Ask a Manager

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My boss is sleeping with my nemesis I have regular conflict with a team manager, Jane, who is employed at the same level as me in our workplace hierarchy and is sort of my nemesis. She has denied my requests for us to have regular […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. I’m in trouble for badging in, then going back home My large corporate employer is coming down hard on people who aren’t returning to the office in person. I’ve been badging in the required three times a week, but now I’m being investigated because I’ve […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My coworker won’t stop talking about death I work on a team where keeping up with the news is a very important component of our jobs. We are all assigned to different areas of the news, so one of us works on business news, one […]

It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. I was fired for talking to coworkers about their experience as immigrants At lunch one day in our company cafeteria, I sat down with my supervisor, who had just returned from China to visit her family, and my coworker, a new naturalized U.S. citizen, originally […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Can I cut short an interview if it’s clear the candidate isn’t right? So if I’m interviewing a candidate, and five minutes into the interview it’s become painfully clear that I would never, EVER hire this person, is there some way to gracefully end the […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. I ignored my boss because I was trying not to cry I recently started working part-time at a mental health support phone line. Part of my boss’s job is supporting us in managing the emotional aspects of our work. Yesterday, when she came and checked […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My boss ignores me at social events I’ve been at my job for several years and am part of my company’s senior management team. I work very closely with my boss (think, he’s director and I’m assistant director, or he’s CEO and I’m CFO). We […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. I want my employee to say “we” not “I” We have a very productive employee who is enthusiastic about her position and enjoys working with the public. I appreciate her and most everything she brings to the table. However, when speaking with patients, she refers […]

It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. Can my parents contact my employer if they haven’t heard from me? I live far from my parents in another country (the U.S.). If my parents can’t reach me by phone for, say, two days and are worried, can they ask HR or my manager […]

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Should you tell your boss when a sales rep behaves like an ass? My other half, Gertrude, recently went on a work trip to Japan with colleagues. While there, they were treated to dinner by a rep from another company (flown in from the same […]