Ask a Manager

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

1. Should companies prohibit celebrations of current events?

I had a strange situation come my way today, that I’d be interested in hearing your opinion on. A colleague of a friend brought in a cake to share with his team this morning, “in celebration of what happened in Ukraine over the weekend.” It seemed strange to my friend that a politically charged situation where lives had been lost would be celebrated with baked goods. Leading to a few questions – is this inappropriate? Should boundaries be formally set on workplace celebrations? Conceivably this could snowball into other controversial cakes. For example, an “election win cake,” where not everyone in the office voted the same way. Or should we stop overthinking it and just enjoy free cake?

Just for context, the cake-bearing employee was in fact Ukranian, so was likely more personally impacted by recent events than others. Thoughts?

You could certainly have a hard and fast rule prohibiting political celebrations in the workplace, but unless it’s an ongoing problem in this particular workplace, it would feel awfully rigid to impose it because of one guy feeling excited about something that happened in his home country. You’re right that it could snowball into something more problematic, but it doesn’t always make sense to create rules for something that might happen, and I think this is one of those cases.

2. HR said my prosthetic leg made an interviewer uncomfortable

I am an above-the-knee amputee, and I have a realistic prosthetic on one leg. I have recently graduated from college and started interviewing. When I’m wearing a skirt suit, you can obviously see my prosthetic, but the skirt is an appropriate length (hits below the knee). However, I recently got called in for a second interview with a company, and the HR rep told me that I shouldn’t wear the skirt suit to the second interview because it made one of the managers “uncomfortable.” I’m embarrassed and unsure what to do. Have I been doing something wrong by wearing skirt suits to interviews? And should I have mentioned ahead a time that I wear a prosthetic?

What the hell?! That HR rep should be yanked from her job. No, you’re not doing anything wrong. She is — by wrongly making you feel uncomfortable and by exposing her company to legal liability (because discriminating based on disabilities is illegal, and she just gave you direct evidence that they might be doing exactly that).

Go on wearing skirt suits if you like them.

(That said, there’s a school of thought that because people are weird about disabilities and can have unconscious bias, it’s better to wait to reveal disabilities unconnected to your ability to the job until you already have the job, when that bias can’t get in the way of you hiring them. There’s also a school of thought that says that’s bull and you don’t want to work with those people anyway. It’s up to you to decide where you fall on that.)

3. All the men in my office went to a pub and didn’t come back to work

A few days ago, all of the men in my office left around 10 a.m. Around 2 p.m., when one of them returned to the office drunk (the others didn’t return at all, including the owner of our company), we found out that all of them had gone to a pub to watch an Olympic hockey game. No women were invited. We are a small company (no HR to talk to), but about equally male/female. I’m not sure if I should bother raising this with the owner, since it was probably his idea. Is this something worth being annoyed about?

Was this a one-time thing, or is it part of a broader pattern of women being left out or otherwise treated differently than men? If it was a one-time thing and not part of a pattern, I’d probably point out that it’s not a great idea to have single-sex events at work but otherwise ignore it. But if it’s a larger pattern, you’re looking at a more serious situation (sex discrimination) and that’s worth being more than annoyed about.

4. My reference incorrectly said I’d left a job that I’m still at

I’m in the final stages of interviewing for my first professional job, and was given a job offer contingent on my references, which I provided. I know most of my references were excellent, and they all contacted me afterwards to say what they had told the hiring manager. However, one reference, for a volunteer group that forms the bulk of my relevant experience, is a former volunteer who has since left the group because of mismanagement. I’m still a member, just locally and not involved at the state level. Apparently she thought I had left the group too and spoke accordingly, not talking about the politics but stating that the transportation costs to the state meetings were too high and there was too much of a time commitment, etc. — nothing negative, but contradicting my statements in the interview and on my resume. I can’t have my direct supervisor correct this because it was my husband, and the next level up is the crazy disorganized leaders who won’t get back to me for weeks.

The reference check was supposed to just be a formality barring any serious issues, according to the hiring manager. I just don’t know if this is a serious issue, if I should try to figure out how to correct it or not, or if I should just forget about it because it’s either a dealbreaker or it’s not.

I’d either (a) explain the situation to your reference and ask if she’d be willing to correct it or b) reach out to the hiring manager and correct it yourself. For the first, she could say something like, “I realized after talking to you that I was projecting my own experience in leaving on to Jane, but Jane is actually continuing to volunteer with XYZ; I didn’t want to leave you with the wrong information.” For the second, you could say something like, “I spoke with Amanda after she talked with you and realized that she mistakenly thought I’d left XYZ around the same time she did. I just wanted to clarify that I continue to work with them.”

