my company has no reporting structure and no training

A reader writes:

I work for a professional services company that currently has no real reporting structure and it’s driving me insane. The company is relatively new and for the first few years, it was about five people who all functioned as one team: my boss, Malcolm; his second-in-command, Wash; and several junior staff working under them.

The company grew very fast and in about two-three years went from five people to 15. Malcolm is still the director, Wash and I are managers, there are three people with the “team lead” title, and then about eight junior staff.

The problem is that Malcolm still treats the company as one whole team. Neither Wash nor I have any direct reports, the team leads don’t have an actual team that they lead, and the junior staff work with a mix of supervisors. For example, Junior A might work with all three team leads on different projects, but Junior B only works with one team lead. Some of the juniors work directly with Wash or myself on a regular basis, and some don’t work with either of us at all.

New projects are assigned by Malcolm to all levels more or less at random, based on either who last said they could take on more work or who Malcolm thinks is best able to handle more work. Wash and I usually get no input, though we don’t know most of the staff well enough to offer an opinion, anyway.

This system makes it impossible to effectively manage any of the staff or provide any coaching, because nobody has a whole picture of the work anybody is doing. It’s so bad that I once had to conduct a performance appraisal for a junior who I had never spoken to. You can imagine how helpful that meeting was for her.

To top it all off, our company has an absolutely horrendous onboarding/training system and new staff get minimal support and even less proper training on how to do the work. “Trial by fire” is an apt phrase to describe it, as the new juniors are given a task, shown the basics of how to use the software we work in, and then pretty much left to figure it out themselves and ask questions if they can’t. I went through a similar “training” when I started and it’s incredibly intimidating and demoralizing to be forced to interrupt a superior multiple times a day with questions.

This has created a situation where I end up doing a lot of team lead or even junior work because I have so many tight deadlines each month that I just don’t have the time to properly train the juniors I do work with so that they can do it instead. I hate this, because I know that I’m failing them as a manager and I would love to sit down and train them properly, but then we’d miss deadlines or I’d have to work a ton of overtime that I just can’t as the mother of a two-year-old.

I’ve tried multiple times to bring all these issues to Malcolm’s attention. I’ve told him that I can’t do my job effectively. I’ve explained why our lack of training/support is causing juniors to work so slowly and with so many errors. I’ve prepared a whole proposal for how a proper reporting structure would benefit the company and make us more efficient, even putting it in terms of improved profit margins to see if tying the changes to the bottom line would have an impact. Malcolm just says things like, “I’d like to do an analysis of the pros and cons” or “there are some interesting ideas here” and then nothing happens. Wash is a peacekeeper in this regard and tries to bolster both sides, saying things like, “I agree with everything you’ve said about improvements but I haven’t really experienced the problems you’re talking about.”

I’ve been trying to change things for months and I’m at my wits’ end. I like the people I work with and the work that I do, but I also feel like I’m constantly failing the junior staff and my output on client deliverables isn’t where I want it to be because I’m so rushed all the time.

Do you have any advice about changes that I could make to improve things for the juniors without a full organizational overhaul? Or maybe an approach to try with my boss that’s different from what I’ve already tried? Or do I just need to cut my losses and walk away?

Cut your losses and walk away.

You’ve already made the case to Malcolm for doing things differently, multiple times. He’s unmoved. Wash says he doesn’t even see the problems you’re talking about, so he’s not going to push for change.

This is the way they want to run their firm.

There actually are a lot of professional services firms that run on something similar to this model, where junior staff are regularly shuffled to different projects and don’t have a clear reporting relationship. Usually, though, there’s still someone assigned to review their work and give feedback, even if that person varies by project, and there’s still someone charged with evaluating their overall performance. In other words, there’s still a structure, even though it can mean that a person’s manager doesn’t have a ton of first-hand exposure to their day-to-day work. It’s a weird model, but it works for a lot of firms. The difference here is that your junior staff don’t seem to have any reporting relationships at all, compounded by the complete lack of training. Although frankly, you could probably get away with the lack of clear reporting structure if you had real training happening. The lack of either is a disaster.

Normally I would say that it’s possible that this is just growing pains. Often when an organization grows very quickly from a small size to something bigger, there’s a period where they’re still trying to use the systems that worked for them at the smaller size, and it can take a while to see and accept that those systems (or, more often, lack of systems) don’t work for them at the larger size. But at some point they generally realize, “Whatever it was that got us here, it’s not sufficient for where we are now” and they start to professionalize and put in systems more suited for the new, larger size. Your organization is just … not doing that.

