Ask a Manager

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

1. Employee is terrified of balloons

We are in an open plan office with 5 teams of 10-14 each, and with the World Cup we have been allowed to decorate. However, one of my direct reports has a phobia of balloons, and one of the other teams has put balloons up as part of their decorations. These balloons are over 15 meters away from my report’s desk and are hidden from her view from her desk by pillars in the centre of the floor, but as soon as she walked in at 8 am last Thursday she saw them. She approached the manager of the other team and requested they be removed, he refused. When I got in at 9, she told me she would work on another floor for today until the issue was resolved. (Work from home is not possible as she is required to log into a phone system to accept calls from our clients.) Her husband (who is at manager grade in another part of this office, while she is a caseworker) has approached the regional manager (3 grades above me) and told him that if they are not removed then she will be going off sick. They have not been removed. She has today (Tuesday) gone off sick. A second team has now put up balloons at the desk of my manager, who wants to make a case for them staying up on the basis of office morale.

Several of my other reports are now talking about the situation and saying that she’s being silly and she should face up to her fears, including one who wants us to have our own balloons, and others are making jokes about popping them near her. I keep telling them they need to be more compassionate about this coworker, reminding them that a phobia is a serious thing and that everybody has their own quirks, but I still keep hearing this talk around me. I’m just lost because nobody seems to be taking this seriously. I am a manager in the UK so I’m not looking for any legal or procedural advice’ I just want some advice on how to handle this difficult situation.

Insist on removing the balloons. Seriously. Regardless of anyone’s views on how silly this phobia might seem, the fact is that it’s a phobia for her, and balloons are not so integral to your business that it should be much of a question. You have a staff member who’s getting panicky about something that will be trivial for you to remove. Tell the other manager that you’re sorry but your employee’s ability to work trumps her team’s interest in decorating with balloons, and that you need to remove them, period.

And make it clearer to your team that you’re serious about them needing to cut the jokes and that what they’re doing is mean-spirited and not something you’re okay with on your team.

2. Employer wants job candidates to submit a photo — but not of themselves

I have found a posting for a customer service position that I am very interested in. It’s a small company that supplies a niche medical device and after doing some research on them (BBB, LinkedIn, Google), I was even more interested in the position. But as I was filling out the application, I got to this: “To apply and learn more, please submit your resume, cover letter, AND a photo or graphic (NO head shots, selfies, or pictures of family members, please) that represents why you are a good fit for this role.”

I know any posting asking for a photo of the applicant with the resume is a red flag/possibly illegal, but that doesn’t seem to be what they are asking for. But If they don’t want a photo of me, what are they looking for? Seems odd. What is your opinion? Would appreciate any feedback.

Well, even asking for head shots isn’t illegal. Creepy and weird (in the U.S.), but not illegal. And if a company asking for head shots ever faces a discrimination suit for other reasons, it won’t particularly help their case that they were doing it.

Anyway, as for what this company is looking for, who knows. I would not be a good fit for this role, clearly, because that request alone would make me not apply. So I’m not particularly helpful here, but I’m publishing your letter (a) because a commenter might have interesting thoughts for you and (b) because I hate this sort of crap and welcome the opportunity to say it.

3. Is it okay to contact a recruiter who’s late for a scheduled call?

I had a phone interview scheduled yesterday morning for 8 am. I parked at the Starbucks by my office to do the phone interview in my car, so that I wouldn’t have a problem running into coworkers and because I have terrible reception at my workplace. Also, it is close enough so that I could make it to the office around the usual time I clock in.

Almost 10 minutes had passed and I still did not hear from the recruiter, so I decided to give her a call. My phone reception is usually fine in the plaza where the Starbucks is located, but I was paranoid that maybe she had been trying to call me and for some reason the calls weren’t going through. So I decided to call her because if she was trying to contact me, I didn’t want her to think I had forgotten our appointment and that’s why I wasn’t picking up.

When she answered, I explained that I don’t get the best reception in my workplace and so I wasn’t sure if she was trying to call me for our scheduled 8 am phone interview. She said no, she had just been running a little late. I feel like I have now shot myself in the foot. I’m not sure if she thought I was being too aggressive, but honestly, I just wanted to honor our appointment time and to show that I am punctual. I feel like my intentions were in the right place, and the rest of the interview actually went well. She said she would pass my resume onto the hiring manager, so I took that as a good sign, but I haven’t heard back yet. Do you think I was being overly aggressive by taking the initiative to contact her when our scheduled time had passed? And just for future reference, should I always wait for the recruiter/hiring manager to contact me no matter how late they are for the phone interview?

