the White House has proposed new overtime rules that could increase your paycheck by Alison Green on April 15, 2024 Big news: the White House has approved a proposal from the Department of Labor to change the rules that govern who must receive overtime pay. If it becomes law, your employer would be required to pay you overtime (time and a half for all hours over 40 that you work in a week) unless you […] Read the full article →
when your awful coworker is the boss’s kid by Alison Green on April 15, 2024 There are a lot of perks to being the boss: You can (often) set your own hours, delegate work you don’t enjoy, get a nicer office, and dine out on the company dime. But in some workplaces, being the boss also means being able to hire your adult children — often to the detriment of […] Read the full article →
my employee quit over a misdirected email by Alison Green on April 9, 2024 A reader writes: I have two employees who can’t stand each other but they’ve managed to be civil and professional. Sarah is a mid-top performer with a consistently good work product. She’s not a superstar but she is dependable. Dani is temperamental, doesn’t always listen to peers, and has created problems for her teammates when […] Read the full article →
am I sabotaging my former intern’s job prospects? by Alison Green on April 8, 2024 A reader writes: A while back, I supervised an intern for the first time. She produced good results and was eager to learn, but she worked slowly, needed a lot of coaching, had little initiative, and there were complaints about finding her asleep or on personal calls. However, because we were close in age and […] Read the full article →
my father keeps responding to my employee’s Facebook posts by Alison Green on April 3, 2024 A reader writes: My father keeps responding to my employee’s political posts on Facebook. My father is very conservative and my employee is very liberal, so you can guess that their opinions go together like oil and water. I feel that it is inappropriate for my father to be interacting with someone I supervise, and […] Read the full article →
here are the 10 best questions to ask your job interviewer by Alison Green on April 2, 2024 When I interview people for jobs, I’m always amazed by how many of them tell me they don’t have any questions for me when prompted. Like most interviewers, I set aside time for candidates to turn the tables and ask me their own questions – because you can’t make a good decision about whether to […] Read the full article →
employee came to work dressed as Jesus by Alison Green on April 1, 2024 A reader writes: I work at an up-and-coming, techy, mid-range e-comm company that’s always felt very inclusive, fun, and positive. Most employees are male and between the ages of 25-35, and are prone to ribbing and bets — “grow out your mullet for a year for $1,500,” that type of thing. One of our employees […] Read the full article →
I found a perfect candidate — do I need to interview others? by Alison Green on March 27, 2024 A reader writes: I recently posted a position that’s a bit above entry-level. People from various backgrounds could do well in the role, but I had a pretty specific profile in mind when I wrote the job description. I was thinking I’ll never find someone who checks all these boxes, but I did! This person […] Read the full article →
I sent a text about my problem employee to the wrong person by Alison Green on March 26, 2024 A reader writes: I find myself in a pickle and am a nervous wreck. I have been a manager for two years and it has not been easy. The manager before me was stepping down and badmouthed me during a staff meeting she held with the employees prior to my arrival. It was hell when […] Read the full article →
the surprising agony of office coffee culture by Alison Green on March 25, 2024 You would think supplying employees with coffee would be a relatively straightforward task and yet … sometimes it’s anything but. At Slate today, I wrote about office coffee wars — from workplaces with intense bureaucratic in-fighting over coffee supplies, to meetings that get hijacked to debate coffee issues, to outrage when people bring in their […] Read the full article →