⚠️ 𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗵𝘆𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗱 𝗺𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹. 𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲.
And your new hires are paying the price for it.
So, you’ve got a hybrid policy.
It looks good on paper.
Flexibility. Trust. Autonomy.
But someone new joins the business…
And they barely speak.
They’re camera-off.
They’re not picking anything up.
And 3 months later - you’re “managing performance.”
But what you never did was manage the environment.
Here’s what you’re missing:
↳ They’re working from a noisy shared flat, or their childhood bedroom
↳ They don’t know who to go to for help
↳ No one taught them how to build work relationships online
↳ They haven’t been shown what good looks like - just told “you’ll pick it up”
But you’re calling it flexibility.
One of our tech clients came to us frustrated.
They had onboarded three graduate hires remotely.
All three were showing signs of disengagement -
Late responses.
Missed instructions.
No initiative.
One had already been flagged for performance concerns.
But the manager admitted:
“I’ve never actually met them properly.”
They weren’t facing a performance issue.
They were facing an invisibility issue.
So we got involved.
Here’s what we did:
↳ Rebuilt their onboarding to prioritise connection, not just compliance
↳ Assigned a buddy + visible team sponsor from day one
↳ Added structured check-ins daily in week 1, then weekly
↳ Introduced soft-signal monitoring for disengagement triggers
↳ Trained line managers on proactive communication and virtual inclusion
The result?
✔️ The flagged employee hit all targets within 6 weeks
✔️ Manager confidence restored across all new starters
✔️ Onboarding satisfaction scores jumped by 44%
✔️ Hybrid retention improved quarter-on-quarter
✔️ And the company rewrote how it supports junior remote staff, with purpose
This isn’t about blaming young people for “not getting it.”
It’s about fixing the system they walk into.
If your hybrid model doesn’t account for personal realities, then it’s not flexibility.
It’s just neglect with a nicer name.
We don’t fix problems once they blow up.
We stop them happening in the first place - as your all-inclusive HR department for less than minimum wage.
If you're ready to get to the root of the issues without handing out red cards all the time, then I'd love to speak.
Let’s fix the structure before you lose the talent.
Book a chat into my diary:
https://lnkd.in/eSXgRSX5
♻️ REPOST to help your network lead with intention
▶︎ Follow Tina S. Rahman for blunt HR and leadership truths
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A great article by People Management magazine by Katie Jacobs
Founder of HR Habitat, award winner of "Best HR & Employment Law Consultancy, 2024" title. As featured in BBC Oline, BBC Asian Network Radio, Telegraph & more.
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