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.

Awww except I do, and I do very well in my role. I work hybrid and travel, but I also work with remote colleagues and have been remote in the past. It’s a skill.

Has the OP.literally.never seem her face ....ever ?

But how? They can participate vocally or by using chat. Just because they're not on camera it doesn't mean they're not joining in.

It makes people suspicious and more temptation to skive. She's likely on her phone.

I stated at a guess. Always best to be prepared. If it's not the case then all the better and that's great!!!

Not at all, I didn't share it with anyone and the only reason I did now was because, sadly, I attended his funeral last month, and to try and help the OP not make the same mistake as I did.

They don’t mean you sharing it on here (although I don’t think you should have), they mean you going to his address in the first place - which you know is just because you were being nosey! Things like that are literally only acceptable when there’s safeguarding concerns and other avenues ie, phoning the individual, contacting their emergency contact, have been done. Which you didn’t do. It’s more than just a bad move, it’s a breach of data ethics - and just general ethics!

Well it was a very long time ago before the world went mad so don't let it worry you!

What does your employee handbook say about cameras on calls? If nothing, could you get it added in?

Have you fired her yet @outofofficeon ?

There's far too many posts suggesting fannying around trying to cajole this new hire into becoming a good team member.

As several of us have said, get her fired and get someone else while you can before she really gets her feet under the table and shows her true colours once you can't bin her so easily.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/czVOuXXS7Pg

Seems all my feeds want to talk about Gen-Z now ....

But not if she if she is perfectly productive WFH, surely?

This reaction is totally lacking in nuance. OP could end up cutting loose a perfectly able staff member. I haven't read anywhere that he is unhappy with her work, just frustrated that she is sticking absolutely to her WFH contract and doesn't see the need to turn on her camera or attend the office.

I definitely think it's worth taking the time to discuss the issues and any misunderstandings/barriers to her fulfilling more of a hybrid role since that seems to be what OP wants, despite employing her on a WFH contract.

After all, part of the fault lies with a mismatch between OP's expectations and the WFH contract, so fault on both sides, I would say.

I hope they are able to work it out to their mutual satisfaction as it would be a shame for her to lose her employment due to mismatched expectations and a lack of will and imagination to find solutions.

A la poubelle! Just kidding. I mean, I'd add the camera on policy to the employee handbook and would try and show her why it's important to visit the office occasionally. Although I do think a lot of companies require employees to come to the office for no logical reason, but I'm guessing that's not the case here. If she doesn't comply, a la poubelle. She probably won't change.

Did she attend an actual F2F interview? Have you / anyone from your company ever met her at all? Spoken to her, via 'Teams' or similar, or in person? Personally I don't like being 'on camera', but would not expect to be 'invisible' to my employer. Can you arrange meet somewhere neutral, just for an informal chat

It’s not about the world going mad. You’re not a good manager, and it looks like your morals are very low too. Glad I don’t have to suffer anyone like you in my life. Data protections (as a concept) been around since the 70s, but I doubt you care much. Your need to pry clearly outweighs anything and everything else.

@party4you You obviously didn't read this thread thoroughly. I said I had shared it here so as the OP didn't make the same mistake as I had. And I'm not getting into an argument with someone who doesn't know anything about me and makes assumptions without all the facts as I had also said cut a long story short. So go and make yourself a hot beverage and chill.

Surely a manager would have been aware if an employee had had a serious accident?

Wasn't taken on by me and wasn't in personel file.

She lives an HOUR away and refuses to come in, ever, and you offered to pay for a hotel (why?) and she still refused? That seems bizarre and unreasonable unless there is something else at play.

the camera not on thing is ridiculous, you need to remind her firnly. Dear god, in the current climate she should be a damn sight more obliging than she is.

im a big fan of WFH but her attitude and refusal to travel for an hour (an hour!) is damaging it for the rest of us, so disappointing.

She lives an HOUR away and refuses to come in, ever, and you offered to pay for a hotel (why?)

Because her place of work is her home. Which is true WFH.

If their behaviour is causing your team to fail that needs to be addressed. It doesn’t necessarily mean your expectation of having their camera on and attending office is the solution but if that isn’t an acceptable solution to them then you need to figure out a solution together. If that can’t be done then maybe it is more reasonable for them to not pass their probation as they are not helping the team achieve their targets.

You could perhaps send out a mass email reminding staff that it is mandatory to use cameras during meetings. In a nice but authorative way. Also you need to say " Gemma, I need you to come in to the office for a few days this week. I feel it's important for us all to meet up for staff morale as well as for the type of job we do" or something along those lines. I always remember a trainee being in my work and they were asked " do you want to go outside with the kids" and the trainee said no. That they were happy inside. It wasn't meant to be a question so our team had training on explaining that we are telling them to do it, not asking so need to use the correct wording. " I need you to go outside with the kids" hope this helps or that you already sorted it.

Did you ask why he doesn't put his camera on?

Yes, said he didn't have one.