my boss wants everyone to donate personal money back to our employer by Alison Green on March 20, 2014 A reader writes: I’m the newly appointed development coordinator at a small, independent graduate school. My boss and I are the only ones in our department, and he’s got an idea that I want to oppose – strongly – but I’m not sure how to go about it. My boss wants everyone who works here […] Read the full article →
thermostat wars, reply-all, and other unsolved problems of the modern office by Alison Green on March 20, 2014 Earlier this week, I asked you about what processes or problems your office still hasn’t solved, despite the ridiculous technological advances of the past few decades. We can video-chat with people on other continents, store things in the cloud, and automate processes that used to take a whole team of workers to get done, but we […] Read the full article →
employee didn’t seem happy to get a raise, my coworker has pinkeye, and more by Alison Green on March 20, 2014 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Employee had a sour reaction when I gave him a raise Recently I gave a part-time employee a pay raise. All our part-timers are paid pretty modestly, but he got a significant raise for his stellar performance. When I gave him the good news, his […] Read the full article →
how do I tell my manager I’m dating a coworker? by Alison Green on March 19, 2014 A reader writes: A few months ago, after I’d transitioned into a new department at work, I started dating a coworker from my old department. I know his manager doesn’t care if his employees are dating coworkers, and my current manager is even more relaxed–if people get their work done and no one’s making the […] Read the full article →
10 annoying email habits to break today by Alison Green on March 19, 2014 Email has revolutionized the way we communicate at work, bringing us a long way from the days of mimeographed memos or stenography. But it has also introduced a whole new array of annoyances into the workplace – some of which you might be guilty of yourself. Here are 10 ways your use of email might […] Read the full article →
we took up a collection for a coworker to get to a funeral, but she lied about it and didn’t go by Alison Green on March 19, 2014 A reader writes: A coworker’s grandchild died out of state. We all sympathized with the fact that she couldn’t afford a plane ticket to go to the funeral. I took up a collection so that she could go. It didn’t quite cover the entire ticket. We asked her if she could cover the rest but […] Read the full article →
my manager wants me to lie to a new coworker, I’m mentoring a know-it-all, and more by Alison Green on March 19, 2014 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My manager doesn’t want me to tell my new coworker that I resigned and this is my last week Last week, I gave my two weeks’ notice to my company. At the same time as I gave my resignation, they were preparing to bring a […] Read the full article →
why you should ask for feedback, even if you’re scared by Alison Green on March 18, 2014 I loved this comment about asking for feedback from a reader in last week’s open thread: I just wanted to share that, one year into my first full time job post graduation, I finally got up the courage to ask a normally fairly uncommunicative boss for feedback, and it’s worked out so far! The feedback was more […] Read the full article →
my coworkers talk over me and I think I’m causing it by Alison Green on March 18, 2014 A reader writes: I’ve been dealing with a weird problem in my work relationships for a long time, and it’s happening again in my new job. I was really hoping you’d have some advice on how to make it stop. The gist of it is, people occasionally talk right over me, in the middle of […] Read the full article →
stop using the compliment sandwich … and more ways to give better feedback by Alison Green on March 18, 2014 If you’re like most managers, you don’t give your staff nearly as much feedback as you should. That might be partly because it takes time to give feedback well and most managers are busy, and it might be partly because tough feedback conversations can be intimidating to launch. But giving feedback, and giving it effectively, […] Read the full article →