what to do about a chronically late employee by Alison Green on February 19, 2020 A reader writes: Time is of the essence with our business and so we emphasize punctuality. We have a low-performing employee who is under performance review and is habitually late, as well as a few other late employees who are otherwise stellar performers. These top performers also work after hours, and the low-performing one does […] Read the full article →
I just found out my great employee lied on her resume by Alison Green on February 12, 2020 A reader writes: We recently hired an employee for a non-professional position who told me after she was hired that she lied on her job application. She said she had her high school diploma when she doesn’t, and if she had answered that question in the positive, the online application would have booted her from […] Read the full article →
how can I get my employee to stop condescending to me? by Alison Green on February 11, 2020 A reader writes: I am a fairly easygoing person with one major weakness: I cannot handle it when men are condescending. After years of weathering many insufferable male friends, colleagues, boyfriends, and family members, I have simply had a lifetime’s fill of being condescended to. My tolerance has reached its limit. Now, when men in […] Read the full article →
my employee lied about meeting with a client — to take a nap by Alison Green on February 4, 2020 A reader writes: I caught my employee skipping work to nap at home when she said she was meeting with a potential client. It was total happenstance — I happened to meet the potential client at a social event that night. When I asked my employee the next day why the potential client had no […] Read the full article →
should managers ask or tell when assigning work? by Alison Green on January 29, 2020 A reader writes: When dealing with people who work directly for me, should I ask them to do things or tell them to do things? Does telling someone to do something in a work environment come off as harsh? I always ask them to do things, but I’m starting to feel like asking them kind […] Read the full article →
should I stop bringing in treats for my team? by Alison Green on January 28, 2020 A reader writes: I’m really hoping you can help me understand a situation that’s happening at work right now. I work at a large nonprofit supervising a team of caseworkers. The caseworker job is difficult in that the goals are high and the situations can be a bit intense because we’re dealing with people, including […] Read the full article →
do I apologize to my employees too often? by Alison Green on January 22, 2020 A reader writes: I’m a new manager at a company where I’ve worked for years. In trying to adjust to the role, I’m realizing that I’m the sort of person who says “sorry” a lot. I’m not always doing it to take the blame on myself; I’m often doing it because to show empathy and […] Read the full article →
my assistant uses eating to avoid working by Alison Green on January 22, 2020 A reader writes: I am a new manager at a nonprofit and have just been assigned an entry-level administrative assistant who has been failing to make deadlines, has been repeating preventable mistakes, and has major issues with focusing at work. She tangled with her last manager because she felt attacked when asked to explain missed […] Read the full article →
my employee has a bad attitude by Alison Green on January 21, 2020 A reader writes: I manage an employee with an attitude problem. Kevin is a couple years out of college, and he has management ambitions. He did excellent work for several months after he was hired, and the quality of his work isn’t the issue here. The problems started about a year ago when I promoted […] Read the full article →
my employees keep going over my head by Alison Green on January 20, 2020 A reader writes: I supervise a small group of people, and was told recently that they don’t like me giving reminders or asking for updates (or, possibly, they don’t like how I do that). This isn’t the first mention of it, but apparently what I’ve tried to do differently hasn’t helped. My problem is, no […] Read the full article →