TL;DR at the bottom.
Our team manager is normally a very fair, decent & understanding person in the office, but since the pandemic insists on cameras ON for internal team meetings, claiming it makes for a more effective, meatier meeting, with better sharing. This is contrary to a WFH guidance extension of our Health & Wellbeing policy, jointly written for the pandemic by physicians & psychologists, & promoted by HR. It clearly states that staff don't have to show our live selves on camera if we don't want to. But those who opt out are asked to display a respectable profile picture (to identify ourselves to our stakeholders) as this would be more professional than a blank screen. So that's what some of us have done.
HR issues periodic anon surveys for employee feedback so I took an opportunity to lodge a complaint without naming her, re: camera insistence was akin to bullying in the workplace, which is also covered by policy.
After HR held a meeting with all middle managers she still insisted on cameras on but changed the 'effective meeting' reason to her 'own preference to see her team'. She likely hoped that dropping the lie & telling the truth would yield more cameras on, but once again she missed the point in the WFH guidance: individual sense of safety & wellbeing trumps manager preference.
One team member steadfastly leaves her camera off, claiming connectivity issues (we all live in the same area so we know that's not true), but has not uploaded any profile pic either. Oddly the manager has never challenged that.
I turn my camera on & off intermittently to make it clear I control my camera, not her, & sometimes this means she has to see a dishevelled mess who hasn't yet showered, instead of my more decent looking profile pic. Sometimes it means seeing a room that needs tidying; yes she made a comment. Sometimes it means seeing my housemate in the background; yes she made a comment. I moved to a different room that gets much less light because it's north-facing; yes she made a comment.
Today when another teammate joined using the phone app, moving through her house on the way to her desk, the manager more than commented, she abruptly instructed her to pick a room & sit down. Teammate not expecting that outburst sits down in the nearest chair, not having reached her desk. Felt sorry for her because she's new and it was the last straw for me. From tomorrow onward my camera stays completely off (because I'm suddenly having connectivity problems, go figure). Thank you for allowing me the space to rant. Construtive suggestions welcome.
TL;DR - Normally decent manager is being a bully about webcam use and is slowly alienating her WFH team.