It’s probably not a big deal, but you don’t want to leave the hiring manager wondering if you weren’t entirely up-front about your situation.

5. Was this position created for me after I emailed someone at a company I’d like to work for?

Last week, I emailed the head of the department at a company I would really love to work for. I mentioned that I had applied to several of their positions in the past without ever hearing back and then asked if there would be any opportunities in the near future and feedback on the kind of candidates they look out for. He responded to my email saying that they just recruited several staff but to send my CV in case of future possibilities.

Two days later, a position opens up on their website that seems to match my profile. I am wondering if he created this position with me in mind. Do I just apply and wait to be contacted or do I email him about the new position?

It is very unlikely that he created the position with you in mind and then didn’t reach out to you about it, so I’d assume there’s no connection. Apply for it using whatever channels they’re directing applicants to use, and then email to let him know that you did. (Attach your cover letter and resume to that email so that he has them easily accessible.) After that, though, I wouldn’t continue to reach out to him unless he explicitly encourages you to.

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

1. My coworker slacked off this weekend and no one said anything

My coworker and I are both new hires at a small tech firm. Our CEO and COO stated that we should all (including our team lead) rotate weekends watching the help desk to answer client tickets. Well, it was my fellow new hire’s turn this past weekend and he expressed that he was going to the mountains. I asked if he needed to switch weekends and he said no, he’d have cell service and connectivity.

Well, Sunday morning I took a look at our help desk and noticed that there was an outstanding ticket from Saturday (we’re supposed to reply within an hour). I informed our team lead and she said, “Thanks, glad you caught that” and I offered to take care of the ticket since we hadn’t heard from fellow new hire.

Now, it’s Monday and no one has said a thing. I personally feel as if he should take my shift (next weekend) or at least part of it since I spent a portion of my day answering a ticket that was his responsibility. But as of now there are crickets in the office and no one has brought it up. I firmly believe in team effort but it’s irritating when someone isn’t doing their part. What should I do?

Yes, it’s irritating. But so far, this seems to be a one-time thing. You can certainly say something to him if you want (like “Hey, since I took your ticket last weekend, do you want to cover this coming weekend?”), but I wouldn’t make a bigger deal out of it than that (with him or with your team lead) until/unless it happens again or there are other signs of a pattern.

2. Negotiating salary when major cost-of-living differences are in play

I currently work in marketing in Milwaukee, WI making $40,000/year. I have been job hunting and was recently offered a job in my chosen field the San Francisco bay area (Emeryville, CA). While interviewing, they asked for my salary history (firmly asking for a specific number when I tried to politely skirt the issue), and have offered me a salary of $40,000. My responsibilities would be growing from my current to future position (bigger audience, more responsibility, asking more creatively of me, etc.), and coupled with the cost of living increases, I’m going to need to ask for a higher salary.

Based on cost of living calculator/analysis and talking with my financial advisor, the minimum equivalent of $40,000 in Milwaukee is $54,000 in Oakland, CA (nearest big city), and $64,000 in San Francisco proper. How can I go about negotiating my salary given that they essentially ignored the cost of living discrepancies between the two cities?

Base it on the market rate for that type of work in that geographic area, totally independent of what you’re currently making (which means you need to do some research into market rates for your work). Just like they shouldn’t be basing their offer on your current salary, you shouldn’t be basing your salary request on it either; doing so only legitimizing their approach. However, if you get the sense that they’re determined to build your offer off of your current salary, then you can absolutely point out that there are significant cost of living differences, and can even point out that what they’re offering would in practical terms be a salary cut for you.

3. My boss watches porn all day, every day

I am a maintenance engineer for a food industry. I work second shift so when I clock in, all the major management leaves. After all of upper management leaves, my supervisor watches porn and surfs the net all day, every day for the past 2 years I’ve been there. I’m tired of seeing it. I’ve caught him watching it so much that he’s comfortable watching it in front of me. I work 10-hour shifts everyday and he’s in the office 8-9 hours of the day.

How do I tell management professionally that my supervisor is unfit for his job? Or how do I say it and not come out as a jerk who has something out for his supervisor? Which I don’t; I just don’t think he’s fit for the supervisor job getting paid $65k a year.

Well, you don’t tell them that he’s unfit for his job, because that’s their call. But you absolutely can and should report the porn-watching situation. I’d say something like this: “I haven’t reported this previously because I’ve been uncomfortable speaking up, but Bob watches porn on the computer in his office every night during our shift. I’ve caught him so many times that now he doesn’t try to hide it.”

And assuming it’s making you uncomfortable, you should mention that too, because making you work in an overly sexualized environment like that triggers harassment laws.

