coworker says she hates me and refuses to have any contact … and my boss told me to fix it by Alison Green on April 18, 2023 A reader writes: My coworker, “Jane,” was promoted to the same level as me eight months ago. I had only spoken to Jane twice in her two years at the company prior to her promotion. About a month after moving into the role, Jane set up a meeting with me. In the meeting, she yelled […] Read the full article →
my company is not planning well for my retirement … what’s my responsibility? by Alison Green on April 12, 2023 A reader writes: I have worked for the same small company (less than 20 employees, including the owners) for almost 30 years. I am full-time, salaried, and exempt and handle a niche set of clients who have specific rules and regulations that must be followed. Approximately 85% of my work falls in two busy seasons, […] Read the full article →
someone or something is deleting our work emails by Alison Green on April 10, 2023 A reader writes: My coworker, Jane, and I share a common Outlook mailbox and the emails get sorted out to each team member chronologically. Example: first email gets assigned to me, second email gets assigned to Jane, third email gets assigned to me, fourth email gets assigned to Jane. And so on. We can tell […] Read the full article →
my coworker is having serious memory issues by Alison Green on April 5, 2023 A reader writes: I work in a small office without a typical HR rep. “Mike,” our manager, oversees our company and unfortunately takes a head-in-the-sand approach to anything office drama related. Our concern is with our office manager, “Michelle,” who has been with our company for 15 years. She oversees our accounting and customer service […] Read the full article →
after I resigned, my employer accessed my personal email to find out details about my new job by Alison Green on April 3, 2023 A reader writes: I recently resigned from a job I have been at for nearly 15 years. The workplace became more and more uncomfortable throughout my tenure, with the boss yelling, the staff miserable, and deadlines being constantly changed. My job, which was more creative in nature, expanded to me doing pretty much everything. Eventually, […] Read the full article →
my boss gives me “constructive feedback” multiple times every day by Alison Green on March 29, 2023 A reader writes: My very well-intentioned manager loves to give what he calls “in-the-moment constructive feedback.” Multiple times a day he tells me how I could have done something a bit better or how he would have handled a situation differently if he were in my shoes. To me this feels like nitpicking, and it […] Read the full article →
my boss is annoyed that I stayed out late drinking during a three-day work event by Alison Green on March 27, 2023 I’m off today, so here’s an older post from the archives. This was originally published in 2018. A reader writes: I am a designer for an architectural firm and I was assigned to assist in a trade show, as our firm was one of the exhibitors. The show was held in my hometown so we […] Read the full article →
my boss disapproves of our snow day policy by Alison Green on March 23, 2023 A reader writes: I work for a post-secondary institution in a location where the odd winter storm shuts operations down. Pre-pandemic, the policy was that the school was closed and all students and staff had the day off, akin to it being a holiday. During the pandemic when everyone was remote, they updated the policy […] Read the full article →
new manager keeps pushing hard for me to be his friend by Alison Green on March 22, 2023 A reader writes: I have a situation that is annoying me with a new manager at our sister company, George. He was hired with no notice into the role that I had been promised would be my career progression within the company. I have spent the last five months training him on the basics and […] Read the full article →
my boss expects me to respond immediately no matter what I’m doing by Alison Green on March 9, 2023 A reader writes: I’m having a hard time with my direct supervisor’s expectations around response time, and I’m not sure how I should adjust or if she needs to adjust. In regards to email, she gets frustrated with our coworkers who don’t respond to her in two hours, and will call if they don’t respond […] Read the full article →