And it’s not because it hasn’t been pointed out to them. You’ve tried to point it out, repeatedly. They’re not interested in changing the things they need to change.

That’s why it’s time to cut your losses and walk away. Not only is this going to be endlessly frustrating for you — as it’s already become — but it’s likely to hold you back in some pretty significant professional ways. You’re not going to be able to grow and develop when you’re constantly in this crush. You already feel like you can’t do your job effectively. That’s not a good situation to stay in long-term.

Take what you got from working there and find your next step somewhere else.

update: an employee is out to get my star performer, and no one else cares

Remember the letter-writer who managed a star performer who was being targeted by a coworker and no one else in the company’s leadership cared? Here’s the update.

First, the best news! Tina earned a huge promotion to a different department a couple of weeks after you published my letter. She’s now an AVP for retail sales strategy. It came with a big raise, annual bonus, and an extra two weeks of PTO. I still chuckle when I think how much more money we are paying her than if we would have just given her the 5 on her performance review. I’m glad she’s out of our area though; this is a better fit where she can get a fresh start with new people. We still work on the same campus and get lunch together sometimes.

As for me, I hate to admit it but I’m having a much better time since Tina left. I no longer have to deal with Dave’s constant complaints and Jen has proven to be a competent colleague now that Tina is out of the picture. I’m trying to move on and foster a good (if not cautious) working relationship with Jen.

Unfortunately Dave is still targeting Tina. A nasty rumor that she was fired started up right after she left. I was able to shut it down but shortly after that rumor was quashed, Tina let me know that Dave had suddenly tried to follow or connect with her on every social media account she had. She declined and blocked him but then kept getting a stranger every couple of days doing the same things. She believes it’s Dave and had to lock down all her social media accounts. I don’t know why he is still so weirdly fixated on her.

Before Tina’s promotion, Mike announced he was leaving for another company and introduced his replacement, “Maria.” In a weird way that made me feel better since if he’s had a foot out the door then his cavalier attitude makes more sense. Then in early March Hank the VP left quite suddenly with no one lined up in the role. The rumors are wild but I have no idea what happened.

Maria has a fierce, no-nonsense leadership style that’s helped the department improve drastically. Jen’s really taken to her as well and has put some distance between herself and Dave. I didn’t realize Jen was an analyst with Dave for eight years and was newly promoted just before Tina was transferred. She’s since learned she has to put managing Dave ahead of their prior friendship. Maria’s also helped me learn how to better navigate personality-based feedback and see my missteps. I passed on a lot of Dave’s complaints anonymously to Tina before I confirmed they were false. I rushed off to Tina with Jen’s feedback and didn’t take the time to understand the background. I’ve learned a lot and will do better going forward.

let’s discuss sacred office supplies

Thanks to a reader for this idea: “What supplies or equipment at your office are as untouchable as a holy relic, despite having no discernible function in the 21st century? What supplies do people inexplicably hoard, or somehow lead to epic battles for control?”

Let’s discuss in the comment section.

should we have “fun” out-of-office messages, managers trash-talk my old job, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Should we really have “fun” out-of-office messages?

At a company-sponsored women’s networking event last year, a speaker suggested that people should make their out-of-office messages more “fun” — i.e., include details about where you’re going, who you’re going with, fun facts about the location, etc. The thought was it would make you seem more human to the receiver, and they would then be more likely to respect your time off.

I find this advice grating for a few reasons:
– It’s too much information to read through. I just need to know when you’ll be back and who to contact in the meantime.
– I don’t think you should need to know what I’m doing with my time off in order to respect it.
– The fact that this advice was given at a women’s event for a very conservative, male-dominated industry adds an extra layer of ick I’ve not been quite able to put words to.

I’ve talked to a few folks around the office, and reactions have been mixed — some feel it’s too much, and others think it’s fun and I’m being a fuddy-duddy. This is obviously something I can just opt of of, but I just need to know: Is this a thing? Am I totally off-base here? Am I a fuddy-duddy?

You are not a fuddy-duddy.

People rarely read an out-of-office message and think, “Why didn’t she say more about why she’s out sick?” or “But who is going on vacation with her?” or “I wonder why she chose Yellowstone.” And while some people might enjoy reading that your destination in the Bahamas is “home to the world’s largest underwater sculpture,” a lot of other people are going to think, “Cool, but I really just want to know when you’ll be back.” There’s nothing wrong with including something personal (within reason — “I’m on my honeymoon! I’ll be back on the 23rd” is fine) but what the speaker is recommending is overkill and likely to come across as cheesy or odd.

