Ask a Manager

This is a transcription of the Ask a Manager podcast episode “Your Office is Filthy… and Jolie Kerr can help”. Alison: You might think that work advice doesn’t have much crossover with cleaning advice, but actually I get a fair number of questions that relate to cleaning at work. Why is the microwave in the […]

This is a transcript of “My Coworker Gets Away with Everything.” Alison: Hi, and welcome to the show! Today I’m going to answer a whole bunch of questons from people. The first question today is from someone with a terrible coworker: Caller 1: Back story: my coworker has a family member who was a pretty big deal in […]

This is a transcription of the Ask a Manager podcast episode “My Team is Overworked – and I’m the Boss.” Alison: I hear from a lot of people who feel overworked — that they’re expected to work unreasonable hours and their workload is just unmanageable. Today’s guest is approaching this issue from the other side. […]

This is a transcript of “My Boss Uses an Offensive Slur.” Alison: Hi, and welcome to the show! Today I’m going to answer a bunch of shorter questions from people. The first question today is from someone whose boss is using a pretty offensive term. Caller 1: Hi Alison. I have a tricky situation that I’m not sure […]

This is a transcription of the Ask a Manager podcast episode “When Work Gets Spooky.” Alison: Hi, and welcome to the show. This is a special Halloween episode, so first: happy Halloween. Today we’re going to talk about Halloween in the office, ways that it can go wrong, things to avoid, and questions that I […]

This is a transcript of “My Boss is Burning Out.” Alison: Hi, and welcome to the show! Today I’m going to answer a bunch of shorter questions from people. The first question today is from someone who’s worried that her boss is burning out. Caller 1: I need some advice. Over the last nine months or so […]

This is a transcription of the Ask a Manager podcast episode “My New Job Isn’t What I Signed Up For.” Alison: Taking a new job is always something of a gamble. Something can sound great in the interview process, but then once you start, turn out not to be at all what you thought it […]

This is a transcript of “Toilet Trouble.”  Alison: Hi, and welcome to the show! Today I’m going to answer a bunch of shorter questions from people. The first question today – well, I’ll just say that when I first started Ask a Manager 11 years ago, I never expected to get so many questions involving office […]

This is a transcription of the Ask a Manager podcast episode “My Boss is a Jerk – But Only to Me.” Alison: Managers can have a huge amount of influence over your day to day quality of life at work. A good boss can make even boring jobs pretty good, and a bad boss can […]

This is a transcript of “I’m Drowning in Too Much Work.” Alison: Hi, and welcome to the show! Today I’m going to answer a bunch of shorter questions from people. The first question today is from someone who’s dealing with a problem that I get a lotof questions about – what to do when your workload is […]