[evercast]

Umm... This is a US-based job, right? As someone based in Europe, I find it absolutely shocking you have been requested to work ahead of your start date. This is not even eligible for asking if it's a red flag. It's insane.

edit: I see other commenters are like "well, standard practice, not necessarily that terrible". Am I living in a bubble or is it just Europe?

[oceliker]

I think people see it as a manager being kind and trying to involve their future employee in decisions that will impact them directly. (Assuming they are not expected to be actively leading the calls…)

I can envision a scenario where someone could complain for not being included in these conversations. Imagine you start a new job and the manager says “btw, we signed a contract with this vendor two weeks ago, so this is the tool you’ll use for the next three years. We thought about asking your input, but you technically weren’t an employee then.”

[brundolf]

Tone matters a lot here. There’s a huge difference between “You’re welcome to join these calls if you like, since it will impact how you work once you start” vs “We need you to be on these calls [with pushback/pressuring if you don't want to]”. This sounds like the latter, which is definitely not “being kind”.

[pydry]

I can't imagine anybody complaining about the second scenario being given an iota of sympathy.

[rtkaratekid]

There is basically zero chance I would do these calls prior to an agreed on start date. I spend enough of my life working already.

[ianai]

This is not acceptable in the US either. You’re paid for your time by law.

[DnDGrognard]

Not for salaried (exempt) roles your not

[aeternum]

It's not really standard but can definitely happen with smaller companies < 1000. They are less well organized and probably didn't get the role filled in time so are trying to speed ramp-up.

You can always say no or provide strict times where you can help and typically there aren't any hard feelings.

[tasogare]

Yes this is crazy. Starting date means what it means, before that one is not in the job.

[guitarbill]

Some cultures have problems setting work/life boundaries. Because it is a cultural attitude, often it never occurs to some people they can say "no", or others are scared to. Which if maybe understandable if e.g. your medical insurance depends on your employer, but it's still messed up...

Fun fact though, many US employment contracts also insanely long and come with many restrictions. I don't see why you wouldn't just say "my current contract doesn't allow this, and it's probably in new company's interest to have a clean transition for IP law's sake" or some other vague reason

[aronpye]

> … many US employment contracts also insanely long …

Most US employees are employed “at will” and don’t have contracts …

[smattiuz]

Agreed. I've had requests ahead of start dates and it was not a problem for those I turned down; accepting/attending has always been optional and appreciated, but nothing more than that.

[Eldt]

This would not be accepted in Europe

[phendrenad2]

This isn't common in America, that's false information.