easy to ignore them when you’re online. “Be aware of how you look, what you say and how you listen,” says Terry Sandoval, a career adviser in San Jose, California.

Sandoval says he knows there are pauses when people speak, given Wi-Fi connections, so he suggests taking a moment to let others finish before jumping into the conversation. “Don’t interrupt other speakers and let them ask questions before jumping in with a response,” he says. “It may seem a little awkward but you’re better off being courteous than rude. ”

Harris says he sometimes forgets he’s online when he’s eating or drinking. “Obviously, my earbuds are mics so when I’m chewing or drinking, it can get a little annoying and sometimes, I don’t realize I need to hit mute until I see someone making a face,” he says. “Then I’m like ‘oops,’ hit mute and act like it wasn’t me.”

— Marco Buscaglia, Careers