The idea that people will be less likely to respect your time off if you don’t include extra info is bizarre — and it feels like the speaker is telling on themselves a bit there.

It’s extra gross at a women’s event because it plays into the deeply problematic idea that women need to put in extra effort to soften or pep up their communications (“humanize yourself! the most important thing for you is to make other people feel good so be warm! but not too warm or someone will take it the wrong way! no, not like that!”), a burden that’s placed on men far less often.

2. My new managers trash-talk my old job

I started a new job at a charity recently, after leaving the government sector where I’d worked for 10 years. My two managers keep referring to my past experience in negative terms, like “you’ll find things are very different here, we don’t do things the slacker way like where you used to work.”

My new job is actually extremely similar to my old job with the exact same software and processes (and I have a qualification in this area). I’m trying hard to learn the way of the charity and have been getting great feedback. Despite this, comments are made about how I feel to be working in “the real world, where we actually work hard.” But I’m a diligent worker and put in a lot of effort at my old government job and likewise in my new job.

My manager once worked at the government department I’ve just left, so I think he has a chip on his shoulder from his experience there many years ago. In my interview, he asked whether I’m a self-starter because everyone he knew at my old workplace couldn’t think for themselves and was lazy. I was taken aback at this, but I just calmly explained what a diligent worker I am.

I’m getting upset at the constant digs, and this is still being brought up six months after I started. It’s especially frustrating that I’ve been getting great feedback but feel I constantly have to prove myself because of my employment history.

This is Extremely Weird.

It might be interesting to say something like, “You keep mentioning that. Do you have concerns about my work ethic? I’d want to be able to address it if so.” Sometimes taking something like this very much at face value and responding accordingly will highlight how weird the other person is being, and it’s possible that framing it that way could nudge them to stop.

Or you could say, “I can’t speak for other teams, but the team I was on wasn’t like that. I’m surprised to hear you say that so often.”

Or you could just internally roll your eyes and keep in mind that while it’s possible that they had bad experiences with your old department, their constant harping on it is a tell that there’s something weird going on with them and it’s not about you.

3. How can I help an employee without money for food?

I am a supervisor of a team of about 15 in a large organization. One of my direct reports has disclosed to me that she is experiencing food insecurity and relies on charity for her groceries. I suspect she is not eating three meals a day. I would like to assist her but I don’t know how to go about it. I am not able to give her a raise and due to medical issues she is not able to work more hours. An added layer to this situation is that she used to be in the role which I am now in but had to step down due to these medical issues. I don’t want to come across as patronizing and I don’t want to break her confidence by reaching out to anyone in our organization about her circumstances. Are you able to give me advice about how I can help?

Would you be up for giving her an occasional gift card to grocery stores or similar? If you think it would make her feel more comfortable, you could say that someone gave it to you but you don’t normally shop there, or it showed up in your mail and you thought of her … or you could just say, “People helped in me in the past and I’d be grateful to be able to pay it forward.”

Beyond that, is your sense that your organization would assist her in some way if they knew? If so, I think it’s okay to talk to someone discreetly (someone who you trust to also handle it discreetly) and find out what options might be available. I appreciate you not wanting to break her confidence, but I’d put this in the category of “manager acting to help an employee” and sometimes that does involve looping someone else in (assuming she didn’t explicitly say you shouldn’t share it with anyone).

4. Can I ask to be laid off with severance?

I’ve been working for my employer for seven years, with three in a specialized role that did not exist before I pushed for its creation. We provide marketing services for other agencies, and I am the lone employee who creates any kind of marketing content for our organization.

Yesterday, I was told by the CEO that the marketing department (which consists of me, my manager, and a C-suite exec) was being restructured and my role was essentially being eliminated. I was told that I would be transferred to an operations role that I have virtually no experience in and that is, in my opinion, a huge step back professionally. My salary will remain the same, but this role has significantly less autonomy and is far below my skill set. Typically, it’s more of an entry-level role.

While my CEO says the hope is that this move is only temporary, I have no faith that that’s true. The company has historically struggled with lead generation and they’ve cited that the lack of leads is prompting this move. (For the record, I have never been held responsible for this or had any indication in my overwhelmingly positive performance evaluations that this was under my purview.) I fail to see how eliminating this marketing role will help them turn things around, but my larger concern is that this move will take a massive toll on my mental health and my ability to even look for new employment opportunities. The role has unrealistic productivity performance metrics with a high probability of burnout, and I would essentially have to learn an entirely new role that isn’t aligned with my experience or professional goals.

