Ask a Manager

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. My employer asks to see immediate photos of my work-from-home desk with no notice

Our work-at-home company subcontracts with major large companies. I’m a fairly new employee of about six months and we take pretty complicated customer service technical support calls. Recently, they’ve instituted a policy whereby they contact you via chat during your shift as a “surprise inspection” and ask you to take a picture of your desk to make sure you don’t have any paper on it as they are a “paperless” company. They want to make sure no employee could be writing down customer information. I don’t write down customer info, and I signed an agreement with them when I was hired that I wouldn’t.

They time you during this inspection and you have to squeeze it in during the time you are supposed to be allowed to be wrapping up notes for your customer call that you were on, and it’s very difficult to take a photo, remove your USB headset and other tools, find the photo, and upload it and send it to them. You are only allowed one minute to do it. It’s extremely disruptive, and our family camera belongs to my son, it has hundreds of photos and new photos don’t come out on top!

It’s a pretty silly policy — either they trust you to abide by their rules or they don’t. It’s also pretty insulting since they’re essentially saying “we don’t trust you.” That said, it’s apparently part of the package that comes with working there, and it might be the trade-off for being able to work from home, which (to many people, at least) is a pretty significant benefit. Your best bet is really just to accept that it’s part of the deal and find an easier camera set-up (possibly your phone or a cheap point-and-click).

2. Reaching out to the person I’m replacing, who might be unhappy about losing the job

Late last year, a facility management position was advertised at my workplace as a full-time permanent role (rare in our environment). The timing was right, so I applied and ultimately landed the role. Next week I begin and my future supervisor advised me to contact the current facility manager to organize the transition. This person who I replace had been quickly installed temporarily after the previous manager left and had also applied to the permanent role when it came up.

I am nervous about contacting the person I am replacing as I had heard that the they had been very unhappy about “losing” the job.

How can I initiate contact so that they will respond helpfully? I have a feeling they might not. My future manager has arranged for me to have access to all server files, etc. in advance and that made me stop and think. I guess I just want the right way to say to them, can we please organize our transition period and handover without triggering their emotions about being replaced unexpectedly?

Don’t look for a way to do that. Assume that the person is going to behave professionally unless they show you otherwise. Even if they’re upset that they didn’t get the job, that’s a long way off from being anything other than professional during a transition — and it would be kind of condescending to assume otherwise. Plus, if you approach them too delicately, you’re more likely to add to the weirdness — and really, most people would prefer for you to simply be matter-of-fact about what you need and assume that they can handle their own emotions.

Just be direct about what you need: “Hi, Falcon. I’m the person who will be moving into the facilities management role next week, and Lavinia asked me to get in touch with you now to see if we can start planning for that transition.” If the person is resistant or otherwise causes issues, you can talk to your boss about it — but I’d start out by assuming it will all go fine, because it probably will.

Read updates to this letter here and here.

3. Is a buzz cut unprofessional?

My wife and I have had a discussion regarding my haircut, as she says that my buzz cut (number 2 all the way around done monthly by my barber) is unprofessional and can create a less than optimal perception at work. I used to spend time combing my hair each morning, but I find this cut to be much more convenient and still think it looks clean.

I don’t think that’s unprofessional at all. I suppose there could be some industry out there where for some reason it would look out of place, but in general in most fields that’s not going to raise eyebrows at all.

4. Accepted one offer and then a better offer came along

Would it be career suicide if someone accepted their first job out of college and backed out before even starting the position because another offer came in that better suited his interests and was offering a much better package?

No. It’s not a great thing to do, but it’s not career suicide (unless it’s a tiny industry, where word can get around) and sometimes it’s just in your best interest to do it, even factoring in the obvious negatives (burning a bridge, going back on your word, etc.).

You can’t make a habit of it though. But just apologize profusely and tell them ASAP so they can start planning.

5. Applying to a job that I was fired from 18 years ago

Is it ok to apply to a job at a company that you were fired from? I was released from this same job at this company 18 years ago for bad performance. Since then, I have gotten a degree, married, had kids, joined the military, and am now a disabled vet and started a small business. I only want to apply so that I can supplement my current income but I am unsure how to approach them or if I even should at all.

I’ve matured so much since then, and I’m not even sure if the same people even work there anymore.

Well … you’ve got nothing to lose! Normally I’d say that you definitely shouldn’t apply to a job that you were fired from; the firing is just going to be too much of an obstacle for the employer to get past. Even if you know that you’re not the same person, there will be enough of a question in their minds about it that it’s usually going to be a lost cause. But in this case, it was 18 years ago — it’s entirely possible that no one will remember or care. It can’t hurt you, so if you’d really like to work there again, you might as well apply and see what happens.

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Can I ask a resigning employee to leave more quickly?

