July 2021

do I need to keep covering a remote employee’s work?

A reader writes: Pre-pandemic, I was often collaborating in-office with a coworker, Alice. We do hands-on work with physical products that our company makes, and it’s not possible to work collaboratively on them with someone who’s not in the same room as you. When our company went fully remote in March of last year, it […]

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I think my assistant would be better at my job than I am

A reader writes: I am the director for a semi-independent branch office (about 100 people) of a larger company. It’s a pretty traditional, conservative company, and it believes in promoting from within, and many people here stay many years. I’ve been here 15 years. I was promoted to run this department three years ago. I […]

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how to turn down a job offer

You spend most of your time on a job search hoping for an offer, but sometimes you might end up wanting to turn a job down. Maybe the salary is too low, even after you tried to negotiate it, or maybe the boss seems like a hopeless micromanager, or maybe the role doesn’t focus on […]

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weekend open thread – July 3-4, 2021

This comment section is open for any non-work-related discussion you’d like to have with other readers, by popular demand. Here are the rules for the weekend posts. Book recommendation of the week: The Killings at Badger’s Drift, by Caroline Graham. A detective in a small British village must solve the murder of a kindly 80-year-old woman who saw […]

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it’s your Friday good news

It’s your Friday good news, with more accounts of success even in this weird time. 1. Over the last year, like a lot of people, I had a ton of work creeping into my work/life balance. Back in March and April when we were scrambling I understood to an extent – and obviously wanted to […]

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open thread – July 2-3, 2021

It’s the Friday open thread! The comment section on this post is open for discussion with other readers on anything work-related that you want to talk about (that includes school). If you want an answer from me, emailing me is still your best bet*, but this is a chance to talk to other readers. * […]

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