April 2022

interesting jobs: interview with an ombuds

I was recently contacted by someone from the International Ombuds Association, suggesting that Ask a Manager readers might be interested in learning about the work that ombuds (previously called ombudsmen) do. I learned a little more, and it is fascinating! Ombuds help employees navigate workplace conflicts and organizational processes, including helping them identify their concerns […]

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I found out my employee is job-hunting

A reader writes: I ran into a former employee, Cindy, at an association event for my field. Cindy casually mentioned that she is in a job hunting group with Jane, a woman I manage. Apparently it is a very active group — they meet weekly, set goals for numbers of jobs researched and applied to, […]

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I’m not productive every single minute of every day

A reader writes: Recently, our vice president decided she wanted to start time tracking for our department. She has positioned this as wanting to gain a better understanding of which of our internal clients are taking up the most of our time, and what type of work we are doing, which I can definitely see […]

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Administrative Professionals Day is weird

Administrative Professionals Day is Wednesday, and it’s time for it to go. If it were used to draw attention to the need for administrative support staff to be paid fairly, that would be great. But too often it’s a day where admins receive flowers and lunch, then return to jobs where their contributions are undervalued […]

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