To think this is an awful first week?

[AwfulFirstWeek]

Started a new job this week. It’s hybrid, 2 days in 2 offices and 3 days WFH.

Monday - collected a laptop and WFH. Had some online onboarding/learning to do.

Tuesday - WFH. Had some introductory meetings over Teams. Rest of day finishing online learning.

Today - First day in first office. My line manager isn’t here, they are WFH. The office is 3 quarters empty, apparently it has been a ghost town since COVID. I had an hour with a HR person to have a tour and meet some people. But I’ve spent the majority of the day reading documents on the intranet. Havnt been given any tasks to do or asked to shadow anyone. A lot of people have gone off for lunch but I feel too awkward to sit with them as I don’t know them.

Is this what hybrid working is like or is does this sound like an awful first week? :(

yeah I started a new job on promotion in August in a new unit, not much to do for the first week and no contact. But I just did what was necessary and then I was pretty much on my own so I went off and caught up on house work and relaxed. They can't tell you off for not working, so don't worry.

Will probably be jumped on for this but make the most of the first couple of weeks, you're getting paid to do fuck all so embrace it 🤷

It sounds exactly like my company and then usually after a couple of weeks they panic, get their act together and bombard the poor new hires with an insane amount of work.

You are very lucky I have always worked in offices and never had anyone to shadow. Just left to get on with things, read etc.
I can't remember ever having an induction

I hate first weeks. If you can get to the end of it without quitting consider the new job a success!

An awful first week would be you accidentally burning the building down or similar.

No, that's bad. Your new manager should have been in when you were and be on the ball with tasks for you. And if they really couldn't come in, they should have been in communication with you and kept you informed and reassured.

I’ve never been shadowed or vice versa in a role. I guess it depends on the nature of your role though as I’ve always been the only person who does mine. Usually the first week in a role is very very twiddling of thumbs and then the second week you’d start to put it intro meetings with everyone. Really shit of your manager not to come in or tell you they wouldn’t!

The office manager etc should have introduced you to everyone who was in though at least. If you’re feeling brave you could walk around and do that yourself!

I would find out from your manager what days are normal office days. Lots of places are technically “3 days in office” but not in practice. Once you establish this you can just come in when other people come in rather than being a stickler for the rules if no one else is.

Congrats on the new job though! I hope it improves. You can be hopeful that the lack of handholding also means you will be very autonomous!

I’m in a new job in a completely new sector and I feel rather out of my depth if I’m honest. It’s hard working from home as I have to schedule in meetings to discuss new concepts whereas, in an office, you’d just pop over and see the relevant person. Nightmare 😬

My last time starting a new job was about 15 years ago in an IT role in a school. What you've just described was pretty much my first three months there. It was awful and very demoralising. I cried all alone in my office many times.

However after that time I found my feet and my people and went on to have a very happy few years there.

Maybe not great, but it's a pretty standard week, covid has nothing to do with it.

I don't know many roles where you would shadow someone for an entire week, or when you would even follow your manager in meetings. You are often lucky to get a 10mn chat, and that you can do over the phone or online anyway.

Don't think you are missing out or having a different experience because of hybrid work, it's always that way in many places/

In 30 years of assorted office jobs I've never shadowed anybody (or had anyone shadow me). In my experience there are 2 types of job: (1) thrown right in at the deep end and expected to get on with it from the first day; (2) a fortnight of reading policies, doing training, filling in HR forms, having 10-minute introductory chats with the rest of the team (if this isn’t happening be proactive - contact everyone and schedule these yourself), and then being thrown in to work.

ahem.. it's a JOB

not primary school. You don't "reassure" professional employees 😂

You don't usually get tasks until you complete your online learning.

It doesn't sound great - particularly your line manager not being in on your first day on site or asking someone else to guide you.

But if you need to complete induction training and read all the various policies, there is no point in you shadowing someone until you have completed this.

Hope things get better.

That’s really poor. At my place the manager would have been there to meet you unless something serious and unexpected had cropped up. You’d also be scheduled to meet someone from the comms team and given a tour by Facilities team.

Assuming you have your own desk space, why don’t you work in the office full time for the first couple of weeks? When the office is quiet it will be a good chance for you to get to know everyone. You’ll never properly integrate at home. Also it looks good to be present.

Bloody love the first fortnight in a new job: here’s some internet and a document that takes 10 minutes to peruse. Have a long lunch. Catch up on TikTok. Wonderful.

Ok, you ignore them and kick them in the face if they ask anything, whatever. Anything other than any variation of "be welcoming" to new people. Coz it's a JOB innit.

yes, that's exactly what I said. The ONLY possible options are either holding hands and "reassuring people" or kicking them in the face. There are no other possible alternatives 😂

Sounds fairly normal. Though if I was hybrid (I'm fully remote) I would have been in the office the first day you were in and made that one off arrangement with you in advance.

Otherwise, generally things are a slow ramp up - everyone has to find the time to give to you.

I don’t mean to be unkind, but I think you need to remember that your first week is a much bigger deal for you than anyone else. Obviously your manager should be ensuring you have training and introductory calls in place, but it’s not realistic for them to map out your entire first week or even day. They have their own job to do. This is even more pertinent for other colleagues helping with your training - what’s “only an hour” for you when you’ve got seven more to fill is an hour less they have to spend on their established job.

Sit tight a bit longer. It’s half a week. Don’t give up because of some slow initial days.

Well one alternative is to be reassuring to the newcomer, by which most normal people would think along the lines of being welcoming or considerate or whatever. But as you don't think this applies to people if they're in a JOB, well... ah, you're probably in HR. I'll send the next message through the pentagram.

do keep going, you sound more and more professional by the minute