How To Do Conference Calls When It's Too Early For Conference Calls?

January 19, 2023 5:08 AM

I'm in Japan and have recently started working for my former employer in the US. I've been invited to a 6am conference call, but I live in a small apartment with typically thin walls, so my neighbors will murder me if I start barking down the phone at 6am. It's not OK to do calls in a coffee shop here either (not that any are open near me at that time). How do other remote workers handle this, particularly as a semi-regular occurrence?
posted by my log does not judge to Work & Money (10 answers total)

Headset with a flexible mic you can place very close and talking softly? I've successfully done that in the same apartment with a light sleeperany times. (Other mics work too, of course, but that requires paying attention to them.)
posted by eotvos at 5:18 AM on January 19, 2023 [11 favorites]

I go for a walk, am careful to have the phone on mute most of the time, say most of what I need to say in the chat, and tell my coworkers exactly what I'm doing and why. There's a solid chance that no one even considered the idea that you don't live in a detached home in a suburb or work in the same office setup that they do. Let them know, and let them deal with the background noise that you cannot possibly prevent.
posted by Etrigan at 5:24 AM on January 19, 2023 [14 favorites]

Would it be possible and feasible to soundproof your room? There are some relatively inexpensive DIY options like soundproof blankets that might work for you.

I listen to a podcast where the person who makes it says they record it at home and huddle under a soundproof blanket to minimize background noise in the recording. That's not the same as what you need of course but maybe it helps?
posted by abucci at 5:30 AM on January 19, 2023 [5 favorites]

Seconding the headset. A good one; check reviews. If you haven't used one, it's like night and day (or dusk and day, at least) in terms of audio quality. A fixed mic that you speak into is rarely going to work as well, unless you are using a high quality mic and are practiced at using one.
posted by cupcakeninja at 5:31 AM on January 19, 2023 [4 favorites]

Is there any sort of hotel near you with a “business center” space that would be appropriate? You may be able to take calls there- one time posing as a guest, but if you make friends with the workers or offer to pay, perhaps more often.
posted by raccoon409 at 5:33 AM on January 19, 2023 [7 favorites]

i'm also in japan, also in a tiny thin-walled apartment, also have had to do zoom calls at horrible hours to match with united states time zones. a headset is the way to go.
posted by emmling at 5:54 AM on January 19, 2023 [10 favorites]

As others have said, if you deliberately talk quietly into your headset, that is fine even with thin walls. But you have to be very deliberate about it, since the default for most people is to talk loudly on those calls, especially because on almost every call there is someone who is struggling with their audio.

I also see people taking calls out and about all the time. Sometimes while walking, and often at park benches and any other public or semi-public space. I also see people taking calls in cafes, bars, hotel lobbies... any kind of commercial space where they feel they can be tolerated doing this.

Longer term, this is why working remote does come with some costs, because eventually you are probably going to want an easier situation -- maybe a larger apartment where you have space to work at all hours, maybe renting space at some kind of coworking or other office space, maybe some other option like cutting a deal with a hotel manager. All of those come with a cost that is generally paid by the remote worker, so you'd have to see if it made sense in your situation.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:00 AM on January 19, 2023 [1 favorite]

It sounds like this is an already-scheduled one-off call, so my suggestion probably won't work for this specific call, but if you're going to be doing more of these, do you have the ability to push back on the time? I work what I think are pretty reasonable hours (9am-5:30pm in the same time zone as all my co-workers), but I'm constantly getting invitations to meetings at like 8:30am. I have kids I need to take care of in the morning, so I can't start working earlier than 9:00. When I get such an invitation, I email the person who scheduled it, remind them that I'm not at my desk at the time of the meeting, and request a later time. Most of the time, they accommodate me. But I work for a nice company with sane people (starting the day at 7am notwithstanding). At other places I've worked (even the shitty places) where we've worked across time zones, there's always been a concerted effort to take the time zone of all participants into account. If your former employer is in the eastern US, that might be easier said than done, but it's worth asking, at least.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:56 AM on January 19, 2023 [2 favorites]

Do you have a closet and can you call in without video? The are usually the most mass-dense spaces in apartments, and therefore can be helpful for attenuating some amount of sound. Otherwise, calling from the bathroom, kitchen, etc. would at least put the sound source farther away from where your neighbors are sleeping.

Empathy! I love in a paper-walled apartment and love to sing.
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 10:45 AM on January 19, 2023

Any chance your bathroom is more sound resistant (or at least adjacent to fewer bedrooms) than the rest of your place?

If by conference calls, you mean Zoom... then some folks I know use a combination of a headset for audio + typing in the chat. (Naturally, there needs to be someone who can vocalize the content of the chat for those who are only dialing in.) Otherwise it's headset + follow up with people via Slack and email. Depending on the nature of the call, perhaps it can be recorded, and you can listen to it at a different time.

If you have a Japanese driver's license, there's always car share?
posted by oceano at 5:02 PM on January 19, 2023