how can I be a more gracious senior leader? by Alison Green on September 19, 2024 It’s the Thursday “ask the readers” question. A reader writes: I was recently attending a departmental meeting when I realized that — through a combination of steady promotions, organizational shakeups, and senior colleagues leaving over the years — I have somehow become the #3 ranked person in the department, both in terms of title and […] Read the full article →
let’s talk about times when speaking up as a group got something changed at work by Alison Green on September 12, 2024 We talk a lot here about times when you need to band together with coworkers to push back on something as a group — an unfair policy, a problematic process, or anything that you’ll have more luck changing if you speak up as a group rather than as an individual. (Here’s advice on how to […] Read the full article →
the pumpkin conspiracy, the illegitimate squirrel, and other office competitions gone bad by Alison Green on September 9, 2024 Last week we talked about office contests gone awry. Here are 13 of the funniest stories you shared. 1. The bugs Early in my career as a software engineer, the company wanted to improve the quality of the software products. They offered cash bonuses to the testing teams for finding bugs, and cash bonuses to […] Read the full article →
let’s discuss workplace contests gone awry by Alison Green on September 5, 2024 Workplace contests sometimes go off the rails in ways no ever intended. (Luckily for us!) Some examples that have been shared here in the past: •. “We had a hot sauce eating contest at work years ago that ended with the crowd demanding that the contestants stop before they got hurt (and passing the hat […] Read the full article →
how can I get my email inbox under control? by Alison Green on August 29, 2024 It’s the Thursday “ask the readers” question. A reader writes: I’m writing for any reader advice on managing high volume email. I am in my first year as middle management in a job that swings around a peak season and an off-peak season. I am pretty good at what I do, happy to have my […] Read the full article →
when you work with cheaters: share your stories by Alison Green on August 22, 2024 In response to the letter earlier this month about two engaged coworkers where one was cheating with another coworker, someone shared this hilarious story: We had a situation where two managers (married to other people) were seeing each other. They thought they were being discreet but … they really weren’t. The guy’s wife worked elsewhere […] Read the full article →
toll collectors, fear of being set on fire, and other things we believed about work when we were kids by Alison Green on August 21, 2024 Last week we talked about weird things we believed about work as kids. Here are 12 of the funniest misunderstandings you shared. 1. Firings When I was 4 or 5, I tended to take most things literally. So I thought getting fired meant that if you were bad at your job, you were taken out […] Read the full article →
what weird things did you believe about work before you had a job? by Alison Green on August 15, 2024 Inspired by yesterday’s account of the kid who thought her mom’s boss was a dog: What weird things did you believe about work as a kid, or even just before you started working? Personally, I couldn’t understand why work would be tiring if you weren’t doing manual labor and used to be very skeptical of […] Read the full article →
the secret goat, the geese vs the CEO, and other stories of animals at work by Alison Green on August 14, 2024 Last week we talked about animals at work and here are 10 of my favorite stories you shared. 1. The unauthorized dog I’ve worked my entire career at tech start-ups, which are invariably filled with multiple office dogs. Beyond stories of those dogs peeing under desks, pooping in conference rooms, and even one lone kitten […] Read the full article →
let’s discuss animals at work by Alison Green on August 8, 2024 Let’s discuss animals at work! We heard last week about someone who accidentally went to work with a bird on her head, and we’ve heard in the past about someone who couldn’t get to work because of aggressive nesting geese, we’ve fielded some drama about bears, and we’ve of course had myriad stories about dogs […] Read the full article →