did I blow this job opportunity? by Alison Green on December 1, 2013 A reader writes: I just want to know if I handled this situation right. I am fresh out of college and finishing up a course online, which requires some intense work because it’s a lot of work compacted in a short amount of time. I applied to many different jobs, and I got a phone call from one of the employers requesting an interview. They said it can be “any time at my convenience,” and since I had a lot of coursework to work on and I was leaving the country after my work was done, I told the girl on the phone that the day after I get back would be good, which would be two weeks from when they called. She noted that and gave me a time to meet at and the call ended well. I didn’t mention that I had school work to do, but I told her when I leaving the country. About 30 minutes later, she left a message on my cell phone saying they filled the position. My dad got so mad that I didn’t schedule an interview earlier and started yelling that I blew it and it’s all my fault, etc. As I got more irritated with all the negativity, I ended up calling them back and asking why they chose to cancel my interview and go on to hire someone else. She told me they had a second time applicant come in and decided they were what they wanted. My parents told me they think that the employer thought I wasn’t interested because I scheduled a date too late, while I thought they had this applicant in mind and if I didn’t have better skills than the other then they would hire that other person. When I called back to ask why they chose someone else, the girl on the phone sounded really irritated with me. She spoke in a “what part of ‘we filled the position’ don’t you understand?” tone of voice and it made me feel bad for calling back and asking. Did I do the right thing by calling back? I’m still mad at myself because I possibly could have done the interview earlier but then I would feel like I wouldn’t have gotten the job anyway. Well … no. It wasn’t really reasonable to call back and ask why they chose someone else. If you had already been interviewed and then rejected, it would have been reasonable to ask for feedback on how you could be a stronger candidate, but that’s a different question — it’s asking for feedback to help you in the future versus asking them to justify their hiring decision to you. For what it’s worth, it is a little weird to be told 30 minutes after scheduling an interview that they filled the position. I suspect that what happened is that they decided they didn’t want to wait two weeks to interview you, and decided to go with whoever their top candidate already was. In many cases, two weeks is a long time to ask to delay an interview — and especially with an entry-level position, where they probably have many qualified candidates, it can knock you out of the running if they’re trying to move quickly. I know that they told you that the interview could be “any time at your convenience,” but that doesn’t really mean any time. Usually it means “within the next week or so.” There are other possible explanations too, of course: It’s possible that they had already filled the position before you were called, and the woman calling you wasn’t yet in the loop. Or it’s possible that they had an offer out to someone else, but they have a policy of continuing to interview candidates until their offer has been accepted, and it was accepted soon after you talked to them. Or something else. But the most likely of these possibilities is the one in the paragraph above — they had a candidate they liked, they were willing to talk to you because you looked promising, but they weren’t willing to wait two weeks to do it. So yeah, you made a couple of mistakes here — you took it literally when they told you that the interview could be any time (in general, assume that sooner is always better with interviews, because if a candidate they like comes along, they could always hire that person and short-circuit the rest of the process), and you didn’t frame it quite correctly when you called them back to ask what happened. But these are pretty minor mistakes, and not uncommon when you’re right out of school and learning how this stuff works. Meanwhile, it might be smart to stop sharing pieces of your job search with your dad if he’s going to yell at you and tell you that you’re blowing things, which he really can’t know from the outside. You may also like:how do you turn off a crisis management mindset after finishing work each day?remote jobs that aren't really remoteI keep breaking my own heart by turning down great job offers { 148 comments }
entry-level interviewers, my employer is holding my first paycheck for “severance,” and more by Alison Green on November 30, 2013 It’s five short answers to five short questions. Here we go… 1. My employer is holding my first paycheck for “severance” I just started working my first full-time job a few weeks ago and while I was being trained, I discovered something strange. My training week coincided with the pay period, and while I was being shown how to run payroll, my trainer said that the company holds on to everyone’s first weeks pay as a sort of “severance” and that he/she worked for places that hold up to two weeks. Can my employer really hold on to my wages until I quit or am terminated? How would I go about bringing up the subject if those hours aren’t added to this pay period? I’m in Illinois. What the hell? No, they cannot do this. And their reasoning is specious — as some sort of “severance”? Severance is paid from employer to employee, not the other way around. And each state sets laws requiring that payment for work be provided within a certain number of days. In Illinois, you must receive your pay no later than the next scheduled payday (and those scheduled paydays cannot be less frequent than twice a month — or monthly for professional, executive, and administration positions). They cannot hold on to it, regardless of what silly reasons they come up with. You should say to your manager, “My understanding is that Illinois doesn’t permit that and in fact requires that wages be paid on the next regularly scheduled payday.” 