how to ask for more vacation time by Alison Green on March 19, 2024 It will come as a surprise to exactly no one that Americans don’t get enough vacation time from their employers. The average American worker in private industry gets only 11 paid vacation days after a year of employment (plus, generally, federal holidays and paid sick leave). That’s awfully stingy compared to how much leave workers […] Read the full article →
am I just a sympathy hire with no real skills? by Alison Green on January 3, 2024 A reader writes: I am in my late 20’s and have had what some may consider a “tough” life. I’ve overcome a few obstacles (think addiction, gang violence, prison, broken family, homelessness, etc.). A big part of my personal life involves using public platforms to share my story. Before I turned my life around, I […] Read the full article →
my favorite posts of 2023 by Alison Green on December 28, 2023 Here are my favorite posts of 2023, in no particular order: 1. My employee doesn’t think we’re doing enough about bears at work Because of bears. 2. Someone or something is deleting our work emails Because of the mystery. 3. My coworker and I attend the same sex club Because I adore this sort of […] Read the full article →
most popular posts of 2023 by Alison Green on December 27, 2023 Here are the posts that interested people the most in 2023, via two lists: the most viewed posts and the most commented on posts. Most viewed posts of 2023: 10. I supervise a manager who falsified an employee write-up … but I don’t think she should be fired 9. I resent my employee for being […] Read the full article →
the best office holiday party date story of all time by Alison Green on December 11, 2023 There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day. 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 […] Read the full article →
all of my 2023 book recommendations by Alison Green on December 7, 2023 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 6, 2023 There will be more posts than usual this week, so keep checking back throughout the day. 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 […] Read the full article →
an Ask a Manager Thanksgiving by Alison Green on November 28, 2023 This is amazing: Someone had an Ask-a-Manager-themed Thanksgiving! Read the full article →
the schedule for updates this year by Alison Green on November 27, 2023 Welcome to “where are you now?” season at Ask a Manager! Between now and the end of the year, I’ll be running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. A heads-up about update season: for the next few weeks I’ll be posting at midnight, 11 am, 12:30 pm, 2 pm, […] Read the full article →
this is how you can protect your local library by Alison Green on October 25, 2023 After I printed a letter from a librarian being harassed by patrons, a lot of you wrote in to ask what you can do to help protect your local libraries from threats and book bans. Peter Bromberg, the associate director of EveryLibrary, an organization that defends and supports local libraries, was kind enough to write […] Read the full article →