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Video calls have put homes on display, and remote workers admit they’re judging their coworkers’ backgrounds. Slightly more than half—54%—of about 2,000 remote workers surveyed admit to judging their colleagues’ office decor or furniture during virtual meetings, according to the survey commissioned by Oliver Space and conducted by OnePoll.
Sixty-four percent of respondents said they are concerned about being judged for their home during virtual calls.
That concern has motivated some to upgrade their home space. Nearly half of remote workers say they’ve purchased new home office furniture, and 33% have purchased new living area furniture. Forty percent have redecorated at least one room, the survey finds.
Eighty-five percent of the about 1,300 respondents who’ve worked from home for the past year and a half say they often hold their virtual meetings somewhere other than a home office. The most popular alternative spaces were the living room and bedroom.
“As much as possible, you should define a space that will be dedicated for work, so that you can keep some separation of working hours and non-working hours at home,” Rebecca Andrews, head of merchandising at Oliver Space, told The U.S. Sun. “A small fashionable desk paired with a stylish dining chair will still look cute in your living room—it doesn’t have to look like traditional ‘office’ furniture.”