2. Are entry-level interviewers a bad thing? I’m looking for an every-level position. I’ve been looking for mainly data entry/clerical, but I’ve also applied to retail, issue campaigning, whoever I think may hire me, as I don’t have much experience. Along the way, I’ve been interviewed by quite a few young people. I know not everyone looks their age, but they do appear to be in their early 20’s, and one even said she was 21 and in an entry-level position herself when giving an overview of the company. Should I take this as a red flag of a poorly-run company, even if they’re not the ones making hiring decisions? Even if it’s a small or new company? On the one hand I really need a job, but on the other I wouldn’t want to be at a poorly-run company. If I have to take the job, I would like to know beforehand so I should beware and be ready to have one foot out the door. No, people in entry-level positions should not be doing the hiring. That said, if the job they’re hiring for is an entry-level position too, it’s not crazy to have them do an initial screen of candidates, culling the pool down for whoever will do more in-depth interviews later in the process. (But not if it’s for a more senior-level position, because good senior candidates will want to talk to someone more able to answer their questions and give them a sense of the role and culture, and are likely to be turned off by being asked to spend their time talking with someone who can’t do that, particularly at early stages when they’re still deciding whether the role is worth pursuing.) So I’d look at whether this is just an initial screen, or the actual interview, without more to follow. If it’s the latter, yes, I’d be wary. 3. Employees are leaving their shifts early and returning the next morning to make up the work I have just caught in to one or more employees leaving shift at close and coming back hours later to do clean-up. After close, there is an hour of slotted time for clean-up that they are scheduled for, but instead they take it upon themselves to leave at lockup and come back early morning to clean and do deposits, etc. I believe this is bad for our company. Is it not an issue of them being uninsured once their shift is over? Any advice would greatly help. I don’t know about the insurance side of it (you’d need to talk to your insurer), but as the manager, you set the hours that employees need to be there, and what gets done when. People overruling you without even talking to you about it isn’t really okay. That said, you should listen to their reasons for wanting to do it differently and see if you’re convinced. If you are, great — you can make an official change or give people a choice. But if you’re not, then you need to make it clear that people need to stick to the system you’ve laid out. 4. Can I be in trouble for not reporting a colleague’s wrongdoing? I work for a large city financial firm. A desk colleague/manager was recently fired for gross misconduct. He was doing some dodgy things that made him nice bonuses, and he got caught. He has since written to the company saying that I knew what was going on. I did but wouldn’t have felt it right to whistle-blow because I have a family to feed too and didn’t want to report my manager, and it was all a grey area in that senior management also knew about it. I haven’t done any of these dodgy things myself and they keep assuring me I am not under investigation but they do keep questioning me about the goings on. I am wondering if I can be complicit for knowing what was going on and not reporting it. Yes. But it’s really up to your company to decide how they want to handle that. I’d love to tell you that you should believe them when they say that you’re not under investigation — and it’s possible that they’re being 100% truthful with you — but there’s not really any way to know. Still, all you can really do is to be truthful and hope for a fair outcome. 5. What can I do to turn a conditional offer into a real offer when the hiring manager isn’t getting back to me? I got a conditional offer of a job as a mental health nurse and my references, background check check and occupational health was all handed to the HR lady, who said that everything checked out okay. I have now been waiting over 3 weeks for a start date. I phoned my manager 2 weeks ago to find out what was happening and he said there was a procedural problem, but that was the only information. I have called him 3 times since and each time his receptionist has said he will call me back, but have received no call. I sent a very polite email asking for information with no reply. So I called the HR lady, who said that the manager has to make a choice of whether to accept my references or not but she can’t understand why he is hesitating. She then spent a week trying to contact him and get me a start date, with no success. What should I do now? Is 3 weeks an okay amount of time to wait? Should I call him again or HR again? I haven’t contacted anyone for 5 days now. I don’t think there is much more you can do at this point. I wouldn’t continue to contact the manager because you’ve reached out to him multiple times without a response; continuing to contact him risks being annoying. He knows you want to speak with him. For whatever reason, he’s choosing not to get back to you. At this point, I would proceed as if you don’t have a job offer, and continue actively searching for other jobs. If this one eventually comes through, then great … but you’re getting signals that it’s not a sure thing and so all you can really do is to proceed as if it’s not happening — until/unless it does. You may also like:severance pay: who gets it and how it workscan I give 2 weeks notice when my employer says they "expect" 4 weeks?getting out of a party that's not accessible, angry coworker, and more { 90 comments }