I have it on good authority that the company recently offered severance to an underperforming employee (far less senior than me) as an alternative to a demotion. This former employee ended up taking neither option, which makes me wonder whether there might be an opportunity for me to suggest a layoff with severance instead. The company has been actively trying to avoid layoffs, and part of me feels that the CEO is trying to do the “right” thing by finding a way to keep me employed. I recognize this might not be the smart thing to do, given the current state of the job market, but I do wonder whether there’s any precedent for this. If the worst they can say is no, do I really have anything to lose by asking? I don’t want to let my ego convince me to make the wrong decision, but I feel so depressed about the idea of having to make this transition at work, even temporarily.

You can absolutely try to negotiate a layoff with severance! You could frame it as, “I appreciate you trying to find another role for me, but I’m not sure this one makes sense for me professionally. Would you be open to structuring this as a layoff with severance instead?”

You will probably lose a bit of your leverage on the amount of severance since they know you don’t want the other job, but not necessarily. And you could ask for a specific amount up-front so you’re anchoring the discussion with a specific number from the get-go. Or if they’ve done layoffs before and you’d be happy with the amount of severance people got then, you could ask for it to be matched now.

5. Do I have to tell my interviewers if I’m fired in the middle of a hiring process?

I have been put on an action plan at work. I don’t think they sincerely wish me to improve and I’ve also lost motivation. I am looking for a new job. My question is, if I get let go and I am in the middle of an interview process, do I have to disclose I am no longer working? I know I should be truthful if directly asked, but what if they don’t ask me?

You don’t need to proactively disclose it. If they ask if you’re still employed there, you should be honest — and you shouldn’t talk about the job in the present tense if you’re no longer there — but you don’t need to go out of your way to announce it either.

Related:
I lied to my interviewer about being employed

should our office kick everyone out at 5 pm?

A reader writes:

I would like to ask you and your readers about a discussion my organization had about working late. I don’t work in the office late. I have worked late at home occasionally, but I do not stay in the office longer than close of business. Some team members do though, to a ridiculous extent. In other teams it varies. One team during the pandemic worked late frequently, but I understand that they’ve now returned to normal.

In a staff meeting and in my own team’s meetings, I’ve suggested that the organization could use a policy set by the controversial entrepreneur Alan Sugar. His rule was that work ends at 5 pm and that everyone had to be out of the building at 5:15. The book I read said that he enforced this rule by having security always lock up at 5:15. However, the wording I’ve used in meetings is that Sugar had staff kicked out of the office at 5:00.

I presume that any part-time employees would have their hours strictly enforced too, but the book only seems to cover the full-time staff.

Whichever way you phrase it, the rule was that staff were only allowed to work in their contracted hours. Everyone had five working days, 9-5 each week and no more. If they hadn’t finished a task by close of business on Friday, they’d have to finish on Monday. Apparently, it encouraged good timekeeping at the expense of making everyone nervous in the last 10 minutes of the day.

My organization’s staff network believes that such a policy would not always be practical, but it would certainly encourage staff to consider work-life balance and to think carefully before working late.

Just so that you know, I have never missed a deadline and I have often received compliments for the standard of my work. So, what do you think of this policy?

I like the intent, but the execution is impractical.

For one thing, it would make flexibility completely impossible. A lot of people like being able to flex their hours — coming in late after an appointment and staying a little later to make up that work, or to working a different schedule than 9-5 if the nature of their work permits it.

Plus, in many jobs, there’s an ebb and flow to the work — this week is busy so I’m going to be staying later, but next month is slower so I’ll knock off early a bunch of days. A lot of people want the autonomy to manage their own schedules and workflow that way, and the nature of many jobs permits it.

There are also jobs where it’s inherent to the work is that sometimes something urgent will come up at the end of the day and it has to be dealt with or there could be serious consequences (think PR, law, tech, and a zillion other fields — although I’m guessing you’re not in one of those or this would be an obvious no-go).

This is also likely to just spur people to work from home at night when they might prefer to just stay a little later to finish and then have a clean break once they go home.

All that said … is a strict 9-5 system better than jobs that expect people to work unsustainably long hours and have no time to themselves? Of course, and I can see how it would look really good to people who are dealing with the latter. But the choice isn’t between those two starkly different options. A healthy organization can ensure workloads are sustainable and people are able to disconnect from work, without employing this kind of rigidity. If your organization isn’t doing that, that’s a problem … but it can be solved with a less blunt instrument.

