open thread – August 24-25, 2018 by Alison Green on August 24, 2018 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 →
boss invited our whole office on a 10-day cruise, I had a disturbing dream about an employee, and more by Alison Green on August 24, 2018 It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. My boss invited our whole office on a 10-day cruise at his expense I’m seven months into my first adult job after college. I work for a university doing outreach for the VP and AVP of university advancement. On Monday, our VP (my boss’s boss) […] Read the full article →
team-building events are weird and not very useful by Alison Green on August 23, 2018 I recorded a piece for the BBC about team-building events: how bizarre and ineffective they can be, and why employers often schedule them without putting real thought into how they’ll produce better results … or even use them as a substitute for more meaningful work on communication or cooperation issues. (And it includes some of the […] Read the full article →
my boss will give me a bad reference by Alison Green on August 23, 2018 A reader writes: What do you do when your current manager has shown he or she will purposefully give unflattering references to leaving employees? He won’t directly speak negatively or lie, but will purposefully sound unenthusiastic. Our department has had significant turnover in the past year, and our department head is not happy about it. […] Read the full article →
what are the bare minimum benefits an employer needs to provide? by Alison Green on August 23, 2018 A reader writes: I have a question regarding employee benefits. What do you (or your readers) think are the absolute minimum benefits an employer should provide? I’m a business development consultant, and work with a lot of start-ups assisting in total compensation development. I, of course, try to work with my clients to develop the […] Read the full article →
I’ve become the office seamstress, is it OK to block someone from being hired, and more by Alison Green on August 23, 2018 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. I’ve become the office seamstress I’m a marketing professional in a small-ish office (100 employees) and I’ve made a name for myself recently as the office seamstress. I’ve made quilts for a few of my colleagues who I’m friends with when they had babies, and […] Read the full article →
beware of bosses handing out “crap sandwiches” by Alison Green on August 22, 2018 If you’ve ever taken a management class — or been managed — you’ve probably come across the “feedback sandwich.” Known more colloquially as the “crap sandwich,” the idea is that when giving criticism, managers should sandwich it between two pieces of positive feedback: open with some praise, then offer the criticism, then close with some […] Read the full article →
Evil HR Lady, bedbugs and work, and more by Alison Green on August 22, 2018 On today’s episode of the Ask a Manager podcast, I talked with Suzanne Lucas of Evil HR Lady, which was a major inspiration for me in starting Ask a Manager a decade ago. We talked about Suzanne’s goal of demystifying HR for people, some of the weird misconceptions people have about HR, how to know if your […] Read the full article →
my coworker is badmouthing my work – and some of her complaints are true by Alison Green on August 22, 2018 A reader writes: I’m a teacher, and last year I worked with a team that did not work together well. I’m teaching a different grade this year, but one of my planning partners from last year keeps talking to others about how my lesson plans were bad and how I uploaded them to our Google […] Read the full article →
should people with bad commutes get more leeway for lateness, bringing in snacks for coworkers, and more by Alison Green on August 22, 2018 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Should people with terrible commutes get more leeway for lateness? From a lively discussion at work today: Our office is downtown in a major city (Washington, D.C.) with terrible traffic. Some staff have regular hour-plus commutes each way. Commutes can also be variable based on weather, […] Read the full article →