No, that was fine to do. You would do that with a business colleague, right? It’s fine to do with a recruiter or hiring manager too.

4. My wife is hitchhiking to work

We live in a very small town 5 miles from my wife’s work and we rely on the very poor public transport that is available to us. The first bus gets her into work 10 minutes late, and so for the past year she has been hitching into work. This is not reliable and is extremely frustrating and potentially dangerous.

She works as a passenger assistant on a council bus that takes the disabled kids to school and back. Today her manager freaked out as she was unable to get a ride into work. He said that if it happens again, he will push gross misconduct and get her fired. The route that she works on was about to start later, but he moved her onto another early start route. Does an employer have a duty to take into consideration her circumstances? We have a ten-year-old daughter and desperately need this work. She has been learning to drive and has her driving test in 5 weeks’ time. She is suffering emotionally and physically due to the pressure and stress that this manager is putting on her. She is a dedicated and competent worker, continually being praised by parents and school.

Employers don’t have a legal obligation to make allowances for personal circumstances (aside from being required to make reasonable accommodations for disabilities, religion, and the like). And it’s not crazy that her manager is requiring that she show up to work on time, particularly given her role. However, she should certainly explain that she’s in the process of remedying the problem by getting her driver’s license, but that her test isn’t for another five weeks, and ask if she can be moved to a route with a later start time until that happens.

5. Resumes for food service and retail while you’re still in school

I’m 19, and while I technically have a job at the family business, it’s not one that I ever particularly wanted or was allowed to choose. So I’m trying to find another summer job.

As I’m 19 and my work experience is basically “high school,” “some college,” and “answering phones and filing for several summers,” I’m not sure how to apply your advice to my resume. I can’t really list accomplishments, because “did the things other didn’t want to do in the office” isn’t really one I think managers want to see. I’m also not sure how to put my school experience on it. Graduated high school with honors? Still in college? Should I put my GPA in that section?

Most of my options are going to probably be in retail or food, so I was just wondering how you would go about crafting a student resumé for that sort of thing.

Well, you probably aren’t going to need a resume for retail or food service jobs; they usually have you just fill out an application and don’t ask for a resume. But if you do want to put one together, you can absolutely include accomplishments from the types of jobs you described — “pinch-hit for office manager to help keep busy office of 20 running smoothly,” “regularly garnered unsolicited praise for ___,” or whatever it is that you did well.

No need to mention high school, but do list that your’e in college. List it like this:
Education
Teapots University – 2013 – present (expected graduation May 2017)

GPA should go on there if it’s high (I usually say 3.7 or higher), but otherwise no need for it.

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

1. What to say to parents who call in sick for their kid (or want to know why their kid was fired)

I have frequently had young employee’s parents contacting me to call in sick for their child or to ask me why their child has been terminated/ask me to re-hire their child. I am absolutely frustrated with this. Do you have any advice or best practices for this?

I sure do. Similar to the advice I gave recently about being contacted by parents job-searching on their kids’ behalf, you should refuse to engage. That means saying:
* “I can’t discuss personnel information with someone other than the employee.” (when they want to know why their kid was fired)
* “We’d need her to contact us directly if that’s something she’s interested in.” (when they want you to hire their kid)
* “Oh my goodness, is she hospitalized? …. No? Then I really need her to contact me herself.” (when they call in sick on their kid’s behalf — you can also relay this one to the employee directly the next time you talk)

2. Why do interviewers ask me about jobs that are already described in detail on my resume?

For prescreening calls and at interviews, whoever I’m talking to always mentions they’ve read my resume and they then ask me to briefly tell them about what I did at the jobs listed on my resume. I’ve done a bunch of similar internships, and I feel like my resume conveys what I’ve done straightforwardly and in detail, so I’m not sure what else they’re expecting to hear about, and I always feel stupid answering because I mostly just rush through repeating a few things from my resume. Any tips on how to answer this question? Would it be okay to just ask, “Is there something specific you saw on my resume that you’d be interested in hearing more about?”

No. That will come across as … not difficult, exactly, but not particularly easy either. They just want you to answer their question. It’s fine if you repeat information listed on your resume; they’re probably assuming that you will. They just want to hear about those jobs in your own words, not in the carefully selected language that you crafted for your resume.

3. Mentioning family’s line of work in a cover letter

I’m in the throes of my post-grad school job search and have read pretty much everything on your site about cover letters, and have taken it to heart. I’m about to apply for a job at a multi-national PR firm, and have a question about the appropriateness of including a mention of my family’s business in the cover letter (that sounds so foreboding and mafia-esque). My academic/work background is in public policy, not marketing or PR. However, my father and mother own a marketing and PR firm, my aunt owns her own PR firm, and my grandfather was in advertising. Is making some pithy reference to this a good way to engage the reader and maybe bolster a resume lacking direct experience, or is it just totally inappropriate? I feel like I’ve written so many cover letters over that last month that I don’t trust my judgment any longer.

