August 2020

I’m struggling with working at home during COVID-19

It’s the Thursday “ask the readers” question. This week, it’s two questions on the same theme. A reader writes: What suggestions and recommendations do you have on staying productive and proactive while working from home with COVID stress? To give context, I’m incredibly fortunate to work for a company that has remained profitable and revenue […]

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should I ask my employee to find her own coverage for sick calls?

A reader writes: I have an employee who tends to call out more frequently than all the others in the organization. We work in a small 24/7 clinical-based office where technicians can all manage one another’s duties, which sometimes include on-call responsibilities. When a technician calls out sick, coverage is needed in order for us […]

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I overheard a client badmouthing my team

A reader writes: I recently had a voicemail from a dissatisfied client with whom we frequently collaborate. She had called to notify me of a mistake made by my department, but at the end neglected to hang up her phone properly before commenting on my team’s lack of intelligence and other similarly unflattering remarks. Of […]

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how to explain a late professional start, demotions, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. How to explain my late professional start I’m what I think of as a professional late bloomer. I was “home-schooled” in a chaotic, dysfunctional home from first through twelfth grades by my mother, a woman who had never gone to college and who frequently struggled […]

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I like to give small gifts at work — am I doing anything wrong?

A reader writes: I have a question about gift-giving at work. I agree with the idea overall that gifts should flow downward. That said, I’m the type of person that sometimes shows appreciation by giving someone something small. I suppose you could say my “love language” is gift-giving. I never feel pressured to give a […]

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I deeply dislike my try-hard coworker

A reader writes: Let me just say up front, you’re going to think I’m a jerk. The problem is, I deeply dislike someone I work with, someone everyone else seems to enjoy, but who nonetheless drains me of my happiness whenever they enter my atmosphere. A few months ago, I was promoted to a position […]

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