male and female bosses judged differently? by Alison Green on November 30, 2007 Management Line reports that a new study finds that “female bosses who are seen as unkind or insensitive are judged as worse managers. People, however, are prepared to overlook the same traits displayed by male managers. In other words, male and female managers are judged by different standards.” This adds yet another frustrating layer to […] Read the full article →
Incompetent people may have no idea by Alison Green on November 25, 2007 A fascinating Cornell University study a few years ago found that people who are incompetent tend to dramatically overestimate their own competence, and people who truly are quite competent tend to underestimate their own performance. This makes a certain sense: After all, if you’re incompetent, you’re inherently more likely not to be able to competently […] Read the full article →
offensively low pay increase by Alison Green on November 20, 2007 A reader writes: I’m a 24 year old black female working for in D.C. This is my first job out of college and I’ve enthusiastically worked there for a year and two months. I will admit that I agreed to work for an offensively low hourly-rate when I started (in terms of cost of living […] Read the full article →
announcing an employee is leaving by Alison Green on November 18, 2007 A reader writes: We are a medium size company with around 500 employees. I need your advice on how to handle and communicate the fact that the HR head is quitting without triggering any negativity. (The HR head is an average performer, joined as an Assistant Manager HR 5 years and is now Manager of […] Read the full article →
Carnival of HR by Alison Green on November 15, 2007 The next Carnival of HR is now up at Guerilla HR. Check it out. Read the full article →
deathbed advice by Alison Green on November 14, 2007 I’m taking Etienne at The Happy Employee up on his challenge to list five things I’d tell managers if I were about to die. Here they are: 1. Look for trouble. Assume things will go wrong and poke around to find out what they might be. You’ll often uncover problems this way and have an […] Read the full article →
conducting strong performance evaluations by Alison Green on November 12, 2007 I’m embarrassed to admit that this is the first year I’m giving our managers detailed training on how to conduct good performance reviews. In the past, I’ve sent them forms to use and a few words of encouragement, and not much else. In retrospect, this was a crazy plan, since most people haven’t done many […] Read the full article →
challenges to your ego by Alison Green on November 12, 2007 There’s a brilliant post up today at HR Thoughts about controlling your ego and not getting defensive when your decisions are challenged: “Let’s say that someone comes into your office and questions a policy, practice or procedure of yours. Or, you send an e-mail to communicate some not so great news and one of the […] Read the full article →
Have you planned for a personnel disaster? by Alison Green on November 6, 2007 Seriously, disasters happen. People go AWOL, get seriously ill, leave without notice, get caught embezzling and are escorted out that day, etc. How screwed you will be when that happens depends largely on how well you plan ahead to minimize the impact of such disasters. In my office, we call it the “hit by a […] Read the full article →
using a personal connection when applying for a job by Alison Green on November 6, 2007 A reader writes: I saw an ad on one of the online sites for a job I want to apply for. So I went to the firm’s address and found the job and there was a link to apply. The thing is that I don’t trust the apply online sites. Most of the time, even […] Read the full article →