Inappropriate/irrelevant, unless you’ve worked for those businesses.

4. When to mention adoption-related maternity leave

My husband and I are pursuing an adoption of our daughter’s half sibling, due to be born in three months. I’m currently interviewing for jobs, but I’m unsure how — or if — I should tell potential employers about our situation and the possibility of needing a 6-week maternity leave sometime in the fall. (I say possibility because nothing is certain when it comes to adoption.) When do you think I should share the news?

Once you have an offer. At that point, you can explain the situation and try to negotiate the leave (since you won’t be covered by FMLA before having worked there a year).

5. New coworker’s title sounds more senior than mine, but she’s not

I was hired three weeks ago in a position that was created specifically for my skills. I had applied for a “coordinator” role, but it turned out that the actual position was much more administration than strategic, so the role was redefined. As a result, the title was changed to “specialist” and I am working directly under the head of department implementing strategy.

However, this left a gap in the team for an entry-level employee to handle department administration and to support my role and the team generally. The job description was written, the parameters were set (extremely entry-level, low salary), and yet the original title was kept: “coordinator.”

Which brings me to my concern! I’m worried that in the hierarchy of this company, the entry-level employee will be perceived as senior to me simply by inheritance of the title. All other departments are headed by a “coordinator” mid-career, and they are my equivalent across departments. The new employee is a graduate with incredibly limited admin experience, and their role is purely as an assistant. I guess what I’m asking is whether or not this is something I should bring up, especially as I’m only three weeks in. I don’t want to appear title-obsessed, but I am worried that this junior will (on paper and to the outside world) look like my superior. What do you think?

Eh, I’d let it go. I can see why you’re thinking about this, but I do think it would come across as overly status focused. Ultimately, unless it’s getting in the way of you being able to do your job and get what you need from others, or if it’s truly causing confusion, you’re not in a strong position to argue this, especially as someone new to the company. Moreover, they hired this other person with the promise of a particular title; switching it on her now to make her sound more junior would be kind of crappy.

And I wouldn’t worry about the outside world. I don’t think anyone really sees a major difference between “specialist” and “coordinator.”

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

1. I accepted a job without finding out the salary

After three years of temporary and part-time jobs, I have finally been offered my first professional full-time job since graduating college. They gave me a salary range before the interview, and I said the range was fine. On Friday, the head of the department I’d be working in called to offer me the job and said that discussion of salary/benefits would be with his boss. I asked for a little bit of time to think it over, and quickly decided to take it. I wasn’t able to reach them by phone, so I emailed them both and said I’d be happy to take the position. (I was a little paranoid that they’d change their mind, so I didn’t play it as cool as I should have.) The boss replied and said they were happy to have me on board and that the department head would be in touch. However, they still haven’t offered me a specific salary or benefits package.

Since I already said I would love to take the job, am I still in a position to negotiate? I know them well and trust them to be fair, but I’m not sure which end of the range they’ll offer me. (They know I’m a quick learner with a pretty unique range of skills, but there are aspects of the job that I will be learning as I go.) It’s a grant-funded position, if that makes any difference.

I don’t know what’s up with companies doing this — there’s no job offer unless there’s a salary attached to it. They put you in a weird position by offering you a job without being ready to discuss salary — but you also shouldn’t have accepted without having that nailed down. (But I understand why you did, given your situation!)

You don’t really have much negotiating power at this point since they already know you’re accepting regardless, but you can certainly try. Reach out right now and say, “I’m excited about coming on board, but also a little uneasy finalizing things when we haven’t discussed salary. Can we nail that down this week?” Then, if the salary comes back low, you could try saying, “I was hoping for something closer the mid-part of your range — do you have any flexibility?” (I wouldn’t try for the high part of the range in this situation, especially since it’s your first professional job since college, which means that the lower or mid point is probably reasonable.)

Read an update to this letter here.

2. My colleague works around the clock and I’m concerned it will impact management’s idea of realistic workload

Upfront I want to say I realize it’s going to look like I’m just jealous of my colleague, and honestly I haven’t entirely worked out all my feelings, so there is probably some of that at play. I genuinely like the person, but at times I find they can come off as a bit of a martyr. The scenario is this: My colleague has taken it upon themselves to continually take on a larger and larger volume of work than I or anyone else in my role. I recently found out, through conversation with them, that they accomplish this by working hours and hours of unpaid (also not approved) overtime — apparently by staying late, bringing work home to work until 1 in the morning, and also often on weekends. I have no way to know for sure how many hours they are working, as this is just based on what they told me. I work my hours and often extra, like many, but nothing to this extent. Apparently this person doesn’t have any management aspirations; they just like the work and don’t have any familial responsibilities. There is no financial compensation for unapproved overtime. We’re both full-time, federal government for what it’s worth.