4. Can I apply for my own job at a higher rate of pay?

I currently work within a team of seven people who are all employed under the same job title. Our company is advertising externally, and I know whoever they hire in will have a salary 40-50% higher than mine. Can I apply for the job? It is the job I’m currently doing, just they will be paid more as I was promoted within the company off a low base salary.

No, you can’t just send in an application for your own job title when you’re already working there. That’s going to look really weird.

You can, however, make the case for a raise, pointing to the advertised position as clear evidence of what the market rate for the role now is. If you’re given some BS justification for paying external hires more, you should point that you should be based on your value in the role just like everyone else is, and point to what it would cost to replace you. And if that still doesn’t work, then you should consider whether you’d rather become a better-paid external hire yourself, somewhere else.

5. Professional certifications obtained through testing

What are your thoughts on professional certifications obtained through testing? I am a technical communicator/trainer. ASTD (a professional training organization) offers CPLP (certified professional in learning and performance) certification. The cost is $999 or $799 to members. Membership is $229. This cost seems absolutely outrageous! As a comparison, I looked up the HR certification (PHR) cost: $400 or $350 for members. So much more reasonable! My current company isn’t going to foot the bill, and I don’t want to spend my money on something that seems sooooo utterly overpriced. However, in my job hunt, I’ve seen at least one place list CPLP certification as a requirement. Do you think I should still apply for that position? I believe you have encouraged people to apply when they don’t meet 100% of the requirements, but I’m not sure if that includes certifications. Do you think I should mention that I am not certified in the cover letter? I’d gladly take the test if they pay, but that seems tacky to point out.

Do you think certification in software is helpful? For instance, Adobe Captivate certification costs $180. If I don’t have a portfolio which I can share, is certification the best way to prove I know the products? I’m not excited to spend that kind of money, but I would be willing if it was important to hiring managers.

Personally, I don’t care that much about certificates and would always strongly prefer to see real-world experience. If someone has a certificate in X but no actual work experience in X, I know nothing about how successful they are at applying their knowledge of X in real life.

The only times I’d say it makes sense to shell out for certifications are when you truly need the knowledge you’ll get from the process (without regard to the certification itself) or when your field generally does require (or strongly prefer) them. For you, it seems like the question is more about the latter — and the way to find out the answer is to look at what the majority of ads for jobs you’re interested in say, and to talk to people in your field.

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

1. My new hire is badmouthing our business on Twitter

I am the manager of a small business and recently made a verbal offer of employment to someone for an entry-level/cashier position. In the last day, this hire has made several deprecating comments on Twiiter about the business. My knee-jerk reaction is to rescind the job offer, but I have doubts about how ethical that would be and the ramifications of it all. Do you have any insight?

Rescind it, and don’t have any qualms about doing it. You don’t want someone working for you who’s already badmouthing your business (publicly, no less!) and who has the double-whammy of having the terrible judgment of doing it on the Internet where you can easily find it. Hire a candidate who’s glad to work for you, not this one.

2. A new job, referring a friend, and a possible referral bonus

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by a third party recruiter at a company to join their team (office 1) while I was already in the hiring process with another recruiter at one of their other offices (office 2). After I was given an offer at office 2, a colleague of mine expressed interest in the same position at office 1. The colleague is someone whom I’ve worked with in the past, and I can definitely vouch for their work. However, although I’ve been given a formal offer, I won’t actually begin the job for a month and I don’t want to refer my colleague so soon after my being hired, as I am afraid it will give the impression that I am just trying to get everyone I know into the same company.

How soon can I refer a colleague into my company’s referral program after starting a new job? Would it be bad form to refer my colleague to the recruiter before I even start my first day?

And a more complicated question: I want to refer my colleague to office 1, but am afraid I may lose any kind of employee referral bonus I could get, since I suspect most third party recruiters get a finder’s fee and it wouldn’t be considered an employee referral. If I refer my colleague to the recruiter at office 2 who I have a better rapport with, there’s a better guarantee I can get a referral bonus if my colleague were hired. But if I wait too long (such as wait until my first week or even my first month of work), there is a possibility the position may be filled by that time.

I’ve gone over it many times in my head and it seems to come down to choosing between making my colleague wait, and possibly have the position be filled while they wait, or refer them now but lose out on any bonus I can gain for myself. What should I do?

You should refer them now because that is the decent thing to do. You aren’t referring them just for a referral bonus, right? So you do it now and let the chips fall where they may, rather than playing with someone’s job prospects to get some extra cash for yourself (which I’m sure isn’t the way you intended it, but if you think through that path, that’s what it ultimately ends up as).

And it’s fine to refer someone before you work at a job — don’t worry about that looking weird. Unless you start referring all your friends or referring people who aren’t qualified, no one is going to think you’re just trying to stock your company with your friends. They’re going to think, “Oh good, a candidate lead.”

