my employee won’t stop pushing for a job she’s not qualified for by Alison Green on August 15, 2022 A reader writes: An employee I manage, Elizabeth, wants a job that’s open on another team. She has no experience and doesn’t have the education or certification required for it. If she were given the job it would be like hiring a person who never went to law school, never passed the bar exam, and […] Read the full article →
my employee keeps joking about getting fired by Alison Green on August 10, 2022 A reader writes: One of my top executives has been regularly joking about being replaced in her position within the company. As the owner, I asked her why she was doing this, questioning if it stemmed from a place of insecurity or from unhappiness in her position. She said insecurity — that she was not […] Read the full article →
my new hire was secretly working a second full-time job during his hours for us by Alison Green on August 8, 2022 A reader asks: My company hired a person to start in January as a sales development rep. At the time, he told me he lived about an hour and a half away, but he’d be moving to be closer to work shortly. A few weeks in, he called me and told me he was going […] Read the full article →
what to say to employees who ask, “am I in trouble?” by Alison Green on August 2, 2022 A reader asks: I manage a team where, due to the nature of our work, I need to give our employees frequent informal feedback. We employ a young workforce; the bulk of our employees are 18-26 years old. Often when I approach these employees, they start the conversation off with, “Am I in trouble?” This […] Read the full article →
how to deal with a client who’s always late by Alison Green on August 1, 2022 A reader writes: I run a professional services consulting business. I work from home and all of my clients are elsewhere, so our meetings are always over the phone or Skype. For the most part, I love my clients, but one of them has a chronic problem with being late or simply blowing off our […] Read the full article →
our remote staff want the same perks we give in-office staff by Alison Green on July 27, 2022 A reader writes: I work for a company that has both in-office employees and work-from-home employees. When we plan events in the office such as chair massages and catered lunches, we offer work-from-home employees the opportunity to work in the office and participate in whatever event we are having, though they rarely come in for […] Read the full article →
candidates who say they’re open to relocation … but really aren’t by Alison Green on July 25, 2022 A reader writes: I’m hiring for my small company. We have found a candidate for one of our teams who would be perfect. The role is based in New York and our candidate lives in LA. Before initiating the interview process, I asked my candidate if she would be open to relocating. We prefer to […] Read the full article →
is rejecting people by phone more respectful? by Alison Green on July 20, 2022 A reader writes: I am just finishing up a highly competitive hiring process. We flew in the top two finalists for in-person interviews this week and have decided who we’ll extend an offer to. My question is around best practices for notifying the other finalist that she didn’t get the job. In the past, I’ve […] Read the full article →
my employee is rude and combative by Alison Green on July 19, 2022 A reader writes: I manage a small group of long-term staff. One employee who has worked with me for years (“Jane”) is very talented, and I helped her develop professional skills beyond the typical level of someone in her position. I am now having a major problem with Jane’s attitude, which has deteriorated dramatically. She […] Read the full article →
workers are running out of time off and companies don’t care by Alison Green on July 18, 2022 Nearly two and a half years into the pandemic, companies still haven’t figured out how to manage Covid-related sick leave. A single bout of Covid can knock out all of someone’s sick days for the year, leaving many more months to get through where other illness or injury might arise (to say nothing of time […] Read the full article →