My concern is management may come to believe this is an acceptable volume of work to be managed by one person. I previously always exceeded expectations for my position, and I believe still do, but don’t compared to this colleague. I do have management aspirations, eventually. Should management be made aware of what it’s taking to produce these results? My instinct tells me it is important for planning purposes for management to know what’s a realistic workload for a normal number of hours for any position, but at the same time it would feel like gossiping to bring it up, and comes across as self-serving (which, admittedly it is to an extent).

This comes down to the relationship you have with your boss and how good you are at relaying information that isn’t strictly your business (on the surface, at least). Some people can do that really well and it comes across as collegial, helpful, information-sharing, and other people suck at it and it comes across as involving themselves where they don’t belong. But as someone who’s generally good at it, I’d say, “It’s occurred to me to wonder if the fact that Jane works so much overtime on nights and weekends will eventually impact our team’s norms around what’s considered realistic productivity. Do you think that’s anything worth worrying about?” (Also, you have to be someone who has high productivity yourself to say this; if you’re not, this will never fly.)

Read an update to this letter here.

3. Salary and promotion clusterf*ck

A position opened up in a supervisory/leadership role with my organization, where I’ve been employed for about 12 years. I let my bosses know that I was interested. Shortly after talking with me about it, it came out that other employees were interested in the job, so as an act of “fairness,” I was asked to apply for the position. I was assured that this was not an attempt to find a better candidate, and all of the other leadership personel told me they wanted me for the job.

I went through the interview process, and over the weekend I was asked over the phone by my immediate supervisor (who is not my future boss) if I was interested in accepting the position. I told her that I was, but that I would need to sign a salary agreement before I could officially accept. This is due to the fact that the initial offer is significantly below what I currently make. I arrived at work today to learn that an interoffice memo announced that I have accepted the position! Worse still, I’m receiving congratulations from team-members and coworkers agency wide, and HR says that they cannot negotiate my salary. I believe this was an honest mistake; (my [future?] boss is new), but she isn’t available for comment until several days from now.

What do I tell me coworkers (if anything) over the ensuing days? Should I proceed with salary negotiation as usual? Is there any way to save face here if I have to turn down an inadequate offer?

Well, this is a mess. If you said that you just wanted to “sign a salary agreement” before “officially accepting,” I can see where the misunderstanding came from. That sounds like you just wanted to confirm everything in writing; that’s a very different thing that asking for a different salary. No wonder they thought you accepted — I might have too!

I’d contact HR and the prospective manager for the new position ASAP and say, “I’m so sorry, I think there’s been a miscommunication. While I’m very interested in the position, I wanted to talk about the salary before accepting it. The proposed salary is less than I currently make now. I can’t accept it if it’s a pay cut, and I’m hoping for something closer to $___. I’m not sure what happened, but I told Jane when we talked this weekend that I wanted to nail down salary before accepting.”

4. Do employers have to provide job descriptions?

Do employers need to have job descriptions for their employees? My company doesn’t have them…at least not for my role and it makes it very difficult for me to understand what is expected of me.

Need, as in legally required? No. But it’s a good idea to do it, because you want people to be aligned with their employer about what their role is, what’s important, and what isn’t.

Why don’t you write up your understanding of your role and what your big priorities are for this year and ask your boss if it looks right to her? Use that as a jumping off point to get aligned on what she wants your role to look like and to spot any areas where you’re operating with different assumptions.

5. Email subject lines when reaching out for a reference

I have a question regarding what you would put in the email’s subject line when you’re reaching out to a former employer, instructor, etc. I’m wary of putting too much information into the subject, overcrowding it – but I also don’t want to oversimplify things and just put something like “Hello” in there. I kind of felt something like “reference request” would be a little too strong, too (especially in emails just letting them know I’m applying with their organization, and I leave the decision to endorse me or not up to them). What do you think would be the best approach? Am I overthinking this?

You are indeed overthinking this. Anything that sums up the topic of your email in a few words is fine (and yes, “hello” is not ideal). For instance, you could write “applying to teapot maker job with Teapots Inc.” when you’re not directly requesting a reference and “request for a reference” when you are (it’s not too strong at all; it’s totally normal — and useful for them to see that).