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.

I was about to say the same thing. Ive heard of people securing a job then outsourcing it.

Does she do the work? If yes work on your need to control and stop trying to leverage weird power dynamics.

If not then sack her.

you aren’t a saint for giving someone a job. Most graduates spend years job hunting these days there’s nothing unique/deficient in her

I would most likely go in on the soft approach. Message her and tell her you are arranging a face to face video call for the date thats convenient for both of you. Tell her in the meeting from time to time you like to check in on your staff that work remotely to see how things are going and is there anything you can do. Then explain from time to time it would be nice to have her in the office has team building is important, then ask her if this will be a problem for her and see waht she says.

I think that you could speak to her about cameras on in meetings but go very carefully about office attendance - she's been jobhunting for a while - probably because she wants/needs remote working and has been strong enough to advocate for her needs. WHY she needs this could have a myriad of explanations - maybe she needs dialysis, is looking after a terminally ill person or someone with additional needs etc. Maybe she has a crippling anxiety problem etc. I'd suggest a meeting (online) just between you and her to get her to put her camera on and explain why you need this.

Stick to her contract. If she's not going outside of her contract then what you are asking isn't appropriate. Bottom line is if you think the team is suffering then the fragility is probably not from this young lady. If she is capable of performing all of her legal duties without any actions that could cause disciplinary problems or dismissal measures, then her other behaviours are of no concern to her employer.

Don't confuse your idea of a good team and desired work behaviour with the actual legal requirements in your employee's contract.

Yes completely agree with this. One of my own colleagues mentioned this issue this week - she said she hadn't presented in a meeting for a while and it was much easier to present to live and reactive faces on screen rather than a sea of photos!

As for the coming into the office, it's not at all unreasonable to expect say once a month and I'd enforce that. Fully remote doesn't mean no contact with colleagues at all. I am all for home working but not complete isolation from colleagues.

My opinion here. Shouldn’t matter when you were born or how long you live away we’re hybrid working which is 50/50 therefore it’s expected that as a team you need to be present to get that full work experience and better results. Unless you’ve stipulated in her contract that’s it’s fully remote then I’d expect in today’s market and climate we get together half the week or three days one week 2 days the next. Also a camera on policy should maybe be rolled out mentioned in briefings or come top down as in a mail sweep to your teams. If you are her boss then it’s on you to implement what you expect from her totally transparent and if she doesn’t like it then depends what her terms are but Hr should be involved as it’s a policy not personal. Id you don’t do something then it will continue. All honesty she is lucky to have you as a boss and shouldn’t be fancy hotels to go to work.

I really feel for you OP. I previously managed a team with remote / hybrid working. Minimal expectations of in person get togethers - handful of times a year. Most of the team were happy with this but one person (same as me,mid-career so not Gen Z) who was hired on this basis, made every excuse to avoid the contracted in person days - sickness, commitments, missed trains etc. They started out doing the job well and passed probation, then cameras off at every meeting started and the dynamic in the team became really tricky. They weren’t pulling their weight. In the end, their work slipped, performance management came in and they left. It took me a long time to action and enforce what I needed to for the dynamic to work because of wider organisational issues. I had to work hard to get backing from my hr team to get back up and the culture was really hard because of the remote element. This person just wouldn’t engage. Just be clear and keep enforcing boundaries. Plus document everything. That’s what I had to do in the end. Nip any lack of engagement in the bud! Good luck.

If she is capable of performing all of her legal duties without any actions that could cause disciplinary problems or dismissal measures, then her other behaviours are of no concern to her employer.

There are plenty of behaviours that while they don't amount to disciplinary or dismissal measures, might be of concern to an employer.
Anytime who's employed or managed people will tell you that.

I hadn't thought of this, but yes, this is absolutely a thing!

But it's more likely that she needs reminding what professional expectations are.

Did you meet her in person at interview?

Also I had a colleague a few years ago who was fully remote and that was in her contract but she came into the office once a month for a team meeting (and stayed all day to work). It's not against the contract to have those sort of expectations.

One thing about camera on / off I never realised until I managed a partially deaf person is that some people rely on lip-reading to aid their understanding - it’s an accessibility issue. Only relevant when she’s speaking obviously

I manage a team that are all remote. I am the only one who attends the office and spend the day on my own on calls. It doesn't really bother me that they are all remote. They are all good communicators and we collaborate well on calls (camera on and off).

I personally find it a bit depressing as I am a social character and feel quite lonely in the office. It's been like this since COVID. But I have to say I think outputs are not impacted. I like having a team around me but I think that's for social reasons rather than outputs.

I remember fondly the days of lits of social activities.

Oh dear, I hope you haven't got the problem I had. Same sort of sinario, no camera interaction, wouldn't come into the office and wanted everything to be sent electronically or mailed. Wonderful employee, never let the team down, but after 6 months I decided to drive to his address. I know, not a good move, but I knocked on the door anyway. His neighbour came out and said 'he never opens the door or goes out. His mother works and looks after him'. Well that only caused more questions than answers. Long story short, he had been in a near fatal car crash and his face was disfigured. He was very self conscious.
I never let on that I knew and I didn't tell colleagues either.
I hope yours is nothing like this but probing may cause problems.

