our employee wants constant reassurance that he’s good enough by Alison Green on May 30, 2023 A reader writes: I’m a partner in a small firm. There are three partners working full-time, three additional full-time employees, and one part-time employee. We provide support and training for a niche software, so our workdays are heavily customer facing. The industry we support is also heavily customer-facing. All of us came out of the […] Read the full article →
my employee’s controlling spouse won’t let her travel for work by Alison Green on May 30, 2023 A reader writes: I work for a company with multiple offices nationwide. Our team is based in City A, but we have one employee (Sally) who works remotely at our offices in City B. For the past 12 months, we have required Sally to travel to our city every other week for an overnight stay. […] Read the full article →
my former employee is badmouthing me to my staff by Alison Green on May 24, 2023 A reader writes: I recently hired an employee in a pinch because we thought he could fill a gap quickly and efficiently, but it turns out he was terrible and either dishonest or in denial about his own skills. He did not listen or follow instructions, and his customer service skills were awful. Many times, […] Read the full article →
my business partners won’t fire their problematic family members by Alison Green on May 24, 2023 A reader writes: Our company has three partners: me, Lou (my husband), and Sarah (our best friend). Lou’s sister, Leah, and Sarah’s younger brother, Bobby, have worked here for over 10 years and basically feel untouchable and do as they please. Leah has made some effort to correct her actions and she primarily works with […] Read the full article →
my employee has to deal with men constantly getting crushes on her by Alison Green on May 22, 2023 A reader writes: I’m a woman who owns a very small company and rent time/space in a shared environment with many other small business owners. We are all there whenever we are — first come, first served. Open space, open territory, sometimes sharing space. The only person I oversee is my employee, I have no […] Read the full article →
I poured all my time into helping an employee … and I’m so discouraged by how it ended by Alison Green on May 17, 2023 A reader writes: I’m new to managing people and am actually writing this email on the one-year work anniversary of my first job that had managerial duties. It was a learning curve of a year for certain, and I know there were times I made mistakes, but the feedback from my bosses and HR has […] Read the full article →
my team won’t accept any replacement for an employee who died by Alison Green on May 15, 2023 A reader asks: A year ago, one of our employees, Jane, was killed by a drunk driver. Jane worked here for almost a decade and was well-liked. We have an EAP and offered paid therapy services to anyone who needs it as well as fully paid bereavement and time off to attend the trial, no […] Read the full article →
should I cut my new business partner loose? by Alison Green on May 15, 2023 A reader writes: I (F40s) recently added a business partner, Ivy (F30s), to my consulting business (I remain majority owner). I’m in a niche technical field and I was recently offered a role researching aspects of my field with an academic institution. The post is overseas up to 70% of my time, but private consulting […] Read the full article →
how do I manage a bad employee who I can’t fire? by Alison Green on May 9, 2023 A reader writes: For the past 1.5 years, I’ve worked in health care in a very rural area where it is hard to recruit (this is more related to the rurality than to salaries and benefits; salary could be higher but is mid-range, and benefits are good to very good). Due to our service/population, in-person […] Read the full article →
I think my employee is being abused by her partner by Alison Green on May 8, 2023 Content warning for discussion of abuse below. A reader writes: I have been a director at my organization for a few years now in a small town. We have a staff of 23. Some have been here for 20+ years, some are new, but it’s a pretty great group of people and we all work […] Read the full article →