my employee is combative and rude — how could I have prevented this? by Alison Green on April 4, 2018 A reader writes: I’m a professor and I direct a lab that does my research; my lab consists of a small group of relatively short-term students and also long-term staff. One lab staff member who has worked with me for years (“Icarus”) is very talented, and consequently I helped her develop professional skills beyond the […] Read the full article →
I talked with Captain Awkward on the Ask a Manager podcast by Alison Green on April 4, 2018 On this week’s episode of the Ask a Manager podcast, I talked with the amazing Jennifer Peepas, who runs the very useful Captain Awkward advice website, which has amazing advice on pretty much every relationship in your life. We answered a letter from a Captain Awkward reader — someone who thought she was helping out an unfairly maligned coworker but […] Read the full article →
our new hire was secretly working another full-time job and lying to us by Alison Green on April 4, 2018 A reader writes: My organization hired a person to start on January 3 of this year as a sales development rep. At the time, he told me he lived about an hour and a half away, but he’d be moving to be closer to work shortly. On January 19, he called me and told me […] Read the full article →
sharing “emotional scars” as an icebreaker, I broke a desk and injured a coworker, and more by Alison Green on April 4, 2018 It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. Our trainer wanted us to share “emotional scars” as an icebreaker I wanted to get you and your reader’s take on an icebreaker I was subjected to recently. For a 9 a.m. Monday morning training last week, the facilitator opened with, “Tell us your name, […] Read the full article →
why do offices say they’re “fast-paced” when they’re not? by Alison Green on April 3, 2018 A reader writes: I’ve been chatting with my old boss from our local government organization as they’re considering hiring me back as a consultant for a brief period. I’ve just read their job description for the role, and it made me laugh out loud as they’ve described their office as a “fast-paced environment.” From my […] Read the full article →
a coworker left me an anonymous note … and a pacifier by Alison Green on April 3, 2018 A reader writes: About two weeks ago, I came in to work and found a manila envelope on my desk. It had my name written on the front. I opened it up and was stunned to find a typed note that read “Dear Loud Talker, I know more about your TV-watching habits than anyone sitting […] Read the full article →
managing an employee with “pregnancy brain” by Alison Green on April 3, 2018 A reader writes: Thanks so much for the site! It’s been invaluable to me as I’ve started in a managerial role. I’ve had a situation come up recently that I’ve seen alluded to in some older comment threads, as well as in your advice to a letter-writer wondering if she should mention “mommy brain” in interviews, […] Read the full article →
my coworker put pins on my chair, new assistant makes mistakes I have to fix, and more by Alison Green on April 3, 2018 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My coworker put push pins on my chair I have a coworker on my team who I work on a lot of projects with, and I think she may be mentally disturbed. She has been targeting me for the past couple of months, and I […] Read the full article →
accidentally ending a work call with “love you, bye” and other work questions by Alison Green on April 2, 2018 I was on public radio’s Marketplace this weekend doing “ask me anything,” where the show let people call in with any work-related questions they wanted. Some of the questions I answered include: How can you tell a coworker who keeps saying “I love you” to cut it out? What if you accidentally say “love you, bye” on […] Read the full article →
everyone interrupts me — am I somehow causing this? by Alison Green on April 2, 2018 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 →