There you go then. You've screwed yourself with your own contract.
Is there no clause for office working/meetings?

Depending on the nature of the work, there are various cyber security standards that should be in place to prevent this.

Why are you giving her the choice to opt out?

You need to make it clear to her that her refusal to spend time with the team is hampering progress and put her through steps to eventual dismissal if she continues to refuse.

You also need to make it clear that cameras on in meetings is a basic expectation.

I think from an employment law basis (I am not an expert btw) you need to raise your concerns with her and document them (even if informally in an email). But whether these concerns are valid or not depends on her contract and agreements reached (in confirmed in writing) and company policy. If her contract is not WFH then you can explain there is an expectation that she must work within the office on x days pw - maybe provide some flexibility on which days these are - but I would keep them the same each week. Explain why working from the office some of the time is important. Also discuss the importance of camera on in meetings and how to engage effectively - could be a pandemic hangover from someone not used to the world of work pre-pandemic. Again keep a log. Discuss if there are any issues - some folk dont want house or others in view. Discuss background effects or blur etc and the importance of contributing. If you spell it all out re expectations and she still does not engage then you have a problem.

you could quickly do a yes/no questionairre, some in a bit more detail for new starters, ask her to fill it in, email it back to you so that you can discuss the answers in more detail face to face. Give her an appointment, she should be happy to do it if not i dont believe shes being truthful

Agreed, but concern should never be confused with overreach. I've managed many in the military and out. Policy and tradition are not the same thing. Managing humans takes more than having them follow arbitrary rules no matter how well intentioned they are.

If her contract is fully remote working, there is absolutely no requirement for her to visit the office or meet in person and in fairness to her, that is not what she signed up for. You have an unspoken expectation for her to visit the office or meet in person which is different. As for the camera being off, there isn't a policy on this so you can't force her ultimately, but you don't seem to have expressed to her that you would prefer for her camera to be on, and she clearly hasn't picked up on this unspoken professional expectation most likely because she doesn't sound like she has worked in a professional setting before where there these unspoken work cues that everyone is randomly expected to just know.

I am on the cusp between Millennial and Gen Z so perhaps I can relate to her more and see it from her POV. Be prepared for her to quit if you try and enforce this coming into the office thing - like I said, she will feel like she's been swindled by a job saying they're remote when it isn't and if you impact her performance based on not coming into the office for a contractual remote role, she has the upper hand for you mispresenting the job role if it gets to that. There's plenty of jobs these days offering remote work which is highly desirable amongst this age group and if she has found one, I'm sure she can find another. As for the camera thing, I'd just speak to her informally or drop in a comment like 'Oh is your camera not working?' and see what she says - you can express it's more of a cameras on environment here. I worked in a professional job where no one would ever have their cameras on and if you did turn it on, it would be a big social no no. I moved to another company where it was a social no no to have it off and I didn't realise - not everywhere does things the same and that's just a lack of knowledge on her part but someone needs to at least inform her.

I am this person! However, its purely travel that is the issue for me. I live abroad and it takes me a minimum of 10 hours to get to the office to meet people. My company has socials 4 times a year and I'd planned to go to all, until I realized how awful the travel was. I was honest with them and they were fine about it, but I fully understand how important team building and in person connections are especially when im in a management position so we agreed I'd attend the big Christmas one, get an early flight so I could spend the day in the office.

Obviously a bit different to this situation but im telling it as I agree with the importance of in person meeting occasionally, even if just once a year.

Were the in person's discussed at interview stage and is there anything in the contract? For me the camera off is a non negotiable, I'd have the discussion and tell her that it is how you do things. Especially when working remotely, seeing peoples faces on meetings is so important

Make have her camera on part of her goals. If she is the only one not to have the camera on, point that out to her.

If she only lives an hour away, what's the problem with coming into the office? I live 2 and a half hours away and I come in 1-2 times a week. My contract stipulated 1-2 times a month but in order to integrate with the team a goal states I need to come in more often.

If she is still in her probation period make it clear that it is expected that she turn her camera on and attend the office (unless contract states 100% homeworking) and if she doesn't she'll be let go.

Wow you would have thought she would make an effort!! You seem like a flexible business and not wanting to meet the team is a huge red flag. As you are a people’s business set some rules. For example 1 team meeting a month, cameras on. What’s wrong with people nowadays they communicate by text, no calls, no other interaction. Drives me mad!! If she is in probation just tell her your expectations. It’s not much you are asking for.

OPs contract with her employees is to run the company ,a separate legal entity , to ensure it makes a profit to ensure employees keep their jobs, the bottom line.

OPs recruitment of this employee suggests OP needs training in recruitment skills.

It is not acceptable for a new employee to work against company objectives as a consequence of failure by the company to identify the needs of the job and set it out in the contract.

The contract forms the basis of the interview to assess whether the interviewee has the qualifications and is prepared and willing to accept job requirements including some office attendance and cameras on in meetings.

OP appears to know nothing about this employee so wonder what on earth they talked about during the interview