February 2021

my employee is level 10 drama all the time

A reader writes: I’m the assistant director for a very small company that provides vocational training. Our classes are heavily regulated by the state, and there are a number of additional rules in place due to Covid. We are doing the best we can overall, and thus far it looks like we may be able […]

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how can I convince my employee not to work until 2 AM?

A reader writes: I am a manager who has a great team and several high-performing employees. We are all working from home these days due to COVID. One of my employees in particular will often stay up late into the night working on assignments I have given her. I know this because she will send […]

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I got promoted, but I can’t get a fair salary

A reader writes: I was hired as an entry-level, salaried employee five years ago. After less than a year, a new position was created for me – not a promotion or lateral move, but an entirely new position, one with a different expertise. The salary for my original position was average, and my salary adjustment […]

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our staff aren’t underpaid but think they are

A reader writes: I work at a nonprofit with about 200 staff. Staff constantly bring up how underpaid they are and ask for bonuses, cost-of-living increases, better benefits, everything. They take up a lot of meeting time talking about it, send all-staff emails, badger the board, send nasty emails to any committee that has anything […]

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what are you wearing on work Zoom calls these days?

This post is sponsored by thredUP. So, what are you wearing on Zoom calls for work these days? For a very short time at the beginning of the pandemic, a lot of people on video calls were mirroring what they’d wear in the office – at least from the waist up. And then a lot […]

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update: my new team is taunting me because I have a nut allergy

Remember the letter-writer whose new team was taunting her because of her nut allergy? She had repeatedly found Snickers bars lined up on her desk, and her manager knew and wasn’t stopping it — and thus become a Worst Boss of the Year nominee. Here’s the update. I just wanted to say a massive thank […]

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what to do when a low performer asks for a massive raise

A reader writes: One of my employees has handed me a letter asking for a promotion and a 30% pay raise, detailing their desired new job title and new job description! This letter has shocked me, to say the least, as this person is underperforming in his current role and only last week he and […]

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