October 2022

my chatty employee is annoying his quieter coworker

A reader writes: I supervise a group of part-time workers doing what amounts to unskilled menial labor. One of the workers, Kent, is an older gentleman who has been doing this job for decades. He is known to be very chatty. Everyone kind of groans internally when they see him coming because they know they’re […]

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play-fighting at work, love letters on a shared drive, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Employees’ banter turned into play-fighting I have a fairly established team who all get along very well. Two members of my team, Pam and Angela, are particularly close. They chat outside of work, enjoy sharing projects, and always speak well of each other. With their […]

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should I put more effort into making friends at work?

A reader writes: I started at my company almost five years ago. I’m married and was pregnant when I started, and though I worked full-time and more than satisfied my boss, I didn’t get along well with many of the other women on my team who were in different life stages and had different work […]

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I’m biased against people who went to women’s colleges

A reader writes: I have a strong opinion about something that is making me biased as a manager. I am a woman and I dislike the idea of women’s colleges. I feel things people cannot help like age, race, disability, or sexual orientation are not the same as college choice. People pick where they go […]

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apologies in out-of-office messages, avoiding Boss’s Day gifts, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Religious apologies in out-of-office messages It’s pretty common in Jewish circles to send mass blanket apologies (in email and social media) to coworkers, friends, and family, apologizing for anything they might have done during the year to offend the other person, whether intentional or unintentional. […]

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