I don’t want the office candy dish on my desk by Alison Green on November 29, 2013 A reader writes: I’m four weeks into a new job as executive assistant to the Office of Trustees at a major university. I am enjoying everything about it except for that fact that I inherited a desk with a candy dish – something that doesn’t fit with how I view myself as an employee and a professional (you come to my desk for business, not treats). I’m not in a busy “front desk reception” situation and there isn’t much foot traffic near me. Two supervisors in the office do occasionally dip into the candy on their way past my desk. Do you think it would look strange or offensive if I relocate the candy dish to a small table across the hallway from where I sit? Perhaps it’s a small concern, but I want to make the right impression without compromising my work values. Nope, you can do that, and you’re probably over-thinking whether anyone will notice or think much of it. If you are asked about it though, you want to have a response that isn’t about not seeing yourself as the office candy purveyor (not that I’m assuming you’d say that otherwise). I’d say something like, “It was too much temptation having candy in front of me all day.” But for what it’s worth, some people do find advantages to having a candy dish out — it can make you seem more approachable if people tend to find you intimidating, and it can bring you into contact with people you might not have much interaction with otherwise (or not much informal interaction). There are plenty of legitimate reasons not to want it too — you don’t like interruptions, you despise sugary treats, or, yes, that you don’t want to be known as “the admin with candy” rather than “the admin who’s super competent.” But in general, a candy dish is just a candy dish and you shouldn’t have qualms about relocating it if you want to. You may also like:my coworker doesn't want me to have a communal candy dish because of temptationmy coworker doesn’t want me to have a communal candy dish because of temptationcan I go barefoot at work? { 76 comments }
should an admin show people how to do clerical tasks themselves? by Alison Green on November 29, 2013 This post was originally published on November 17, 2011. A reader writes: As an administrative assistant, my job is to do things for other people. I completely get that, and I have not been an admin for over fifteen years by not getting that. That said, I pride myself in being very polite and helpful. Sometimes, people will come to me with tasks or with a question on how something is done. I do the task for them, and I also tend to offer to show them how to do it themselves (if it’s something really easy,) so that in the future–if I’m not here one day, or if they decide it’s more efficient to just do it themselves really quickly–they can do it themselves. I will reiterate: I do complete the task they ask for, with the addition of offering to show them how. Twice in a row now, this has been held against me on my reviews! (My workplace is really toxic anyway, but this is about this one issue, because if offering to show someone how to do something is wrong, I really want to know, so I don’t screw up when I get a good job!) Is it a bad thing for an admin to teach his/her staff how to do things, along with doing these things for them? Here’s what’s going on: When you offer to show them how to do it themselves, they think you’re hinting that they should do it themselves in the future. And then they’re feeling resentful that you’re making them feel guilty for asking you to do something that they’re entitled to ask you to do. Which, of course, is not your intent at all, but that’s how it’s playing out on their side. There might be a way to avoid this. You could try being really, really clear that you’re not hinting that they should really learn how to handle this themselves. Instead of just saying, “Let me know if you ever want me to show you how to do this,” say something like this: “I’m glad to do this for you whenever you need it. But if you ever want me to show you how, just let me know! But if not, don’t be hesitant about continuing to ask me for it. I like doing this stuff.” (You must say this very cheerfully and sincerely. Otherwise it’ll sound passive-aggressive, like you don’t really mean it.) But if your workplace is full of people who won’t take this at face value, then yeah, I’d just stop offering. Or only offer it to people who you know will appreciate it. But keep it mind that it’s genuinely hard for a lot of people to say, “No, that’s okay, I prefer for you to keep changing the toner in my printer” or whatever the task is, without feeling like a prima donna. So it’s worth being sensitive to that. You sound awesome, by the way. You may also like:how do I say no to admin tasks that aren't my job?should I pretend to be bad at work I hate?our new-grad employees see less glamorous work as beneath them { 154 comments }
