about medical practices that can’t pay enough to keep their employees… by Alison Green on January 19, 2022 After last week’s letter from a medical practice manager struggling to hire staff and unable to pay more because of tightly regimented insurance company payments, I received this letter offering a different view that I wanted to share here. Hi LW #2, As a fellow small medical practice owner, I feel your pain. The feedback […] Read the full article →
calling out racism, supporting a Black manager, and other questions with Michelle Silverthorn by Alison Green on January 18, 2022 Today Michelle Silverthorn, founder and CEO of Inclusion Nation, returns to Ask A Manager! Michelle is the author of the best-selling book Authentic Diversity: How to Change the Workplace for Good (read an excerpt here) and talked with us last year about the work she does to help build more equitable companies. Now she’s back to take readers’ […] Read the full article →
my favorite posts of 2021 by Alison Green on January 3, 2022 Here are my favorite posts of 2021, in no particular order: 1. My employee told me “I prefer not to” when I tried to give him a new project Because Bartleby the Scrivener lives! 2. Interview with an employee at a majority-autistic company Because this was fascinating. 3. Someone keeps farting in important client meetings […] Read the full article →
most popular posts of 2021 by Alison Green on January 3, 2022 Here are the posts that interested people the most in 2021, via two lists: the most viewed posts and the most commented on posts. Most viewed posts of 2021: 10. I’m frustrated that my employees don’t want to return to the office 9. Interviewer badmouthed me to my references because I didn’t want to “harness […] Read the full article →
updates: un-retiring, the paranoid employee, and more by Alison Green on December 27, 2021 It’s “where are you now?” month at Ask a Manager, and all December I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. Here are five updates from past letter-writers. 1. How to explain un-retiring (#4 at the link) I wrote earlier this year about separating from my partner and returning […] Read the full article →
the best office holiday party date story of all time by Alison Green on December 10, 2021 A couple of years ago, someone shared what I consider to be the best holiday date story of all time, and it must be shared here again. Enjoy: When I was fresh out of college, a dude in my social circle invited me to his fancy work Christmas party. He was a teacher, so I’d […] Read the full article →
all of my 2021 book recommendations by Alison Green on December 9, 2021 All year long, I’ve made a weekly book recommendation when kicking off the weekend open thread. These aren’t work-related books; they’re just books I like, mostly fiction. Sometimes they’re books that I’m in the middle of reading, and other times they’re just long-standing favorites. Here’s the complete list of what I’ve recommended this year (maybe […] Read the full article →
“I will confront you by Wednesday of this week” by Alison Green on December 2, 2021 Several years ago, a reader shared with us this epic email that was sent by their company’s boss after a holiday party gone terribly awry, and as we enter the holiday season we remember its glory. “This happened about ten years ago, but the email I received from our boss was so epic I preserved […] Read the full article →
the schedule for updates this year by Alison Green on November 29, 2021 A heads-up about update season: for the next few weeks I’ll be posting at midnight, 11 am, 12:30 pm, 2 pm, 3:30 pm, and 5 pm (all times are Eastern)* … as a minimum. There will sometimes be additional posts at 10:30 am and random times throughout the afternoon as well! We have a lot […] Read the full article →
I made a gift guide for every employee on your team by Alison Green on November 18, 2021 If you’re the boss, finding the right gifts for your employees can be fraught with questions: How much do you spend? Should you spend the same amount of money on each person? And if you don’t know someone well, how do you make sure they like the gift while still keeping it professional? For the […] Read the full article →