My new starter wears headphones all day. Am I wrong to ask him to take them off?
The complainant says
I lead a small team of six. A new junior joined three months ago and wears noise-cancelling headphones from the moment he arrives until he leaves. He does good work, but I often have to wave at him or send a message to get his attention from two metres away.
The rest of the team has mentioned it feels antisocial and he's missing out on learning by overhearing things. I asked him to keep them off for at least the mornings. He looked really uncomfortable and said he finds the office overwhelming and concentrates much better with them.
The other side says the new starter, as the complainant tells it
He says the office is open plan and very noisy, the headphones help him focus, and his output shows it's working. He's happy to take them off for meetings and collaborative work, but not to sit without them for hours.
Jury discussion (5 comments)
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His work is good and he's offered to take them off when it matters. That's a pretty reasonable deal.
'Finds the office overwhelming' might be worth a quiet, kind follow-up about whether any adjustments would help.
As someone who wore headphones at my first job: I was not antisocial, I was terrified. Give it time.
Juniors do learn a lot by overhearing. Maybe one earbud out for part of the day?
Or schedule proper time with him instead of relying on overhearing.