I found a perfect candidate — do I need to interview others?

A reader writes:

I recently posted a position that’s a bit above entry-level. People from various backgrounds could do well in the role, but I had a pretty specific profile in mind when I wrote the job description. I was thinking I’ll never find someone who checks all these boxes, but I did! This person has the right education, the right work experience, lives in the right place, and comes with a glowing recommendation from a former colleague who I couldn’t respect more. Our first phone conversation was the professional equivalent of a great first date. We’re even on the same page about salary (I took your advice and gave our range up-front).

I haven’t interviewed anyone else yet. I know best practice is to talk to several candidates, but I just can’t get excited about any of the other resumes in my inbox. Do I need to keep looking even though I think I’ve found “the one”?

I answer this question — and three others — over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here.

Other questions I’m answering there today include:

  • Client’s employee talks all day long outside my office
  • Can I ask job candidates if they’ve ever disparaged an employer online?
  • My coworker can’t remember my name

my coworker is spreading a rumor that I have bulimia

A reader writes:

I really need some unbiased advice here as I am really struggling with a situation at my job but at the same time love my position and don’t want to leave.

I’ve been at my current job for just over two years. Initially, I really enjoyed my job and my coworkers, but over the past few months the office secretary, Marcia, has started to make multiple comments regarding my appearance and what I eat. She has made comments regarding dresses I wear, claiming they are not work appropriate ( even though they are turtleneck, maxi, sweater dresses), made comments about how much I eat, comments about how little I eat, and so on.

These comments had started to chip away at my morale, but the most recent incident has me completely baffled.

We were having a company luncheon at which all of my colleagues were present. Midway through the lunch, I notice Marcia making odd looks at my plate, motioning to her boss (the VP) to look at my plate, and such. Finally, I asked her what she was looking at as I could genuinely feel her stare from across the table. She proceeded to tell me, in front of all of my colleagues and the VP (!) that I reminded her of a girl she knew with bulimia. I was so taken aback that I stood up, threw my food out, and left.

Multiple lower-level managers, including my boss, asked me about the incident and I responded that I was obviously offended and would not be attending any food-related work events. I did hear from my boss that when Marcia was spoken to (by him, not her boss) she said the only reason I was offended was because I must actually have bulimia!

Fast forward a few weeks, I am finally starting to forget about the incident, and suddenly Marcia storms into my office, raises her voice at me, and tells me that I need to stop discussing her comments regarding my bulimia (!) and that people do not like that I keep bringing it up. An important fact to note is that I’ve only ever discussed the incident when asked about it. Her boss, the VP, then came over to my office to state that while the way she “apologized” was not acceptable, he really needs to work culture here to remain good! From his statement I sort of got the feeling he was telling me to stop talking about the issue as well.

A few weeks have passed and I’m really having trouble getting over this. Is there anything I can do about to make sure Marcia doesn’t continue spreading these hurtful rumors even though multiple weeks have passed since the initial incident? It seems the VP and the rest of the office (minus my boss and immediate coworker) have her back and are doing nothing to rectify the situation. Furthermore, I have lost all trust in the local leadership and am not sure how to move on from this. Note, we do have a small HR team but they are not local.

What is up with Marcia?!

Aside from being off-the-charts rude and obnoxious, Marcia’s actions are also creating a legal liability for your company. If you actually were bulimic, Marcia would be creating a hostile environment over a disability — and in fact, the law protects you even if you’re just perceived as having a disability (regardless of whether or not you actually do). By attempting to convince people that you have an eating disorder, Marcia risks triggering the Americans with Disabilities Act, and that could have significant ramifications for your company.

Two next steps:

1. Go back to your VP and say this: “I thought about our conversation and I’d love to put this to rest — but to do that, Marcia needs to stop commenting on my food and clothing and spreading false rumors about my health. Can you help with that?”

2. I also suggest getting in touch with HR. It doesn’t matter that they’re not local; this is the type of thing that any decent HR department wants to be looped in on, and they would want to hear about it now, not after Marcia has handed you a legal cause of action.

I’m also curious about your other coworkers and whether you can enlist any of them in shutting Marcia down if they hear her talking about you. Ideally you’d have a few — or even just one very assertive one — who will say things like “that’s really inappropriate” and “wow, why would you say something like that?” if she tries commenting on your food or clothing again.

