being the boss

All your questions about being the boss, answered — like dealing with low performers, lateness, weird feedback, and more.

my employees’ juice cleanses are disrupting their work

A reader writes: I manage a team of five. One of my staff, Helen, does some variation of a week-long juice cleanse or other liquid diet about once per year, and has for the four years she has been on my team. During that week each time, she arrives late or leaves early for three […]

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junior employee sends rude emails

A reader writes: A junior employee I manage writes rude emails. He will send three emails in 15 minutes, and then respond rudely when I answer the first one, as I haven’t gotten around to the other two or hadn’t seen them in my inbox yet. He’ll respond quoting his previous emails I haven’t had […]

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my employee is too accommodating

A reader writes: I am having a very backwards problem with one of my employees, Jill, being too accommodating and self-sacrificing. We have regular hours that we work, but it’s not uncommon for hours to need to change when something comes up. Everyone is aware of this when they come onboard, and we do our […]

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should I demote an employee who can’t do her job?

A reader writes: I have a staff member who was promoted beyond her capability. I have tried coaching her, and she simply does not have the skill or aptitude required for the job. I do think she could work in her original role — but to have the budget to replace her, she would need […]

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my employee is vaping on video calls

A reader writes: I manage a team that has moved to remote work. We are now holding all of our meetings through virtual interfaces. Recently I have noticed one of our employees vaping during our meetings with me and during all-staff meetings. Do you think this is appropriate or should I say something? I answer […]

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my employee never apologizes for mistakes

A reader writes: I manage an employee who’s in his first year out of college. He’s a great employee and has impressed people at all levels of the company and has received recognition for his good work. But there is one thing recently that has been driving me up a wall and I can’t tell […]

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my assistant doesn’t know how to prioritize

A reader writes: My team recently hired a part-time assistant, Jane, to help with my work. The problem I’m running into is that Jane either doesn’t know how to prioritize or doesn’t understand that certain things need to be prioritized even if I explicitly tell her “this task needs to be completed before you do […]

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I feel exploited by my employees

A reader writes: I lead a manufacturing business that I co-founded over a decade ago. It turned its first profit recently, but all this time, we as the owners have taken care of everyone by taking colossal personal debt and making incredible sacrifices, including working ourselves an average of 60 hours a week. We have […]

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