the people who are secretly working multiple full-time jobs from home by Alison Green on February 20, 2023 I wrote a piece for Slate about the surge in people who are secretly working two or more full-time jobs without their companies’ knowledge — how they do it, what employers think of it, and the larger social forces that might be driving it. You can read it here. Read the full article →
my employees tell me what they’re doing, rather than asking permission by Alison Green on February 15, 2023 A reader writes: I am a fairly new manager for a small team of creatives. I have noticed that when my team has a request, they have almost all have a habit of making it a statement rather than a question. For example: “I have to come in a hour late on Tuesday,” or “I’m […] Read the full article →
when I offered someone a job, her dad got on the phone with questions by Alison Green on February 14, 2023 A reader writes: We recently hired a new grad, Jane. As my colleague, Sally, was making the verbal offer over the phone, she asked Jane if she had any questions. Jane replied, “No, but my father does.” Then, Jane’s father took the phone and started asking Sally questions about the offer! The questions ranged from […] Read the full article →
my team doesn’t want managers to hang out with them by Alison Green on February 13, 2023 A reader writes: I manage a small tight-knit team. The people I’ve hired in the last two years socialize together quite a bit, which is great. The downside is they don’t invite me or the other managers; the junior members will hang out together and not invite the managers. The disappointing part of this is […] Read the full article →
my employee missed work after a night of drinking by Alison Green on February 9, 2023 A reader writes: An employee I manage called out today due to being hospitalized over the weekend for alcohol poisoning. They went out to celebrate their birthday over the weekend and overdid it on the partying. I realize this is out of work conduct; however, it is affecting the employee’s job because they couldn’t come […] Read the full article →
my employee has absolutely no attention to detail by Alison Green on February 8, 2023 A reader writes: One of the junior attorneys who works for me and I are pretty friendly. Jessie is a genuinely lovely person — friendly, kind, and we have a good working relationship. The one thing she struggles with is attention to detail. This comes out in two key ways — first, typos and misspellings […] Read the full article →
how can I get my employees to be more comfortable figuring things out on their own? by Alison Green on February 1, 2023 A reader writes: I’ve been a manager for a few years, and I’ve been working hard to build my bench. I keep running into an issue where I assign an employee a new task with as much lead time as I can manage, and their first response is, “Can you show me how?” Throughout my […] Read the full article →
job applicant keeps asking for another chance by Alison Green on January 30, 2023 A reader writes: How would you respond to a candidate who continues to ask for an opportunity after you’ve rejected them? This candidate was screened out and we sent them a message about finding a strong group of candidates and moving in a different direction, and we did tell them that we’d keep their resume […] Read the full article →
do managers really want honest feedback? by Alison Green on January 25, 2023 A reader writes: I have a question for you about feedback — specifically, feedback that you’ve been asked to give. I’ve repeatedly been asked for feedback from managers, both at work and at the organization where I volunteer, and then it seems like the same thing always happens: the feedback vanishes into a black hole, […] Read the full article →
why are there so many abusive bosses? by Alison Green on January 23, 2023 In the 15 years I’ve been writing Ask a Manager, I’ve heard about some really bad bosses. There was the boss who crashed an employee’s wedding (and then wrote her up for having him escorted out!), the boss who told bizarre lies about all her employees, and even the boss whose negligence killed someone’s horse. […] Read the full article →