February 2023

update: is my future manager a bigoted jerk?

Remember the letter-writer last week who saw her future manager’s bigoted Twitter account and wanted to ask not to report to him? Here’s the update. Thanks for publishing and answering my letter. I actually already have an update! I ended up talking to Willow (my interim manager) about it the day after I emailed you. I […]

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I resent our new hires for setting better work-life boundaries than our company normally has

A reader writes: I am part of a team in a high-pressure industry at a company known for demanding a lot but paying very well in exchange for availability, etc. We purport to provide near-constant availability to our clients, but it’s unclear whether this near-constant availability expectation extends to individual employees for their teams (depends […]

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hairy legs at work, my office sent me a random TV, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Hairy legs at work Recently my work started allowing employees to wear shorts. And within the last few years, I, a 30-something woman, have stopped feeling the need to shave my legs. Which I’m fine with in my everyday life, but still feel reticent about […]

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my employee can’t handle even mildly negative feedback

A reader writes: I’m a manager who recently hired a junior-level employee. I could tell she was sensitive during the interview, which was fine, but didn’t find out until she started working that she has awful, awful anxiety. I feel for her, but she’s struggling to get through her training without things like very mildly […]

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weekend open thread – February 25-26, 2023

This comment section is open for any non-work-related discussion you’d like to have with other readers, by popular demand. Here are the rules for the weekend posts. Book recommendation of the week: None of This Would Have Happened If Prince Were Alive, by Carolyn Prusa. A woman in the midst of evacuating her family for […]

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it’s your Friday good news

It’s your Friday good news! 1.  “In 2019, I found out some of my firm’s clients were… very not aligned with my values (namely, private prison companies). Anxious to get a new job, I jumped into an agency role in a new industry—in January 2020. Looking back, I absolutely ignored some red flags, but I […]

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