how to speak up when women in your office are called “girls” by Alison Green on May 23, 2017 A reader writes: I need help with a script for speaking up in the moment when my coworkers call grown women “girls.” Full disclosure – I am a cisgender woman who was radicalized as a leftist feminist in grade school in the 70’s (by radical Catholic school nuns who also did service work in South […] Read the full article →
are new managers supposed to be this stressed out? by Alison Green on May 23, 2017 A reader writes: I recently got promoted to a managerial job, and I love what I do. I’m finding, though, that the amount of responsibility that falls on me has been making me unhealthily anxious. I missed a call from work today, for example, outside of work hours, and have been agonizing over what could […] Read the full article →
how upset should I be about a re-hired employee’s quick resignation? by Alison Green on May 23, 2017 A reader writes: An employee’s resignation has changed my opinion of her dramatically; I’m not sure if I’m being unfair, and opinions from immediate coworkers are probably affecting my judgment. Can you help me recalibrate my managerial instincts? An employee on my team, “Ariel,” was originally hired for a different team, working under “Ursula.” Due […] Read the full article →
how many doctor’s appointments are too many, nervous about mentoring a smart intern, and more by Alison Green on May 23, 2017 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. How many doctor’s appointments are too many? How many doctor’s appointments are too many? I’m a salaried employee at a casual, tech-style agency. While I’m generally healthy, I did have cancer as a baby (don’t worry, I’m fine now!) and thus I don’t shy away […] Read the full article →
this gross app wants you to flirt with your coworkers by Alison Green on May 22, 2017 This is a very, very bad idea: The dating app Feeld has introduced a Slack bot that connects mutually attracted coworkers … Here’s how it works: You tell the bot who you’re crushing on in your employer-sponsored Slack channel. Feeld promises to keep the information private unless said crush tells the bot that he or […] Read the full article →
6 lies your career center told you by Alison Green on May 22, 2017 With a new class of graduates about to enter the full-time job market, a lot of them are seeking job search advice from their college career centers. Unfortunately, the advice that a lot of colleges are doling out is often outdated and frequently downright bad. In fact, as a workplace advice columnist, when I ask […] Read the full article →
how can 20somethings know if something is worth complaining about or leaving a job over? by Alison Green on May 22, 2017 I’m on vacation and damn it if I’m not going to re-run a blog post so I don’t have to write a new one. This one is from August 15, 2013. A reader writes: If one is unhappy at their work, whether it’s due to their actual responsibilities or problems with their bosses, coworkers, clients, etc., […] Read the full article →
who should communicate a lay-off, asking for a raise after three months at a new job, and more by Alison Green on May 22, 2017 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Who should communicate a lay-off? I’m the HR director at an organization that recently had to lay off a group of staff for budgetary reasons. Meetings were set up with directly affected employees, their managers, and our president; managers were asked to open the meeting […] Read the full article →
weekend free-for-all – May 20-21, 2017 by Alison Green on May 20, 2017 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.) Book recommendation of the week: The Twenty-One Balloons, by William Pene du Bois. A retired teacher is shipwrecked on Krakatoa, where he discovers a tiny, hidden, and very […] Read the full article →
how to deal with weird interview questions by Alison Green on May 19, 2017 I’m quoted in this Lifehacker article about how to deal with weird questions in job interviews. One point I wanted to stress to the interviewer is that there are two categories of these questions: (1) brainteasers like “how many golf balls can you fit into an airplane?” where the interviewer wants to hear you problem-solve out loud, […] Read the full article →