{"id":4620,"date":"2025-05-08T19:54:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-08T19:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=4620"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:42:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:42:17","slug":"rto-has-a-steep-learning-curve-for-young-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/rto-has-a-steep-learning-curve-for-young-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"RTO Has a Steep Learning Curve for Young Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Daniel Butcher <\/a><\/p>\r\n

Many young employees, some of whom graduated during the COVID-19 pandemic or took on a fully remote role after graduation, never experienced integrating with\u2014and thriving in\u2014an office culture. Pandemic or no, young professionals often experience a learning curve in transitioning to becoming a professional. They have to figure out how to bond with fellow employees, make a good impression on management, and act professionally in an office.<\/p>\r\n

Academy of Management Scholar Jessica Methot<\/a> of Rutgers University and the University of Exeter said that many early-career workers haven\u2019t been fully socialized into their employer’s culture. The quality of organizations\u2019 onboarding procedures varies widely.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cOne of the concerns that we\u2019ve been hearing a lot from newer employees is they weren\u2019t onboarded effectively,\u201d Methot said. \u201cThey\u2019re brought into a new role, but they don\u2019t get a chance to meet the team, develop a rapport with their boss, or form relationships with this team to build trust and learn how to collaborate effectively with them.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cMaybe they worked remotely when they were hired into the organization, and then\u2014all of a sudden\u2014they\u2019re brought back to the workspace, and now they have to reevaluate how they were interacting with these individuals and almost create new relationships with them,\u201d she said. \u201cThe pandemic created this disruption to our understanding of how to interact, and so it calls into question what types of information do recent hires require?<\/p>\r\n

\u201cHow are we socializing these new employees to help them navigate the social norms and political landscape of the organization? How do they build a relationship with their supervisor or their direct reports when they never meet in person, and then, what does that look like if a group of them is required to come back to the office? It\u2019s really disruptive.\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n

A sample of Methot\u2019s AOM research findings:<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n