hugging at work: okay or not okay? by Alison Green on September 19, 2016 You’re greeting a colleague you haven’t seen in a while, or ending a meeting with a client. Do you enthusiastically open your arms for a hug? Do you wait awkwardly to see if they initiate a hug first? Shrink back in the hopes that you won’t get hugged? Just default to a handshake? Hugging in […] Read the full article →
our horrible HR manager tells lies, is rude and petty, and won’t do her job by Alison Green on September 19, 2016 A reader writes: I’m in upper management at a growing company. Until two years ago, each executive had the HR responsibilities for their own department. But we became large enough to merit a full-time HR manager. We found someone with decades of experience, but she had moved jobs every two years. At first, we were […] Read the full article →
should I ask my coworker why she didn’t hire my son, I stole from an employer years ago, and more by Alison Green on September 19, 2016 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Should I ask my coworker why she didn’t hire my son? My son recently graduated college and applied for a job in a different department at the same company where I have worked for 35 years. He had a lengthy phone interview and an even […] Read the full article →
weekend free-for-all – September 17-18, 2016 by Alison Green on September 17, 2016 This comment section is open for any non-work-related discussion you’d like to have with other readers, by popular demand. (This one is truly no work and no school. If you have a work question, you can email it to me or post it in the work-related open thread on Fridays.) Book recommendation of the week: Siracusa, […] Read the full article →
I have a weird patchwork of responsibilities, sharing a desk, and more by Alison Green on September 17, 2016 It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. I have a weird patchwork of responsibilities and feel unqualified for anything else I don’t know what my job is. Or, more accurately, I don’t know what to tell prospective new employers what my current job is. I work for a nonprofit with a very […] Read the full article →
five updates from letter-writers by Alison Green on September 16, 2016 Here are five updates from people who had their questions answered here recently. 1. Company wants to have tea with my family as part of an international interview We did end up having coffee in Tivoli a couple hours after we landed. My kids were enthusiastic and a little overly-rambunctious despite my warnings, but they really […] Read the full article →
can you live down work mistakes from years ago? by Alison Green on September 16, 2016 A reader writes: I have been at my current job for seven years now. About six years ago, I almost lost my job because I was making too many mistakes. I made them because I was too busy and didn’t have the time to give full effort to my work. Quite frankly, I was overworked. […] Read the full article →
open thread – September 16-17, 2016 by Alison Green on September 16, 2016 It’s the Friday open thread! The comment section on this post is open for discussion with other readers on anything work-related that you want to talk about. If you want an answer from me, emailing me is still your best bet*, but this is a chance to talk to other readers. * If you submitted […] Read the full article →
when customers speak to each other in a foreign language that I understand, my boss asked me to vent to her, and more by Alison Green on September 16, 2016 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. When customers speak to each other in a foreign language they don’t realize I can understand I understand/speak a number of languages (to varying degrees of fluency) that you wouldn’t necessarily expect me to speak just from looking at me. This situation mostly arises with […] Read the full article →
update: my employee secretly brought her kids to work and forced a coworker to watch them by Alison Green on September 15, 2016 Remember the letter-writer earlier this year who inherited an employee, Mary, who had secretly brought her kids to work and forced an admin to watch them? Here’s the update. I spoke to the admin before she left the company and she provided a schedule of when she had to watch the kids. I compared that […] Read the full article →