May 2020

I pierced my nose in quarantine, a disgusting boss, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. How do I stop clients from ranting about why we haven’t reopened yet? I work for a national nonprofit that does hands-on, in-person work. We have been closed since mid-March, got a PPP loan in the second round (so staff are still getting paid), and […]

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updates: the coworkers complaining about kids, the boss demanding location sharing, and more

It’s a special “where are you now?” season at Ask a Manager, when I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. Here are three updates from past letter-writers. 1. My child-free coworkers constantly complain about people with children I’m still at the same workplace. The grousing specifically about children […]

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my boss assumes we’re slacking off when we work from home

A reader writes: I work for a small company with about 10 employees working full-time in the office. We all report directly to the CEO, Phil. When the pandemic hit, Phil went into full panic mode and had us all move our desks 12+ feet apart, wash our hands every 20 minutes, sterilize everything in […]

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when can managers expect employees to adjust to the “new normal”?

A reader writes: Your advice around the pandemic and expectations for managers has been extremely helpful. However, I am struggling with when it is reasonable for employers to expect employees to get closer to pre-coronavirus work outputs. It seems clear that we will not be going back to a “normal” work environment anytime soon, so […]

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updates: the client pushing religion, and more

It’s a special “where are you now?” season at Ask a Manager, when I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. Here are three updates from past letter-writers. 1. How can I explain I’m looking for more work-life balance without sounding like I’m lazy? Hi! I was the work-life […]

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update: my company says we’re dog-friendly — but we’re not

It’s a special “where are you now?” season at Ask a Manager, when I’m running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. Remember the letter-writer whose company said it was dog-friendly but then issued a policy that seemed to exclude dogs who weren’t therapy or service animals? Here’s the update. […]

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