April 2019

why don’t we teach new grads about workplace norms?

If you’ve worked with recent graduates who are just getting started in the work world, you’ve probably seen them make their share of professional faux pas. I recorded a piece for the BBC arguing that we need to do a better job teaching students and new workers about how to navigate an office (and I […]

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my coworkers think I’m flirting with them

A reader writes: I’m a young woman in the first few years of my career. I have a fairly bubbly personality, and pretty much all throughout my life, regular interactions with men seem to get misconstrued as being flirtatious. I’ve recently found out that two of my coworkers were planning to set me up with […]

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my employee gets drunk on business trips

A reader writes: I need to know the proper way to handle the fact that one of our employees drinks at night while on the road with the crew. Our company pays for the hotel rooms and the guys bunk two to a room. We are getting complaints that one of the guys drinks every […]

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my boss says I’m too much of an “open book” emotionally

A reader writes: I work at a medium-sized pharmaceutical company. I have direct reports and also work with associates who don’t report to me, but carry out work I create. I have had problems with Lola, a talented associate who can be (by many accounts) thin-skinned. She has a way of speaking as though she […]

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I have to build with Legos during an interview, I don’t want to cross a picket line for work errands, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. I have to use Legos to build something that represents me during an interview Using your recommendations for resumes and cover letters, I landed an interview with what I believe to be my dream job. While prepping for the interview, I looked up some common interview […]

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should I have shared my salary with a coworker?

A reader writes: I changed jobs recently — my new company is a big, multinational organization comprised of lots of divisions. I recently had a conversation with a friend in a comparable role (in an entirely different division of my company), who asked to meet up to discuss salary. He has been at our company […]

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