Work Advice: Telecommuter not happy about video streaming plan

Q: I own a small recruiting firm and allow employees to work from home most days, but I find that company engagement and project collaboration is much better when we are in the office. This week, I asked employees to try a video collaboration service that would allow them to talk to each other throughout the day. One employee was extremely upset about this and said that it was an invasion of his privacy to require him to have video and audio of his house streaming over the Internet throughout the workday. Is it legal for me to require this from my employees?

A: For those of you who might not be familiar with the kind of video collaboration service this reader is contemplating, it offers a continuous video feed, updating a “Brady Bunch”-type grid with live snapshots of users every few minutes. There's no law prohibiting such a plan, but holy Orwell, does it creep me out.

Let's start with the potential business risks of this technology, namely security. How sure are you that no one outside the firm will be able to gain access to your video confabs? Does your firm use up-to-date anti-virus protections, security patches, a virtual private network (VPN) and encryption for any shared files? Who will provide tech support?

Next issue: productivity. How much bandwidth — literal and figurative — would the video streaming consume? Will it slow down your network or result in workers constantly interrupting each other just because they can? In-person interactions are good for generating ideas and instant feedback, but most workers then need to break away to get the work done.

Consider morale, too. Having one's face on a video feed while working is enough to make anyone self-conscious. Could workers “shut the door” and work offline? Or would they need to stay visible to prove they're engaged?

If your employees can manage the commute once a week or so, instead of forcing virtual togetherness, why not schedule periodic “all hands” days when everyone comes to the office to synergize or spitball or whatever the latest buzzword is? Providing lunch would sweeten the deal and foster camaraderie.

If those arguments don't dissuade you from going the NostrilCam route, you'll want to establish a written policy to protect yourself and your workers, says employment attorney Elaine Fitch, of Kalijarvi, Chuzi, Newman & Fitch in Washington: “In particular, it should address the privacy issues, and include a waiver and acknowledgment that certain aspects of working from home can and will be subject to monitoring.” I'd also suggest making the video service voluntary — a communication tool for workers' use, not a yoke they're being strapped into.

Thanks also to network engineer Steve Clark and forensic technology consultant Ashley Holtz.

• Miller has written for and edited tax publications for 16 years, most recently for the accounting firm KPMG's Washington National Tax office. You can find her on Twitter, @KarlaAtWork.