what to do when you’re overworked by Alison Green on November 29, 2013 If it seems like you’re always stretched too thin and never have enough time to complete your work before three new projects are handed down to you – always with the instructions that they’re high-priority – you probably need to talk with your manager about your workload. But with more companies expecting people to do more with less, how can you talk about this in a way that your manager will listen to? Here are five steps to talking to your manager when your workload is overwhelming. 1. Don’t assume that your manager knows how high your workload is. Your manager can’t help you if she doesn’t realize that there’s a problem. A common mistake in this situation is to assume that your workload is so obviously high that there’s no way that your manager doesn’t know, and so therefore she must not care or can’t do anything about it. But in reality, you’re the person paying the most attention to your workload, not your manager – and she may assume that since you’re not speaking up, there isn’t a problem. So… 2. Talk to your manager about the situation. Pick a time when your manager isn’t rushed and ask to talk about your workload. Explain that it has become unmanageable and why (for instance, that you’ve taken on the responsibilities of someone who left without anything being removed from your plate, or that a particular account has doubled in size in the last year). Explaining what’s behind the workload increase can help because your manager may not be focused on the facts as you. 3. Suggest options. You’re most likely to get the help that you need if you come prepared to talk about options. For instance, you might say, “I can do A and B, but not C. Or if C is really important, I’d want to move A off my plate to make room for it. Alternately, I can act as an adviser to Jane on C, but I can’t do the work of C myself if I’m also doing A and B.” 4. Frame it as a matter of making the best choices. If your manager resists making these kinds of trade-offs, you need to keep pushing the issue. Say, “I hear you that we want it all to get done, but since I’m never going to be able to get to it all, I want to make strategic choices about how I should be structuring my time, and make sure that you and I are aligned on those choices.” If your manager won’t help you prioritize, then come up with your own proposal for what you will and won’t prioritize and ask her to tweak it or okay it. 5. Enforce boundaries. To take on something new when your plate is already full, you need to either get rid of something else or at least push it back. So if a new project comes your way, go to your manager and ask about trade-offs: “If I work on this now, it means that X and Y will have to pushed back by a week. Is that OK to do, or should we put this new work on hold until X and Y are finished first?” Or, “I can do this new project and X, or this new project and Y, but not all three in the time frame we have.” One important note: The above should work with a reasonable manager – and even with a somewhat reasonable manager. If you have a manager who listens to everything here and tells you to just find a way to get everything done, then you’re working for a bad manager (or alternately, you aren’t working as quickly as others in the position, in which case a good manager might push back). If that’s the case, you’ll need to be realistic about your circumstances and decide how you want to respond. I originally published this at U.S. News & World Report. You may also like:what to do if your workload is too highmy coworkers' constant talk about stress is stressing me outmy coworker tells others I'm going to be overwhelmed { 22 comments }
misleading reference requests, holiday gifts to clients, and more by Alison Green on November 29, 2013 It’s five short answers to five short questions. Here we go… 1. Misleading reference request form looks like it comes from me — but it doesn’t I’ve recently been asked to fill out an online/outsourced reference form for a job application and was a little bit disturbed to see that the program generated an email to be sent to my references that looks like it was personally sent from me (and signed by me!), rather than from the company I’m applying with. The wording was fairly standard and inoffensive, though it sounded nothing like an email I would write and send to a reference of mine. Minor quibble. I think the most uncomfortable thing is that it is a request from the institution asking for information about me, but they are making it appear as though the email request is being sent by me and the request for information about our relationship is coming from me. It was clearly designed to look like a personal email I wrote to the reference, asking them to go to a link to fill in information about me/our relationship. It even ended with “Thank you, (my name).” I understand that companies are moving in this direction, but seeing as how I’m uncomfortable with these faux-personal emails, is there an option I have? Can I contact the HR person and ask her to contact my references directly (she has the list and their contact information) or am I just stuck? How strong of a candidate are you? If you’re a candidate who this company is wooing, you could certainly say something like, “Since this email isn’t actually coming from me, I’d prefer if it didn’t appear that way — can you make it clear that it’s coming from ABC Company?” But if you don’t have a sense that you’re a particularly strong candidate, then you have to decide if you’re willing to risk turning them off by raising this. To be clear, it shouldn’t turn them off; if they’re reasonable, they should see it as the reasonable request it is. But of course, if they were reasonable and had common sense, why would they be using this system to begin with? So you risk them thinking you’re a pain or high-maintenance or someone who wants special treatment, and you’ll have to decide how much you care about speaking up about this. But yes, that’s a terrible system. 