New employee (Gen Z} doesn’t want to meet in person

[outofofficeon]

I took on a graduate for a new position, she’d been job hunting for a few years, I felt good about giving her a hand up into a great career.
She lives about an hour away so works remotely. She bright and polite and reliable and a good member of the team.

The problem I have is that she doesn’t want to visit the office in person or meet her colleagues in person, I offered to put her up in a nice hotel and pay travel costs so that she could spend a few days with us in person. She declined. My latest issue is that she doesn’t put her camera on when we are communicating at work as part of daily work or chats. I understand she might not be very confident but I think that you have to get out of the house / your comfort zone if you want a career.

im not sure what to do- any advice oh wise ladies.

Cameras off is a reasonable adjustment.

hard if not impossible to enforce!

Didn't really answer the question.

Make it mandatory and then discuss exceptions.

That said it's not my head in the noose (refer to point of policy 15 years ago upthread).

If requested and evidenced? This person has just refused to do turn their camera on.

Isn't the recent trend to treat any request for evidence as "discrimination" and "bullying" and some sort of violation of some vague right somewhere ?

I may be wrong ....

They likely haven't been told its an issue yet, as far as they're concerned they applied for a remote working job, and don't turn their camera on for whatever personal reason. They would be perfectly entitled to put in a reasonable request for it if pushed.

I said Because it can impair understanding and communication - that is the answer.

Global enforcement of cameras results in a productivity tariff. It is not about individuals with communication needs where specific exceptions make sense. It is about staff in general and where cameras impede understanding and uptake of information. Hence guidelines of the type I outlined upthread. I siply wasn’t wanting to repeat several paragraphs of text on the same thread.

And unless a need is confirmed as valid the company can simply say “no”. Team working involves compromise, not one member unilaterally demanding everyone else works around them.

Is it because so many managers focus on cameras and office presenteeism instead of actual measures of productivity?

OP, you say she "declined" when you requested her to come in to meet the team.

Where did she get the idea that it was optional?

You need to sack her asap. No good will come of trying to 'coax' a new employee into following your instructions and requests. She won't suddenly become a good employee and team member if she's already a problem now.

Her first few months will be as good as she gets: this is the period where she'll be trying to create a good impression; showing you her best side.

Fire her now while you can and put it down to experience.

I know what you said.

What you failed to do as far as I am concerned is provide a reason why the basic requirement should be for cameras on, rather than off.

You'll note I didn't say there shouldn't be any exceptions.

E2A: Global enforcement of cameras results in a productivity tariff.

Nowhere near as much as borderline amateur HR contract drafters, as this thread shows. Unless you are advancing a theory that the UKs productivity problem is because employees are mandated to have cameras on ?

I don't think you could 'make' her come in but I think you can absolutely expect everyone to have their cameras on for meetings. We have that in our hybrid working policy that cameras are on. Do you have such a policy or could you create one?

If everyone else has their cameras on already then it's even easier to set that expectation but I have no idea if you can actually make it a rule without a policy.

This. We have a couple like this in our team. They started their working lives in Covid so have no idea of the norms of office life, etiquette and team working. They have to be told. IME they either get on board with it or really really don’t!

This. Why would you settle for an ongoing struggle session with a worker who doesn't want to be part of a team when there are plenty of much, much better candidates? If you're running a small company (as I suspect, OP) it might be worthwhile paying for a seasoned HR freelancer to help you with the recruitment process and steer you towards someone who'll make a positive contribution to your business. You want someone with a can-do attitude, not someone who starts their first job from a position of can't/won't do. You're running a business, OP. Think of the bottom line.

I'm agnostic about the cameras. But I agree about presenteeism (which then requires geographic proximity)

OP you appear to have hired someone on a fully remote contract for a job which you don't feel is suitable to be fully remote.

Furthermore, you have hired someone to a fully remote job who is an inexperienced worker and still has a lot to learn.

You appear to have done this to be 'nice' and give her a leg up, and made assumptions that she would not really want to be fully remote at all and would be keen to grab all learning opportunities.

I think you need to put this down to a learning experience for you. You have made a lot of assumptions which you had no real grounds to make, and hired someone on a contract which appears to neither serve the job role or their level or experience.

I think you are being harsh.

It's not like this will have any effect on productivity.

and now you know why most company Handbooks have ridiculous rules and stupid paragraphs, because the level of stupidity and/ or entitlement from SOME employees is endless 😂

Add that the common attitude on MN: if it's not in my contract, they can't make me! Because that's so professional and mature attitude...

You are not wrong, but unfortunately, you need to spell things out in many cases (or use probation to get rid of the worst elements, but it's not ideal)

it is a bizarre attitude to have a remote job but refuse to come at least ONCE in the office! In all the places I know, and that's from long before the lockdowns, people would show their face once or twice a year.

Often even if not working in the same country .

it is a bizarre attitude to have a remote job but refuse to come at least ONCE in the office!

Depends on how remote and if there is an office. One outfit I worked with had 3 employees over the UK and no office.

Yes, but they need to explain why and disclose the disability they have that requires reasonable adjustment. Otherwise it is also reasonable for the employer to request that they have their camera on for meetings when asked.

It is best practice at a lot of companies to insist on cameras on for all meetings for security purposes - otherwise how do you know who is really behind the black screen, or who else might be in the room at the same time.

In the wake of the M&S cyber incident in particular, I know of several contacts that have been externally advised on this. So I think you would be entirely with your rights to insist on cameras on for online meetings.

Insisting on her coming into the office even just to meet the team is possibly a bit trickier, depending on how her contract is worded.

However, I think it is not an unreasonable ask at all (full disclosure, I think 100% remote working, for new employees especially, is on the whole a terrible idea!) and if you would like a team member to come in occasionally, then as PPs have said you might do better to part ways with this employee now and rehire - and make sure you reword any contract appropriately if needed.

Contract details aside, she is being insubordinate. You are her boss, not her mother. She can't just say no to requests you have made, let alone multiple ones without facing consequences. What if you repeatedly refused to do things your boss asked you do? There is your answer.

I honestly think you'd be doing her a huge favor in the long run by letting her go and citing why. She is clearly very, very immature and doesn't understand how the real world works.

Completely unacceptable behavior on her part, let alone deeply unprofessional. I would not tolerate this.

If she wants to sit in her room, cameras off, turn down requests to be a team player or show up to meetings (on camera or in person) then she needs to find a new job. And good luck with that!

Because she’s a remote worker - and an aimless meeting to say hi and see what height everyone is is a waste of time.

It depends on the nature of the work, but in my experience it isn't. It is very hard to properly build relationships (which sound critical to this role) without some time with the team in person and I also think it's close to impossible to properly train a new employee (particularly a junior one) without some in person time. It also doesn't really matter what the employee thinks. If OP think's it's important then the employee needs to either accept that it's a requirement, or accept that the job isn't for them.

The reality is that no one can easily know what is/isn't important for a remote role to function properly until you hire someone and they start doing the job.