Ask a Manager

In last week’s speed round, a surprising number of questions requested updated info on the cats — in particular, an update to the personality profiles and photos from last year. So here we go. Olive 11 years old, the grande dame of the house. She is very beautiful and requires that you treat her like […]

Last week we talked about coworkers cheating on coworkers, coworkers cheating with coworkers, and related drama. Here are 11 of the most bananapants stories you shared. 1. The poorly kept secret At OldJob where I was an intern, there was a couple (Bob and Barbara) who were having an affair. They were in the same […]

It’s the annual Ask a Manager speed round! Until 3:30 pm ET today, I’ll be answering questions live. How to ask questions: Submit a question using the form here. (Don’t leave your question in the comment section; I won’t see it there.) If you submitted a question yesterday, there’s no need to submit it again; I’ve got it […]

Tomorrow is the Ask a Manager speed round! On Wednesday from 2-3:30 pm ET, I’ll be answering as many questions as I can live on the website during that time. To submit a question in advance, use the form below. These will be short answers, obviously, so this is better suited for questions that don’t […]

Remember the letter-writer who wanted to speak up about a portrait of a child abuser in their office (#2 at the link)? Here’s the update. A few days after I initially wrote in, I heard statements from my boss that made it pretty clear they wouldn’t support me speaking up about The Portrait. Shortly afterwards, […]

Here’s a success story from a reader. I just wanted to share a quick success I had today. I’ve seen a lot of comments/posts on your site about reference companies that are very pushy about trying to get their long surveys completed. I got an email this morning asking me to provide four references to […]

A reader writes: I work with a very talented team of individuals, and I feel like I can’t operate at their level. I consistently complete fewer tasks than the rest of the team, and I need guidance on things I’ve been working with for years. I’ve improved greatly from where I was when I started […]

Last week we talked about wild overreactions at work. Here are 10 of my favorite stories you shared. 1. The cups At my company, we used to use paper cups at our cafe (where we get lattes for 50 cents). When we switched to reusable cups, it was OUTRAGE. The announcement post on our internal […]

Here’s a round-up of posts about pregnancy and work. interviewing while pregnant is it dishonest not to disclose you’re pregnant when you’re interviewing? interviewer said they would hire me if I weren’t pregnant interviewing while pregnant — but I’m not the mother when should I tell my interviewer I’m pregnant? working while pregnant how do […]

A reader asks: My employee, who is fresh out of college, is often not very thorough or good at his job. He’ll submit work that clearly lacked any attention to detail. And 90% of the time, there are errors that I end up pointing out. I am fair, factual, and give context to why the […]