my boss wants to hire us out for our “unique talents and skills” that have nothing to do with our jobs by Alison Green on July 18, 2023 A reader writes: I am self-employed. But I also have one teeny, tiny job (2-5 hours a week) working in a secretarial-adjacent position for another small business. It’s someone I’ve known and they have a great mission, and I work from home so I thought it would be some nice side money. I am highly […] Read the full article →
my boss says she has the right to come by my house unannounced by Alison Green on July 17, 2023 A reader writes: My supervisor and I both work hybrid schedules and she lives in the same neighborhood as me. Recently we were on a work call and she said, “You know, I almost just popped by to talk about this in person with you at your house.” She went on to say it is […] Read the full article →
my boss’s boss forced us to do a “grievance circle” targeting our manager by Alison Green on June 28, 2023 A reader writes: I have a question for you about a scenario that happened several years ago, but still sort of haunts me. I work in the medical setting, under a new manager, Jane, and a relatively well-established director, John, who has a reputation for pushing shortcomings off onto other individuals. There was some friction […] Read the full article →
my boss won’t do anything about my slacker coworker by Alison Green on June 13, 2023 A reader writes: My colleague “Andrew” and I work in a specialized department for a mid-sized company (about 150 employees), each of us covering one half of the company with no overlap. We both work remotely while the teams we support are on-site in offices across our region, so we rely heavily on Microsoft Teams […] Read the full article →
my “hybrid” team is using me as their way to not go to the office at all by Alison Green on June 5, 2023 A reader writes: When the pandemic began, I was the member of my team who volunteered to go to the office to check the mail and do tasks that could not be done at home since I live alone, live closest to the office, tend to have the most tasks that cannot be done remotely, […] Read the full article →
my manager tracks us all with Google Alerts by Alison Green on May 17, 2023 A reader writes: My team manager has set up Google Alerts for every one on her team, so that she receives notifications whenever our names appear in the news. She uses the alerts to then post messages on our team’s internal group chat, things like “Break a leg to Jorge, whose improv team has a […] Read the full article →
my boss keeps asking me to do things that aggravate our community partners by Alison Green on April 26, 2023 A reader writes: I started working for a nonprofit last year. I work with our community partners a lot, and our director, “Fergus,’ likes to ask me to ask them for things without telling me they already said no. He’d tell you that he’s the kind of guy who doesn’t take no for an answer. […] Read the full article →
is it unprofessional to get a tattoo on a work trip? by Alison Green on April 25, 2023 A reader writes: Last week I had to travel for work. My boss lives in one state, I live in another, and we met in a major metropolitan area in a third state for three days of meetings. On the third day, Thursday, we carpooled from the hotel to the airport. We arrived about an […] Read the full article →
coworker says she hates me and refuses to have any contact … and my boss told me to fix it by Alison Green on April 18, 2023 A reader writes: My coworker, “Jane,” was promoted to the same level as me eight months ago. I had only spoken to Jane twice in her two years at the company prior to her promotion. About a month after moving into the role, Jane set up a meeting with me. In the meeting, she yelled […] Read the full article →
my company is not planning well for my retirement … what’s my responsibility? by Alison Green on April 12, 2023 A reader writes: I have worked for the same small company (less than 20 employees, including the owners) for almost 30 years. I am full-time, salaried, and exempt and handle a niche set of clients who have specific rules and regulations that must be followed. Approximately 85% of my work falls in two busy seasons, […] Read the full article →