my boss told me to stop wearing headphones at work — but I wear them to drown out my coworker’s noise by Alison Green on April 11, 2019 A reader writes: My coworker and office mate, Jane, is an older woman who enjoys listening to either audiobooks or the radio while she’s working — specifically listening to audiobooks with some questionable content (nothing overly explicit, but they have moments sometimes, along with a few instances of language) or talk radio that focuses on […] Read the full article →
my coworker is my boss’s best friend by Alison Green on April 11, 2019 A reader writes: I’ve been working in pretty good environment for the past two and a half years. My boss is about 10 years younger than me, married, with two teenage boys. She’s risen quickly up the ranks. She’s gracious, upbeat, and a hard worker. She’s also generally professional, with one glaring exception. Her best […] Read the full article →
ask the readers: how do you bounce back from burnout? by Alison Green on April 11, 2019 It’s the Thursday “ask the readers” question. A reader writes: After a fair amount of looking and much encouragement from concerned friends and family, I left a thoroughly ridiculous job in late 2018. (Even though I had come from a similarly sized institution in the same field, I was doing the work that 2.5 positions […] Read the full article →
my parents are shocked that interviewers can see my social media, can I help my nice but incompetent boss, and more by Alison Green on April 11, 2019 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My parents are shocked that interviewers can see my Twitter persona I’m in my mid-20s and work in an industry that’s dominated by people about my age. At every job I’ve had, I’ve been encouraged by upper management to tweet about my work, and to […] Read the full article →
I manage someone who’s upset that his employees don’t give him praise and validation by Alison Green on April 10, 2019 A reader writes: I’m an executive. One of my direct reports (a manager) is frustrated that his team doesn’t acknowledge his input/skills/expertise. It’s as though he wants his team to give him positive feedback and validation. My feeling is that it’s very unlikely to happen. Even great managers wouldn’t hear their team say “thanks for […] Read the full article →
should I pretend to be bad at work I hate? by Alison Green on April 10, 2019 A reader writes: My partner offered me some surprising career advice the other day and it’s been weighing on my mind since. I had been venting about a bad week at work. I have ended up with a really tiresome and time-heavy task that has nothing to do with my actual role in the business […] Read the full article →
I’m about to fire an employee — and we just hired her husband by Alison Green on April 10, 2019 A reader writes: One of my staff is about to be fired for grossly inadequate performance. I’m confident that we’re on safe legal ground with the firing, and her performance issues have been documented and addressed with no improvement. However, the complication is that we have just hired her husband to work within the same […] Read the full article →
should I warn a store their new hire will steal from them, manager mocks me for my chair choice, and more by Alison Green on April 10, 2019 It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Should I warn a store that my relative who they’re about to hire steals from them? This may be a bit of a weird question, but I know someone who is about to be hired at a corner store that we both frequent. The issue […] Read the full article →
am I annoying my coworkers by asking for a ton of context on everything? by Alison Green on April 9, 2019 A reader writes: I am three months in at my new company, and I’m the newest member of a team that only came into existence about nine months ago. There are tons of growing pains/opportunities/whatever you want to call them, but I’m really energized by the atmosphere and I’m generally thriving (as is the team). […] Read the full article →
rejecting anyone who doesn’t send a thank-you note is terrible hiring by Alison Green on April 9, 2019 There was a big kerfluffle on Twitter this weekend when the executive managing editor of Business Insider published an article saying that she refused to hire anyone who doesn’t send a thank-you note after their interview. It doesn’t matter if they were otherwise her top candidate — if they don’t send a thank-you, they get rejected. […] Read the full article →