weekend open thread — June 19-20, 2021 by Alison Green on June 19, 2021 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: Home Made: A Story of Grief, Groceries, Showing Up — and What We Make When We Make Dinner, by Liz Hauck. A woman’s account of what happened […] Read the full article →
remember the manager who wouldn’t let her best employee attend her own graduation? by Alison Green on June 15, 2021 Remember the letter-writer whose best employee quit on the spot because she wouldn’t let her go to her college graduation? The employee — who had grown up in foster care and worked full-time while taking night classes to earn her degree — had worked late/come in early/worked overtime for years to cover for other coworkers, […] Read the full article →
where are you now? (a call for updates) by Alison Green on May 26, 2021 It’s mid-year updates season! If you’ve had your question answered here in the past, please email me an update and let us know how your situation turned out. Did you take the advice? Did you not take the advice? What happened? How’s your situation now? (Don’t post your updates here though; email them to me.) […] Read the full article →
my terrible intern is a VIP’s son and can’t be fired by Alison Green on May 24, 2021 A reader writes: One of our company directors has brought his son on as an intern. His son has been assigned to the same department I work in, but he appears to have the reading, writing, and communication skills of a child. He has misspelled his own name and his father’s name on memos. He […] Read the full article →
an expert on how to get what you need from your health insurance by Alison Green on May 19, 2021 An Ask a Manager reader who works in health insurance as a customer service trainer wrote to me and offered to give advice about navigating health insurance, saying, “Basically, I get paid to learn and teach how to beat the system as much as possible. I love my job as much as I hate this industry and […] Read the full article →
the loose cannon job candidate, the interview from a toilet, and other tales of interview mishaps by Alison Green on May 17, 2021 A while back, I asked readers to share the weirdest or worst behavior they’ve ever seen from job candidates. Over at Inc. today, I’ve got 10 of my favorites — including a job candidates who described himself as “a loose cannon,” a wife blamer, someone interviewing from the toilet, and someone who touted his celibacy […] Read the full article →
my employee barely speaks to me by Alison Green on May 13, 2021 A reader writes: I manage two wonderful employees who share an office next to mine. One of my employees (we’ll call him Neal) is very outgoing and friendly. We have some similar views on life (politics, child-rearing, etc) and talk easily and often. My other employee (we’ll call her Beth) is wonderful at her job […] Read the full article →
interview with an employee at an employee assistance program (EAP) by Alison Green on April 28, 2021 We sometimes talk here about EAP (Employee Assistance Programs) but have never explored how they work. A reader, Em, who works for one, left an incredibly interesting comment about her work on a post last week, and generously agreed to talk with me more about what she does. Here’s our conversation. How would you describe an […] Read the full article →
Ask a Manager speed round by Alison Green on April 14, 2021 It’s the Ask a Manager speed round! Until 4 pm ET today, I’ll be answering as many questions as I can live, in the comment section below. How to ask questions: Submit a comment below with your question. This quick format is best suited to questions that don’t require lengthy, nuanced answers. Questions won’t appear […] Read the full article →
speed round — submit your questions by Alison Green on April 13, 2021 It’s the Ask a Manager speed round! On Wednesday from 2-4 pm ET, I’ll be answering as many questions as I can live on the website during that time. To submit a question in advance, use the form below. (You’ll also be able to submit questions during the speed round itself tomorrow.) These will be […] Read the full article →