Yes, that’s right. But it also depends on the kind of business.
My boss keeps asking me to go to an 8am management meeting in a London office that’s more than four hours’ drive away.
Except there’s no parking, so the better sounding option is a 3.5 hour train ride. First train of the day? 5:30am. Do, as they say, the math.
But the firm won’t pay for a hotel so I can drive up the night before OR get the train, and turn up suited and booted.
I could set off at 3am to guarantee getting there on time but screw that. I’ve had ten years of that nonsense leaving me out of pocket and dead on my feet by midday before I realised that you get no recognition for being a doormat.
. If they want me to show up, they can jolly well pay for the train and hotel. Otherwise they can pound sand.
I make more money for them by telling them I’m not bothering to attend the meeting because I end up roing something more productive instead. So currently they’ve got nothing to complain about.
So in this story it’s not about the employer or the gen-Zer having an overblown sense of entitlement, the real question is how non-vitally unimportant was that meeting. What’s more important - keeping your customers happy and getting some sales and making a profit, or dragging your staff out of bed for a pointless exercise in presenteeism that actually costs them AND YOU money?
If it’s an important meeting, hold it after work not before. Throw in some pizza. I mean, this ain’t rocket science. Getting everyone home after finishing at 8pm is a heck of a lot easier than getting them all in for an 8am meeting.
A meeting 4 hours away calls for exactly what you’re asking for; travel expenses, per diem, and an overnight stay the night before. Plus the lost productivity of four more hours of return travel after the meeting.