3. My recovery from an injury is delaying my internship start date

I interviewed for a field internship position with a reputable nonprofit at the start of January. Someone else got the position, but they came back to me with another (intern) position that fit me better, and I agreed to discuss this position with the manager. However, before this chat could take place, I injured myself pretty badly and ended up in hospital needing surgery. When the chat finally did take place, I had to let them know that it would take some time before I could start – I thought around mid-March – but that I would know more at the end of February. The manager seemed happy with that. Now, however, I am realising that I might not be ready to go until May (I might need another surgery), but I won’t know for sure for at least another two-three weeks. If I’m really lucky, I’ll be ready begnning of April.

I need to get back to the manager next week. What should I tell him? I’m so excited about this position, it’s a brilliant opportunity and a great adventure. I worry that he will think I am stringing him along and that he might let me know that it’s not going to work out. I haven’t signed a contract or anything, and there is no renumeration involved.

Yes, he might tell you that the timeline won’t work out, but if that’s the case, there’s nothing you can really do about it — and he’s more likely to feel strung along if you aren’t up-front about what’s going on. Just be direct: “I’m really excited about this internship, but I want to talk to you about the timeline for starting. My recovery is taking a bit longer than we’d originally hoped. I’ll know in the next few weeks whether I’ll need an additional surgery. If I do, I might not be able to start work until May. Otherwise, I’m hoping for early April. I’m really hoping that will work with your timeline, but I understand that it might not. What makes sense on your end?”

4. Where’s my freelancing check?

Last fall, I interned at a magazine/publishing company that I loved (I’m still in college). It was unpaid, but occasionally they’d send me to work events on weekends, and one of them was supposed to be paid because I was filling in last-minute for a paid contractor. The following week in the office, my supervisor had me fill out a tax form so they could pay me properly, but I never got a check. I think she really just forgot to give it to me; she’s not the type who would just actively not pay me. I’ve since left the company, but I still keep in touch with my supervisor and we talk periodically. I’m really close with her (at least compared to most people I’ve worked for), and she’s only about two years older than me so we’re kind of chummy.

The gig she forgot to pay me for was in November, I believe, and I have no idea how to ask her to pay me or how to bring it up. I want to keep doing freelance gigs for this company this spring and was actually planning to tell her I’m very interested in it. But how do I tell her to pay me while telling her I want to keep doing gigs for them at the same time? After I stopped interning there, she made our relationship much more friend-like because she wasn’t my boss anymore, which I’m totally fine with but it makes it hard for me to bring this up. I was also really liked as an intern there and built a great reputation – I just hate feeling like I’m bugging them after ending things on a good note. It’s just $100, but it’s my $100 and I felt so proud of myself for earning it at a company I admired after working there unpaid. I want it! And I want to keep freelancing for them! Help? I’ve started branching into freelance writing so I really need to get comfortable with reminding people to pay me.

Yes, you absolutely do need to get comfortable with reminding people to pay you, and especially in a situation as straightforward as this one, where you assume there’s no dodginess involved, just absentmindedness.

There’s no secret to this; you just lay out the fact plainly. As in: “I haven’t received the check for the assignment I did in November. Could you look into it for me?” And then, if you haven’t heard back about it within a week — or received the payment itself within a few weeks — you follow-up: “Hi Jane, I still haven’t received the check. When do you expect me to receive it?” You can do this in email (which will probably feel less awkward to you, plus give you something to forward back if you do need to follow up on it).

If it helps, put yourself in your manager’s shoes. Wouldn’t you be mortified if someone you were supposed to pay hadn’t received it and wasn’t sure whether they could ask you about it?

5. I’m applying for organic farm internships and the hiring processes are chaotic

I have been applying for organic farm internships for this summer/fall, as I will be graduating in the spring. A lot of the farms that I have contacted have been extremely unreliable in communication. Things like not hearing anything for weeks and then getting an email that I am still in the running, employers forgetting to call for phone interviews, claiming they forgot, and then wanting to reschedule, and calling references but never getting back to me. I know organic farms aren’t your expertise, but I was wondering how much of this can be considered normal and what should be seen as a warning for how the farm is managed.

It’s very normal in job searching in general, and it’s also often an indication of how a place is managed. Because shoddy management isn’t terribly uncommon.

That said, it’s also probably the case that — although I know nothing about this particular industry — even well-run farms might put less emphasis on things like phone interview logistics, and that you might have a great experience there regardless of how annoying their interview process is. Instead of drawing too many conclusions from this, I’d put more of an emphasis on talking to people who have worked in the industry themselves and know particular farms’ reputations.