assistant became abusive when she wasn’t invited to a meeting, my coworkers don’t check on people who are out sick, and more by Alison Green on February 24, 2023 It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. Our assistant turned abusive when she wasn’t invited to a meeting I work in a small office (five owners/managers, including me, and three assistants). Three of the managers are siblings, and one assistant, Kate, is the cousin of one of the managers. For years, we […] Read the full article →
assigning women extra work to “help” them, calling out when you’re in the ER, and more by Alison Green on February 23, 2023 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. To help women, we assign them extra work and penalize them if they don’t do it I work for a large organization that tries to be proactive about diversity and inclusion. One if their iniatives seems wrong to me. To provide women with better resume […] Read the full article →
getting out of shared intern housing, why are so many executives condescending, and more by Alison Green on February 22, 2023 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Getting out of shared housing for interns I’m about to graduate from college and I’ve been looking at internships targeting recent grads, as well as entry-level jobs, Some of these, including one I’m very interested in, ask interns to share a house and do group […] Read the full article →
new CEO keeps talking about diet and exercise, coworker asks me to cover for him when he’s not really off, and more by Alison Green on February 21, 2023 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Our new CEO keeps talking about diet and exercise Our company recently got a new CEO who is very big on health and fitness and has made it his mission to make our employee population healthy in order to reduce the company’s healthcare costs. However, […] Read the full article →
how do I quit my volunteer job, explaining a wardrobe emergency, and more by Alison Green on February 17, 2023 It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. How do I quit volunteer work I’ve been doing for a decade? I informally volunteer for a nonprofit. I live near an environmental feature they want tested routinely. The job started by me calling them to ask a question about that feature. They said they […] Read the full article →
micromanaging goodbye emails, overhead lighting wars, and more by Alison Green on February 16, 2023 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My company wants to micromanage internal goodbye emails Since we’ve had new leadership come into my small nonprofit organization, one of many new policies implemented by Head Boss is a requirement that any staff leaving the company must have their “all-staff goodbye” message reviewed and […] Read the full article →
should I tell my employees I might get fired, coworker is a kiss-ass, and more by Alison Green on February 15, 2023 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Should you tell your employees you’re on an improvement plan? I’m a manager in a technical field. Recently I was placed on a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP). I have a handful of weeks to demonstrate an improvement or I get fired. One of my primary PIP […] Read the full article →
I got yelled at after texting a hiring manager’s personal cell, interviewer asked me for something positive about Covid, and more by Alison Green on February 14, 2023 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. A hiring manager freaked out when I texted her personal cell number I recently tried to apply for a pharmacy tech trainee job at a local hospital. The website was down for a few days and it was impossible to reach anyone, so I decided […] Read the full article →
people are stealing the bathroom items I bought for shared use, how much mental health support should managers provide, and more by Alison Green on February 13, 2023 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. How much direct mental health support should managers provide? You get a lot of questions about how employees can deal with managers who overstep the mark in the name of mental health, pushing employees to be vulnerable and share details about the mental health. I […] Read the full article →
my employees don’t want to talk in meetings, old boss is using me as a business lead, and more by Alison Green on February 10, 2023 It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. My employees don’t want to talk in meetings … but their jobs require it I manage a team of budget analysts who are the bridge between departments and our central budget office. Two team members have never been comfortable with public speaking, and one has […] Read the full article →