should managers ever push back when employees call in sick? by Alison Green on April 10, 2023 A reader writes: Should there ever be limits on someone using their sick leave if they have it available to use? We’ve had employees tell us “my allergies are acting up today” or “I have to stay home to make sure my pipes don’t freeze.” I don’t want to be in the business of questioning […] Read the full article →
someone or something is deleting our work emails by Alison Green on April 10, 2023 A reader writes: My coworker, Jane, and I share a common Outlook mailbox and the emails get sorted out to each team member chronologically. Example: first email gets assigned to me, second email gets assigned to Jane, third email gets assigned to me, fourth email gets assigned to Jane. And so on. We can tell […] Read the full article →
should our raises be late just because our performance reviews are late? by Alison Green on March 30, 2023 A reader writes: I work for a small company. The leadership and many members of the team, myself included, left another, much larger company three years ago to start this firm. I’ve gotten great annual pay increases at the new small company! But my gripe is that they don’t seem to be pegged to any […] Read the full article →
8 terrible stories of companies getting sexism awareness very, very wrong by Alison Green on March 28, 2023 Recently we talked about workplaces holding egregiously clueless “celebrations” for various awareness days/months. Not surprisingly, a ton of the stories shared were about sexism. Here are eight stories of companies getting sexism awareness events remarkably wrong. (Note: some of the stories shared were so offensive that it’s hard to laugh at them, so these aren’t […] Read the full article →
can I bring a blender to work? by Alison Green on March 20, 2023 A reader writes: I have recently started an in-person job after searching for months. I really want to keep it, but I’m so used to working remotely that my in-person skills are rusty. It doesn’t help that I might be autistic and have a difficult time reading the room/taking social cues. Any advice you can […] Read the full article →
let’s discuss egregiously clueless “celebrations” at work by Alison Green on March 16, 2023 Earlier this week we had a letter about a company that inexplicably decided its sole observance of International Women’s Day would be … to interview a man about sexism. Let’s talk about other cases of egregiously oblivious “celebrations” — the office that sent out weight loss tips for Women’s History Month, the nurses told to wear […] Read the full article →
the CEO makes us rank our personal lives at team meetings by Alison Green on March 14, 2023 A reader writes: The CEO of the company I work for likes to be very involved in everyone’s lives and has stated that by being vulnerable and open about what’s going on outside of work, we will perform better on the job. At company meetings, she makes the whole team rank both our work and […] Read the full article →
is it reasonable for our office to go so fragrance-free that we have to change every product we use at home? by Alison Green on March 14, 2023 A reader writes: I work in a government office which is currently almost exclusively remote. We recently received an invitation to a not-quite-mandatory large (~50 person) in-person event which came with a note: This is a fragrance-free meeting: Please help us to accommodate our coworkers who are chemically sensitive to products with fragrance (scented). Thank […] Read the full article →
my company is pressuring us to donate huge amounts of money to a coworker by Alison Green on March 6, 2023 A reader writes: I am a high volume sales professional for a very successful company. I have a group of peer colleagues with similar tenure. A few years ago the company hired Jane in a support role for our team. From day one, Jane has been terrible at her job. However, Jane is best friends […] Read the full article →
stolen sandwiches, disgusting fridges, dish-washing drama: let’s talk about office kitchen mayhem by Alison Green on March 2, 2023 For those of you who are back in your office or who never left, let’s talk office kitchen wars: sandwich thefts, moldy food that stays in the fridge for months, drama over dishes in the sink, passive-aggressive notes, the oatmeal that exploded in the microwave three months ago and never got cleaned up… Are your […] Read the full article →