Ask a Manager

A reader writes: I work for a professional firm that has a long history of devaluing non-partner contributions. Let’s just say we have problems: • The pay structure for employees is all risk and no reward. Salaries are artificially low, below market, supposedly because of our bonus structure. • If clients don’t pay, that comes […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My trainer says I need to shadow her for a year before I can do my job I was lucky enough to recently land a new job in an organization I’ve long wanted to work for. While a lot of the position is new to […]

Last week we talked about how companies can build more racially equitable workplaces — including an excerpt from Authentic Diversity: How to Change the Workplace for Good and an interview with the book’s author, Michelle Silverthorn. Michelle and her publisher are giving away two copies of the audiobook version of the book to Ask a […]

I’ve long been an admirer of Laurie Ruettimann, since her days running Punk Rock HR, a hilarious blog where she called out the BS of HR. (The blog is no more, but she now has a podcast of the same name.) Laurie has always called it like she sees it without pulling any punches, and […]

Here are the posts that interested people the most this year, via two lists: the most read posts and the most commented on posts. Most read posts of 2020: 10. Our boss told us to camp in tents when we travel for business 9. The Leap Day employee finally gets her birthday off this year […]

Earlier this month, I asked you to share the worst and weirdest office holiday gift debacles you’ve seen. Here are eight of my favorites. (Not all are safe for work!) Also, if you missed the office holiday round-up earlier this week, it’s here, with tales of foraged mushrooms and a rare books department gone wild. 1. […]

Here are my favorite posts of 2020, in no particular order: 1. I messed up at work and I’m so ashamed Because so many people deal with this, and fixing it can bring you so much peace. 2. Update: my coworker is blackmailing me not to take time off for my honeymoon Because this was […]

Last year, 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 kind of assumed […]

Warning: contains mention of suicide and other traumas. A reader writes: 2020 has been a rough year in so many ways for me. There was COVID — which let me stay home and work, and it was really more of a blessing for that than for so many others, which I feel a bit guilty […]

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 […]