Ask a Manager in the media by Alison Green on March 20, 2020 Here’s some coverage of Ask a Manager in the media recently: I’m in the New York Times talking about job worries in the age of coronavirus, including advice for college students and freelancers. I’m also in the New York Times talking about the etiquette around DMs (direct messages). I talked to PBS about helicopter parents interfering with their kids’ job searches. I talked to the BBC about colleagues who look at their phones while you’re trying to talk to them. I talked with Refinery29 about what to do if your company still doesn’t have a work-from-home policy despite coronavirus. You may also like:my new employee keeps tagging us in negative social media posts after we've told her to stopmy coworkers all hang out without meI need time off work because of my husband’s alcoholism, boss doesn't pay freelancers on time, and more { 16 comments }
Mockingjay* March 20, 2020 at 12:39 pm “And one point that I’ve seen people making a lot is that people who are disabled have been asking for a whole range of accommodations for years — working from home, flexible schedules — and have been told, no, we can’t do that. There’s no business way for us to make it work. And now that, suddenly, non-disabled people need those accommodations, we’re figuring out ways to make it work. And that is a lesson that we need to hold onto.” Alison, your last sentence says it all.
Aggretsuko* March 20, 2020 at 2:33 pm Hah, yeah, only because they have no choice now! Though I did get told that we can ONLY work from one location and technically speaking, we can never go “back and forth” and have WFH as an option otherwise.
She's One Crazy Diamond* March 20, 2020 at 3:35 pm Alison, thank you so much for standing up for us disabled people!
LG* March 20, 2020 at 2:18 pm Hi Alison! I’m excited to read these. Right now, for me at least, the first New York Times article link is actually going to an article titled “Suffering Through Your First Financial Crisis? Read This to Relax.” I’m sure I can find yours by searching on the Times site but wanted to let you know.
Yvette* March 20, 2020 at 2:27 pm She is quoted in that article, about half way down search for her name on the page. Under the sub header “Don’t let job worries consume you”
qvaken* March 21, 2020 at 4:06 am Oof. I liked Alison’s contributions to the PBS article about helicopter parents, but didn’t like the conclusions Julie Lythcott-Haims reached about an entire generation of workers. It’s tough to get taken seriously in the workplace as a young person as it is, particularly as a young woman, without people claiming that that all “millennials” are unable to navigate the workplace independently, without our parents holding our hands. And the idea of “Bring Your Parents to Work Day” is gross to me. Perhaps there are young workers who like it, but to me, it surely serves the interests of busybody parents much more than the interests of the workers.
Texan In Exile* March 21, 2020 at 1:26 pm It bothers me that it seems that millenials and not their parents are blamed. I have watched my (whatever my generation is) friends helicopter their kids. The kids aren’t asking for it. The parents are forcing it on them! Kids didn’t ask for 11th place ribbons. Kids aren’t asking for short-order cooks so they can have a separate meal from the rest of the family. Kids aren’t asking for parents to call professors and employers. This is on the parents, not on the kids.
LlamaGoose* March 22, 2020 at 5:33 pm Exactly! I felt the same reading that article. The one parent they interviewed who was like, “Well, my daughter found good work independently but my son needed a ton of help every step of the way,” like, did the son actually ask for that help? Like, you’re allowed to kick your adult kids out of the house or cut them off financially, if that’s what this is about. But somehow this vibes to me like maybe the son didn’t actually want this kind of career or something, and if he had to make his own choices (sans parents’ financial help), he would have chosen a perfectly decent life and career that’s maybe not so high-paying but also isn’t as stressful. But for some reason that’s untenneble to the parents. Not saying this is that person’s exact situation, but it’s a situation that many of my millennial and gen z friends are in.
AnonyLawyer* March 21, 2020 at 9:40 pm As an older millennial, I have to agree that the idea of “Bring Your Parents to Work Day” is horrifying. I don’t believe that any of my peers would want to participate in that.
Existentialista* March 23, 2020 at 10:41 am Alison, with everyone’s work environment suddenly changed very drastically, your services are most essential! Thank you for all you do.