Over a matter of time companies have become insistent on virtual training because the employees don’t have time. But there are many ethical concerns related to such training.

The companies now have to accept that the different video conferencing platforms used by them allow recordings of video calls, and this can have implications. The employees can record such calls and this can cause trouble for the company.

There are many benefits of recording virtual meetings or virtual training by teams:

Share the whiteboards: First of all, is that there are whiteboard sessions in which teams discuss the relevant work to do through whiteboards. One member of such meetings shares the whiteboards with others who then draws on them. If the workers have recorded such sessions then they can check the drawings later.

Virtual training sessions are used for future training :

Sometimes, workers don’t pay complete attention to what’s happening in a virtual training session because they have a lot of things on their mind. But they might face problems later due to this lack of attention when they can’t operate the software.

So, it’s better to record such virtual training so that they can recall what was taught to them through a recorded video. Once, such virtual training sessions have been recorded, they can be uploaded to train future employees.

Virtual meetings done with clients

The participants in such video conferencing sessions can record the information. This is very pertinent when such information is about a contract and any party can deny its obligations later.

When a virtual meeting is with clients, to discuss product specifications, such a recording is beneficial because clients can’t expect more than the requirements stated by them during such sessions.

The reasons why employees are not comfortable when such virtual meetings are recorded is because:

Full disclosure happens: Employees may feel hesitant to complain about work or their managers when they know that everything is going on record. Also, when managers want to discuss work-related issues with employees, the latter might again be evasive in front of the camera because that can be used against them at the time of performance appraisal.

Organizations might also have problems when the states don’t allow recording of such virtual meetings or virtual training sessions.

The federal law in the US requires approval of one party, however in some states, the consent of all the parties is needed before recording. So, as per federal law, you can record a call between you and your boss when you are ready for it and vice-versa. Either the sender or receiver of the calls is at liberty to record them.

But in a team with multiple parties participating, the consent of all is needed before recording them. This kind of multiple-party consent is needed in different states such as Nevada, Maryland and California etc. The IT team  face troubles because they have to implement recording rules based on individual state legislation.

Recordings in telehealth

Hospitals can also record video conferences with patients. But these video recordings require encryption so that they can’t be viewed by anyone. They should be password protected so that only the patients or other authorized users can see them.

What can be the legal implications for a company?

In virtual meetings happening in a state if two-party or multiple-party consent is required, and an employee gets recorded by the company without his consent he can sue the company. This can happen if the recording contained some sensitive information and hence the company will be liable to pay fines to the victim.

Nowadays, the employees can quit the virtual meeting or the virtual training if they are not ready to be recorded. It’s because video conferencing tools can announce when the video call starts getting recorded.

If the user has already consented to the video or audio calls as a part of the HR policy, then the company can record the calls without facing any legal implications.

Hence, these are the ramifications of recording a call without an employee’s consent
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