Last, where’s your boss in all this? If there was ever a time for a manager to advocate for someone on her team, it’s when they’re being harassed by a coworker and no one else thinks it’s a big deal.

company wants me to tell my current job I’m interviewing with them, telling a former intern to honor time commitments, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Potential job wants me to tell my current job I’m interviewing with them

I had an initial phone interview today with one of current company’s vendors. This vendor provides the software that tracks all the manufacturing and inventory activities for the product we make.

They told me that because I work for one of their clients and they want to maintain good relationships and not have people think they poach employees, at some point in the process they will require that I tell our COO and CEO. I didn’t fully clarify at this point when they would want me to do that, but it was said to be before the offer stage.

I understand their point of view, but if the COO (who is my grandboss and previous direct boss) and CEO find out that I applied for this job and I don’t then get the position and stay at my company, I will be iced out. It will be a subtle icing out, but it would torpedo any of my chances of advancement. They are absolutely the type where once you do something that they feel crosses them in some way, you are written off. I would be okay telling them if I knew I was going to get an offer and that I was going to accept said offer, but I don’t want to tell them before that. Oddly, if I just got the job and left, they would be fine and no bridges burned. It’s more if they know you want out but then don’t leave that things become a problem.

How do I go about navigating this with the company I’m interviewing with? I’d like to tell them I have to have something concrete before I tell the COO and CEO. But what if they insist I can’t move forward without doing this first?

Yeah, it’s absolutely not in your interests to agree to that. It may be in theirs, but you’re the one who needs to worry about your livelihood and quality of life at work. You should stand firm on this. Tell them, “I understand where you’re coming from, but sharing that we’re talking before anything is finalized could make my life here very difficult if I don’t ultimately end up coming to work for you. I’d need to wait until we’re at the offer stage before talking with them, but of course at that point I’d be happy to assure them that I approached you and you didn’t try to recruit me.”

Related:
Interviewer wants an approval letter from my current job, saying they know I’m interviewing

2. Telling a former intern she needs to honor time commitments

I recently received a message from a former intern — I was not her manager, but rather associate-level in the same workplace — who wanted to ask me about a former employer. Specifically, she’s interested in an entry-level program that I participated in and wanted to get my perspective. I agreed and we scheduled a time for her to call me.

She did not call, nor did she respond to the message I sent her about eight minutes after the start time asking her if she’d still planned to call me. The kicker: I half expected this, because a few months ago, she did the same thing to another colleague. They agreed on a time to meet for coffee, and she showed up 22 minutes late and did not apologize.

This person is smart and was a good performer during her internship. She is also young and may not realize that she’s coming off as having a callous disregard for other people’s time. How can I gently tell her that while she might have a promising career ahead of her, she needs to honor time commitments (and that when she doesn’t, word gets around)?

A few years ago, I would have said that if she gets in touch with you again, you could say something like, “Since you’re early in your career I hope I can give you some advice: it’s really important that you show up on time for appointments you request — always, but especially when you’re asking someone for a favor. If you don’t honor time commitments when people set aside time to help you, it can really come back to bite you.”

But frankly, I’m pretty skeptical that she’s unaware that she should honor her commitments, and I don’t think it’s your job to remind her. If you were her manager, absolutely. If you were a former manager who had really invested in her development, maybe. But otherwise, she’ll figure it out through natural consequences. (Or she won’t. But you have better things to invest your energy in — like helping people who do respect your time.)

3. My interview got cancelled the day before it was scheduled for

I’m writing this in utter frustration and confusion as I don’t know if it’s my bad luck or did I do anything wrong.

I applied for a position of graduate control engineer. I was first asked for a phone interview. It went well and I was asked for a in-person interview after six days. It also went well, and I proceeded to the personality and attitude test three days later. I passed that test and then my second interview with the director was scheduled more than a week later. I was preparing for that final interview but then just a day before it was supposed to happen, I got a email that they found a better candidate and they cancelled my last interview.

It took me around three weeks to go through all of these interviews and assessments, but in the end I did not even get a chance to appear in my final interview to prove myself. They didn’t tell me what did wrong. But shouldn’t they have given me a chance in the final interview to see if really the other candidate is better than me? If they had failed me after the interview, I wouldn’t have been feeling this disheartened.

That’s not really how hiring works. Sometimes it’s obvious that one candidate is head and shoulders above everyone else, and when that happens, it doesn’t make sense to go through the motions with remaining interviews just to create a sense of fairness for the candidates. When it’s clear that no one else will be competitive (and we’ve got a letter coming on that later today!) they don’t really owe you a chance to “prove” yourself; their obligation is to use their time and candidates’ time well to try to identify the strongest person for the role. If they were confident they’d done that and an additional interview wasn’t going to change that assessment, it’s actually more courteous to you not to waste your time.

