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.

Next time stipulate in the contract that remote working is allowed at your discretion but primary place of work is the office. Or something like that. Very odd to have people-facing business and allow 100% remote working.

So, you can't force her to come if she is contracted to work remotely, but you can tell her her attitude creates tension, and you feel that she needs to make more effort to integrate herself with other people. But really, she sounds like she has some mental health / ND issues so maybe this is the reason she is doing that. Its up to you to decide whether her qualities as an employee outweigh her desire not to be part of the team but with her 100% remote contract you cant force her. Though I would probably talk to your lawyer just in case, see if there is anything you could do.

Is there a chance she could be embarrassed about her surroundings or unable to control what happens in the background? As a recent grad who's been jobhunting a while, she may live in share housing and her only private space is her bedroom. Lots of young people at uni and after work from their bedrooms not because they want to, but because it's the only real space they have.

And if it is an expectation she have camera on, you need to be explicit about that, not assume she can read your mind and intuit all a workplace's norms.

At least try spelling things out for her, especially if her work otherwise is good.

All the more reason for her to go into the office, surely.

I just put a fake background on if the room is messy.

I think you absolutely can ask her to have camera on. Just say its compulsory. She can have blur/ background on if she doesn't want to show her surroundings.

There are ways to prevent people seeing your background, it’s a very easy fix which is available in Teams. I work from my bedroom and just add a background to hide my sometimes unmade bed. There are a lot of people in this position as not everyone has a private office at home.

I'm about to turn 50 and I don't really like putting the camera on. I turn it on for my weekly meetings with my line manager, but otherwise it stays off. He's the only person who routinely turns it on. I don't know how people master the art of looking at the camera whilst having an TEAMs conversation, I always shift my focus to my screen looking at the person talking to me or what they are sharing and then of course I am not looking at the camera.

Is she in probation and have you explained about the effect on her team to her? As others have stated, she just might not be aware of the effect and the expectations.

If she’s not on probation, could you change her contract to stipulate going into the office more regularly and when business needs dictate?

Does she have or does she need any reasonable adjustments not to have the camera on? It wouldn’t be uncommon in my large office of 200+ for people to have to their camera off for entire meetings. Some also just put their camera on at the start to say hello and then switch off - they’ll maybe switch back on if speaking but not always. It’s distracting having to look at yourself rather than focus on the content of the meeting and if there’s any chance she’s neurodivergent and hasn’t disclosed this then this could also be why?

Fully remote posts are going to attract fully remote people. This is especially the case for young people who aren’t trying to juggle family life or elderly parents. My nieces and nephews (all in early 20s) have deliberately gone for in-person jobs because they hated remote school/uni during covid and like being around people.

Its interesting. I work in a now large organisation. We have always mandated cameras on in all meetings.
Maybe use the recent coop IT attack as a reason that cameras must always be on.

Employees are now dictating how and when they work. Totally the wrong way round. I'm sure you made her aware of terms and conditions before joining your work place.

I work full time from home for a large corporate and am in the senior lead team for my function. We generally avoid cameras unless meetings are with clients and I manage lots of people I’ve never met and my team have mostly never met each other ( global team, no budget for getting to know you travel). In my opinion it’s old fashioned to assume a team spirit can only be fostered through meet ups and camera free is an issue. If her work is good then maybe just let her get on with it!

yes there are easy fixes if you don't like showing your background, but you'd be amazed how many new grads aren't very good with Teams or Zoom or whatever, especially if all they've ever had to do to use it is click on a calendar invite.

But my main point is, many posters are assuming this person is lazy, taking the piss, or even non-existent, when it's likely she just needs some things spelled out for her in her first proper workplace, remote or not, and maybe a little more understanding about what her circumstances might be. If her work so far is good, I hope OP will give her some more clear messages about other expectations.

We have recently had issues regarding cameras on at work. I feel quite strongly that a camera on initially to great others is important at the bare minimum. In regards to confidentiality, it is important for people to know that the person they are addressing is alone and in a confidential place. A speaker is vulnerable speaking into a wall of blank screens and it also ensures that the person is participating in the thing that they are paid to do. If they turn a camera off during a presentation or when they are not needed, that’s another matter.

My first reaction, if it hasn’t already been said, is I’m astonished OP seems to have appointed her without interviewing in person. She needs to pay an employment solicitor to write her contracts for future appointments.

Inability to conceive of the idea that some people might socialise with other humans who don't have the same employer, seemingly. It's bizarre.

I disagree. I’ve worked with several people of this generation and they just don’t want to participate. Not coming into the office, not turning cameras on, doing the absolute bare minimum at work.

I will get slammed fir this, but so what. There is a lot you can do if she has less than 2 years employment.

"Hi Sally, we have been conducting a business needs review, and I am afraid that whilst we wanted to try out new modesl of working, we find that those are very disruptive to the team cohesion and productivity. I am therefore giving you notice that we will be amending your contractual terms, which will require office attendence three days a week. Can I also let you know that you are expected to have your camera on at all meetings when you are working from home. Thanks"

If she says no, then the follow up is "I am sorry that you have decided that you cannot operate in a fashion that supports our business needs. You leave me no alternative but to give you notice, and your contract will terminate on ....." If you want to be generous you can put her on gardening leave for the notice period so she can look for a job where she doesn't have to work with people.

On Teams you can hide yourself from your own view if that puts you off. I do that so I don’t watch myself speaking. You need to be honest with her.

I am constantly amazed by the number of people (>90% women) who make some lame excuse (hair, make-up, pyjamas) to not have their camera on. Even members of our DEI group.

Create a new mandate at work. Tell everyone that 1/30 people have some form of sight loss in the UK. This number increases massively with older workforce. These people find camera's being on a huge help.

Therefore In the spirit of DEI camera's must be on during meetings, with no exceptions.

I hit on this solution when moaning about it to my DW. She explained what her office (NHS) does.

Maybe she has moved or is working from a beach in Thailand

I have already commented but I find the criticism of this employee for wanting to work remotely odd.

She has a contract that states that she is a REMOTE worker.

It is entirely the company's mistake that they did not give staff hybrid working contracts.

The fact that she lives an hour away is totally irrelevant.

It would be good for her, and even though it might feel like a struggle for her.

We have a team member who is nearing retirement, who since COVID has refused to come into the office, despite it being in her contract. It becomes difficult at those flashpoints where we have to constatnly "include" her meaning we have to have all meetings online when only she is in the office. Whats worse is she is the only member on the team that has oniste duties (training) but she does these online.

Yeah it is you. You don't need to look at her. You just want to. Now if you hold back her career just because she doesnt do things the way youd prefer, you're discriminating against her. You need to separate your preferences from her obligations and responsibilities.

I have not read the whole thread. However, the basics...

If she has been with you for less than 2 years, you can dismiss her for any reason you want provided it is not discriminatory.

As an employee, she is required to comply with reasonable management requests. Requiring her to have her camera on during meetings is definitely reasonable. Requiring occasional attendance in the office is also likely to be reasonable. It sounds like she is not sufficiently valuable to you to mean that you can put up with her current behaviour. You may need to consider if she has some underlying health conditions that are driving this behaviour but, if not, you need to make it clear to her that continued employment is reliant on complying with reasonable management requests.