I recently had an employee quit and stated they would work another four weeks. This employee is a very low performer and I no longer want to keep them on my payroll. Can I ask them to leave now or do I need to wait two weeks? Since the employee quit, they forgo unemployment benefits, but I am wondering if this still applies if I ask them to leave before the four weeks are over.

You control when the person’s last day is. If you want to move their last day up, you can say something like this: “I really appreciate you offering four weeks notice, but looking over your projects, I think it makes more sense to set your last day for X.” In most states, the person will be eligible for unemployment for the period between whatever X is and the day they’d originally set as their last day.

However, unless the person is causing actual damage to your organization, it’s usually smarter to let them work at their notice period — or at least compromise on two weeks. Your primary audience for stuff like this is other employees, and if they see you push someone out after that person gave notice, they’re less likely to give you much notice when they themselves leave, because they’ll assume they may be pushed out early too.

Plus, if the person was really terrible, you should have been transitioning them out already anyway — and they did you a favor by quitting. A few weeks’ pay is a small price to pay to get rid of a bad employee without drama and to keep yourself from looking like a jerk to other employees.

2. Do I have any control over my job being reorganized into something else?

I work for an independent distributor of an international brand. My branch is currently in the process of transferring ownership to a different distributor. The new owning company is much smaller, much less technologically efficient, and generally operates as a “small family owned business” despite being relatively large.

In the talks of the transition, it has been mentioned that my position will be expected to act as a receptionist in addition to whatever other additional duties may fall to me. I don’t mind and would welcome more responsibility but I do *not* want to be a receptionist. I’ve been one before, I despised it, and part of my move to my current job was an effort to escape those duties.

Can I push back on this at all or am I just out of luck? If I do address it, how should I phrase the conversation to make it clear that my issue is acting as a receptionist rather than just balking at the prospect of change or more work?

It’s perfectly reasonable to say, “I took this job in part specifically because I wanted to move away from doing receptionist work. Are there any other alternatives that we could explore?” But say it ASAP, before plans become irreversible.

Ultimately, they may still do it anyway, but this is your best chance of getting them not to. If they do anyway, then you’re basically stuck deciding if it’s something you’re willing to leave over.

3. A cagey and vague request from my old employer

The former accounting lady at my old company called me a week ago, asking me to mail her a business card (I was a freelancer there for about a 1-1/2 years; I work in recording studios). When I asked why, she said, “It’s for this guy that called he wants to know….I don’t want to get involved.” WTF? So I told her she could send him my contact info if she wanted.

So I get another email today saying she hadn’t received anything from me and more vague and cagey questions. I asked her who these people were and she said “looking for information on past work and references.” Also, “Someone was recommending you?”

I’ll say that she’s always been cagey and a generally weird person to talk to, but this is too weird. Is there a reason she’s being so evasive? Am I about to have my knees broken?

I have no idea (do you know this guy?), but I think it makes sense to say, “Feel free to pass along my phone number and email address, but I’d want to know more about the context before sending anything else over.”

And really, you’re not obligated to respond at all if it’s giving you a bad feeling.

4. My manager banned me from eating at my desk

My manager recently stated that anyone sitting at the front counter could not eat their lunches at their desk. However, anyone with an office or who sits in a cubicle away from the front counter can.

This is called discrimination, correct? Especially since the only two people at the front counter are women and the rest of the people are not. Am I wrong on this subject? If you eliminate eating at your desk, you have to make it for everyone in the office not just specific people, right? He himself will eat at the counter in the morning, and he will also eat in his office every day. Since the email was sent out banning this, other employees have eaten at their desk as well. But if I try to do it, I get told not to.

No, this is not discrimination in the legal sense. Illegal discrimination must be based on your race, sex, religion, national origin, or other protected class. Your employer is absolutely allowed to treat people differently outside of those categories. In this case, although both of the affected people are women, it’s far more likely that this decision was made on the basis of whose desk is within public view and whose isn’t. And assuming so, that’s perfectly legal.

And the law aside, it’s actually perfectly reasonable to say that people can’t eat at their desks if they’re within public view, even though everyone else can. That’s a pretty normal rule to have, and people whose work space is within public view often have different restrictions on them.

5. Using work email when applying for an internal job

I typically follow the rule of reaching out to HR or hiring managers using my personal email address. My understanding is that this is good practice because you are representing yourself (not your company), and also it doesn’t make it feel like you’re using company time to apply for other jobs (even though the actual time may be outside of working hours).

I am interested in an internal job that I found through our (huge) company intranet. I was just about to send an email using my work email address so that my email stands out and I could feel like an inside referral. However, I’m wondering if the other rules still apply, and whether I should just introduce myself as a current employee who found the position through the intranet. By the way, I’m 2+ links away, so a personal referral is not an option.

No, with internal jobs, it’s perfectly fine to apply using your work email address. You’re basically writing to a colleague.

That said, I don’t know that simply the email address on its own will do anything in particular to make you stand out — but it’s fine to use it in this context.