(If I were advising them, I’d emphasize that “we found a better candidate” needs to include “and that person is accepting our offer” — since it doesn’t make sense to stop interviewing people until you know that person you’re most excited about is actually going to take the job — but that’s advice for them rather than for you.)

Related:
I’m frustrated that my interview got canceled because the employer found better-qualified candidates

4. Why does my employer want my emergency contact info?

I work for a medium-sized nonprofit and was recently informed that HR cannot provide emergency contact information in a timely way to my leadership. Leadership thus asked for our personal contact information and that of our emergency contact. It was one of those “asks” that’s not really an ask, based on the multiple times it was requested and the language requiring it be completed ASAP.

I have a personal policy not to rock the boat in these situations, and it’s easier to put down the phone number for a Jiffy Lube in lieu of my partner’s number and move on, but am I off-base thinking this is contact information for THEIR emergencies not mine?

Emergency contact information is usually stored for things like: you have a medical emergency at work and they need to contact someone, you don’t show up for days and they’re concerned about your well-being, there’s a natural disaster in your area, etc.

If an employee recently had an emergency and there was no way to reach them/a contact for them, I could see them wanting to collect it for everyone with some urgency.

But have they given you a reason to think they plan to use it for their own work emergencies instead? The answer to your question really depends on that — on whether there’s something going on that’s made you assume this is to contact you when they just need a file pulled quickly or something. If you’re not sure, you could clarify what the info will be used for (“so I know the best contact to include”).

If they are asking for an outside emergency contact so they can call that person when they need to locate you to do outside-of-hours work, that’s a pretty outlier level of dysfunction.

5. Listing resume achievements when you don’t have metrics

I’m trying to update my resumé since I’ve been fired and have read your suggestions, but I’m having a hard time figuring out what to write on achievements, and here’s why: I worked as a proofreader/copy editor (don’t know if that’s important or not) as part of a team. Every material would go through at least three team members, and I find it hard to specify my contribution to the overall product in these cases. The company was awful at providing feedback, so I don’t really have an idea of what exactly I was doing right. There was also no way to measure productivity and stuff like that, so I also don’t have metrics. I was told I was the best proofreader on the team, but I don’t know how to express that on my resumé, because my achievements really feel like the general responsibilities of my job (correct spelling mistakes, punctuation, syntax etc.). Can you help me with this?

Think about outcomes. For example, you “ensured all materials were meticulously proofread and final versions presented a polished and professional image” and “copy-edited to improve flow, clarity, and voice.” You could also say, “was called the strongest proofreader on a three-person team by team manager” and, if available, you can supplement that with details like “regularly requested as the editor of choice for high-profile materials” or “known for fast turnarounds and high degree of accuracy” (assuming you can back those up).

Related:
how to put outcomes on your resume when you don’t have easy measures
how can I write a resume when my jobs don’t have measurable results?

I was promised a raise for doing a lot more work … and it didn’t come through

A reader writes:

I’m feeling bamboozled by how my compensation situation has shaken out. I am a non-exempt salaried employee and have been the entire time this all went down.

I joined my current company almost two years ago at a salary that was slightly below market for my level of experience and competency. At the time, I was fine with this because the workload and stress would be so much lower compared to previous jobs that it balanced out. The role I was hired for was exclusively wholesale. Then two things happened:

1. Last spring, we got a new department head who managed to make everyone’s job significantly harder and more complex through their micromanagement, control issues, and god complex. Their presence has directly led to the departure of several senior members across different departments because the new culture was no longer something they wanted to deal with. The rest of us are hanging on by a microscopically thin thread.

2. Last summer, my direct business counterpart departed for greener pastures. I was asked to take on their portion of the business as well and cover the whole distribution region. I agreed on the condition that my pay, title, and job description be updated to reflect this change. Leadership in my department agreed and confirmed the timing would be this spring when appraisal season rolls around. The company only does them once a year so I agreed to this timeline and began working both portions.

The workload was challenging and I had very little help due to the lean structure of the team. While I got work on some really cool projects, the light at the end of the tunnel was that I had been assured that I would eventually be properly compensated for this massive undertaking.

