2010

my co-worker is chronically absent

A reader writes: I work in a children’s program part-time alongside another teacher who works the same hours as I do (about 10/week). We are the only 2 regular teachers in this program. Anyway, my co-worker chronically schedules appointments on the mornings we are scheduled to work. She has many crises in her life so […]

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explaining to my boss that marital stress is impacting my work

A reader writes: I’m a software developer, and I’ve been separated from my wife for eight months; we’ve been together over ten years. I brought the house into the marriage, but didn’t get a pre-nuptial agreement, so family law in my jurisdiction says she gets half the value of the house. When she gets her half of the family capital, […]

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how can I build my reputation in my field?

A reader writes: I have been working on developing my career and as part of that I am wanting to build up a strong portfolio of recomendations from people that I am working with. I am using LinkedIn and have started my own blog (on my career interest). I am seeking recommendations from people I […]

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help! my department is imploding

A reader writes: My department is imploding, and I’m struggling to decide what I should do. I’ve worked in in the IT department for a small health clinic for 10 months. In that time, 5 employees have left, and the rest are actively looking for new jobs elsewhere, including the VP and my direct supervisor. Reasons for leaving […]

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I’m afraid my old boss is going to out me as transgender

A reader writes: I’m a trans-woman. (Ed. note: For readers who may not know what this means, this is a transgender person who was born biologically a man but is living as a woman.) Over the past couple of years, I transitioned at my job. One of the two groups I worked with took this in […]

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you are making me very, very forlorn

Lots of you who get my posts through a news reader haven’t changed your RSS subscription over to my new feed: https://www.askamanager.org/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss And that makes me sad, because someday soon the old feed is going to stop working and then you will not get my posts. Don’t make me sad! Update your subscription!

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how to announce a demotion

A reader writes: We have a manager who we are replacing due to performance issues. He’s a long-time employee who has a lot of skills that are beneficial to the company but since his promotion to management a couple of years ago, he has not been managing his department. Rather, he continues to complete incomplete […]

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dealing with a micromanager

I’m quoted in this article on dealing with a micromanaging boss. Here’s an excerpt: First, figure out why your boss is a micromanager. Usually, you’ve either given her reason to micromanager you by your performance, or she’s a micromanager in general. It’s important to figure out which it is, says Alison Green, author of the […]

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rejected for an internal promotion

A reader writes: I am an aspiring manager in the organization I work for. I have been there for three years and have repeatedly acted as the deputy manager within my section (my boss was on the verge of retirement, so was out a lot) and have handled some very stressful and high-profile situations. Basically, […]

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