There have been a few times when it was useful being able to see the whites of their eyes, but generally, there’s no benefit besides knowing how tall people are, and (not always a benefit) being aware of how they smell.

For difficult line-management conversations, though, face-to-face is better, although there was one guy who got spun up to the point where a physical altercation was possible-- luckily, I talked him down. He was having mental-health issues, his work was suffering, but didn’t want a paid leave of absence so he could get his shit sorted. He was afraid we’d sack him while he was on leave (which we don’t do). That problem solved itself after he had an episode outside working hours and got sectioned. He resigned while he was being treated. Luckily it wasn’t the US, where police too often shoot people when they’re having a crisis.