Come appraisal and raise season, I am offered a whopping single-digit percent increase and single-digit percent bonus on my salary as a reward for double the workload, demands on my time, and stress level. (Actually, it’s currently tripled because another counterpart left in the fall and that role still hasn’t been backfilled.) No title change and no updated job description either. Needless to say, I was enraged, disappointed, and demoralized by the final number. A single digit percent is a merit increase for someone who does only their job and does it above average. Not only did I get an “exceeds expectations” rating in my assessment, I did it alone. Not to mention, inflation alone in my current area is 6.1% from when I was originally hired. Most importantly, this is not what I agreed to.

I immediately requested a meeting with HR to discuss this. I calmly and professionally made my case and explained that either I receive an updated salary and title and job description or I go back to my original scope of work. Turns out HR was not informed of my agreement with leadership. HR was also not happy to find out I did not receive an updated job description from this agreement either. They assured me that my concerns would be addressed as part of a larger conversation with the department head about the structure and workload for our team. I don’t have a clear timeline for when this will happen or what that means for me as an individual employee.

Based on what I know about the company’s headcount and my conversation with HR, what will most likely happen is that I will be put back on my original scope of work and the direct business will shift to someone else or a new hire.

Do I have any recourse here, legally? Sure, they could put me back on the original scope of work with this slightly increased salary but what legal right do I have for compensation for the eight months I spent doing double and sometimes triple the work? What about leadership agreeing to my conditions for taking on extra work, even if HR didn’t know of it? My feelings of demoralization aside, is this illegal or just really awful?

I know either way, this isn’t sustainable long-term for me, but I am feeling like an absolute clown who was bamboozled into working like a dog for free with no options but to take it or leave it. Are those really my choices?

This hinges entirely on what the agreement with your department leadership looked like. Do you have something in writing saying “we will increase your salary to $X in April 2024”? Or was it more like “we’ll revisit your salary in the spring and make sure you’re paid appropriately”? If they committed to a specific number — and, crucially, if they used language like “will increase,” not “may increase” or “will consider increasing” — then they’re probably legally bound to that. That’s true even if HR didn’t approve it since it was a commitment from your company leadership.

But if they didn’t commit to a specific figure, just to “a raise” … well, then they met their obligations to the letter, if not the spirit.

If we could go back in time, I’d strongly advise you to get a specific number or range in writing. If you don’t have that, you’re unfortunately at the mercy of whatever they judge reasonable now. They can say, “We promised you a raise and you’ve received one” and that will be true.

Spelling this out a little more: the law doesn’t require an employer to pay you more for taking on more responsibility or more stress or even a whole other job. It does require them to pay you for all the hours you worked since you’re non-exempt; has that been happening (including time and a half for all hours over 40 in a week)? If that didn’t happen, you have a very solid wage claim for that missing pay. But there are no legal grounds beyond that unless they committed to a specific figure or range that they’re not now providing.

Similar things are true about your title and updated job description, although it’s even hazier there. If you have a written agreement that says “if you do XYZ, we will change your title to __ in April 2024,” you might have grounds to push that — but there’s a lot of room for them to say they expected XYZ to have been performed at a higher level or otherwise weasel out of it if they want to (to be clear, that would be very weaselly, unless you really didn’t meet the role’s expectations).

So, what can you do if there was no clear agreement with specific numbers attached? First and foremost, you should try pushing back. If you can cite specific conversations about a different figure, or past precedent you were relying on, or notes that you made at the time, or anything else to support your case, you should cite that. If you’re willing to leave over this, you can make that clear (or at least heavily hint at it). But ultimately, this will be about what you can negotiate. Absent a clear and specific agreement, the law wouldn’t require them to do anything different.

Second, you can talk. Tell your coworkers what happened. This won’t help you, but it could save someone else in your company from making the same mistake, and it’s a way of flexing some power that your company probably won’t like (and which is legally protected too).

I sent a text about my problem employee to the wrong person

A reader writes:

I find myself in a pickle and am a nervous wreck. I have been a manager for two years and it has not been easy.

The manager before me was stepping down and badmouthed me during a staff meeting she held with the employees prior to my arrival. It was hell when I arrived. One particular employee undermines everything I say and new rules that I put into place. She is very passive-aggressive and nothing is ever her fault. I have been fed up with it and I asked my sister, who is a minister, to put a request on her prayer list. The request was to remove this employee and any other problem employees from the facility and to make the facility peaceful. Well, I accidentally sent the text to an employee with a similar sounding name, and she showed it to the employee. I feel like a complete idiot. What should I do?

I answer this question — and two others — over at Inc. today, where I’m revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here.

Other questions I’m answering there today include:

  • Our recruiters send rejections “from” me with errors in them
  • Employees want to throw me a baby shower but we just need money