how to survive your office holiday party by Alison Green on December 10, 2024 It’s December, which means it’s the season of office holiday parties, and all the etiquette landmines that come along with them: should you bring a date or go solo? Can you drink or should you stick to seltzer? Can you huddle by the cookie table with your work BFF or do you have to socialize […] Read the full article →
42 gift ideas for every type of employee on your team by Alison Green on December 9, 2024 If you’re the boss, finding the right gifts for your employees can be fraught with questions: How much do you spend? Should you spend the same amount of money on each person? And if you don’t know someone well, how do you make sure they like the gift while still keeping it professional? For the […] Read the full article →
my assistant doesn’t know how to prioritize by Alison Green on December 4, 2024 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 […] Read the full article →
I feel exploited by my employees by Alison Green on December 3, 2024 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 […] Read the full article →
the schedule for updates this year by Alison Green on December 2, 2024 Welcome to “where are you now?” season at Ask a Manager! Between now and the end of the year, I’ll be running updates from people who had their letters here answered in the past. A heads-up about update season: for the next few weeks I’ll be posting at midnight, 11 am, 12:30 pm, 2 pm, […] Read the full article →
I’m being flooded with business offers by friends and family by Alison Green on November 27, 2024 A reader writes: I work in an industry and on a product where business is booming. We’re making headlines internationally and people are flocking to the product. With this attention has come a large amount of in-bound sales offers from other companies. Software, insights tools, celebrity talent agents, you name it. My inbox is flooded […] Read the full article →
I have no idea what to get for the office gift exchange by Alison Green on November 26, 2024 A reader writes: I’ve signed up to participate in my office’s gift swap, where everyone is supposed to bring a wrapped gift and we’ll each pick one to open. I think it’s a Yankee Swap, where people will pick one at a time and then can either keep what they opened or “steal” someone else’s […] Read the full article →
we’re supposed to buy liquor and ski passes for our bosses by Alison Green on November 25, 2024 A reader writes: Last year, soon after I’d started a new job as a mid-level manager at a 30-person firm, I was surprised to get an email before the holidays requesting a donation for a surprise group gift from all the employees to the three partners who head my firm. Those partners are lovely people, […] Read the full article →
how much socializing at work is too much? by Alison Green on November 21, 2024 A reader writes: I am a manager at an office of 35 employees and everyone is fairly autonomous in managing their workload. We’re a pretty social and casual group, so it’s no big deal for people to socialize with one another to a certain extent. However, I’ve recently noticed that there seem to be more […] Read the full article →
is my employee taking advantage of the flexibility I give her? by Alison Green on November 20, 2024 A reader asks: I’m a manager of two employees, both of whom are salaried, not hourly. One of them — who’s younger, less experienced, more eager — rarely asks to adjust her work hours or work from home, and is generally happy to do anything I ask her to do. The other is a little […] Read the full article →