2. Giving holiday gifts to clients when you work in their home I know you’ve done the topic of presents to death (presets upwards no, presents downwards yes) but I just wanted to check one variation – clients. For example, I work in people’s homes with their kids as an independent contractor type position. I will often get the child something small for their birthday or Christmas but usually not for their parents. This year I was thinking of getting the parents something little (small box of chocolates?). Is this appropriate? Nope. This is another case where if someone is going to get a gift, it should be you getting a gift from them. For a parallel, think about other types of workers you might have in your home — a nanny or house-cleaner or contractor. It would be fine for you to give those workers a holiday gift, but you wouldn’t expect (and might be uncomfortable with) a gift from them. (But it’s fine for you to give one to the kids; that’s a bit different.) 3. When HR doesn’t protect your personal information I’m writing about a situation that just happened to my mother. Her employer recently had their open enrollment, where she was looking to sign up for new health insurance. She works in a hospital, and HR usually sets up a table on the floor with new benefit applications and different information for staff to look at. She ended up completing one of the insurance applications, and brought it directly to HR’s office where she handed it off to the proper HR rep (and assumed it got processed). A few days later, a coworker stopped her in the hallway and handed her the completed form that she had given to HR, thinking she had accidentally left it at the open enrollment table. It turns out, her fully completed form was just sitting out in the open among all the other blank applications (and somehow made it there from the HR rep’s office). Very concerned, she quickly made an appointment with HR to reconcile the situation, and find out how the situation could have happened. A very nervous and embarrassed HR person gave her an apology, and basically just left it at that. My mother is now pretty paranoid that her identity is at risk to be stolen, since all of her personal info was left out in the open (SSN, address, date of birth, etc.). I’m wondering if she has any legal standing in this situation or what good advice would be when an employer compromises personal information. She ideally would like to try to get reimbursement for an identity theft protection service, but isn’t sure what to do from here. I can’t think of any legal standing she’d have here (HIPAA, for instance, covers the information your medical professionals release about you, but in most cases it doesn’t apply to your employer), but she certainly has ethical standing. It wouldn’t be unreasonable for her to go back to HR and say, “Hey, I’m really concerned that this might have compromised my personal information and made me vulnerable to identity theft. I realize it was an accident, but now that it’s happened, I need to worry about that. Would the company be willing to reimburse me for a year of an identify theft protection service, to make sure that nothing bad comes of this and that I’m alerted immediately if there are any problems?” 4. I need time off during my company’s vacation black-out period I work for a company that sent out an email regarding restrictions on days that couldn’t be taken off unless there’s an emergency. Many employees complained, so they shorted the time from Dec. 1 to Dec. 19. I’m in a position where I need to take some days off for some contracting work being done in my apartment, and yes, I have the time to take off but was advised the days wouldn’t be approved due to this black-out period. If these are not approved, what are my rights with this? I am required to be home for this work to be completed. I was told that they don’t want other coworkers complaining if they approve the time for me, but this is my issue and my emergency and doesn’t have anything to do with them. You can certainly ask for an exception and explain the situation, but those dates are probably blacked out for a reason (generally it happens when a busy period is anticipated) and so they might not be willing to approve the days off. If that’s the case, you don’t really have any “rights” in the sense of being able to force them to grant you the days. But why not see if you can either change the dates of the work or have someone else be in your apartment during that time? 5. My manager wants eight weeks of notice from resigning employees I’m in England and here the cultural norm for notice when you resign is 4 weeks, and my contract states 4 weeks notice. My employer now wants to change this for a large group of staff from 4 weeks to 8 weeks, citing recruiting difficulties in getting posts filled before the quitting employee leaves. While I’ve got no current plans to leave, I’m a bit worried that it might hamper me in a future job search if a potential new employer would have to wait twice as long for me to be in post than most other applicants. Do hiring managers use length of notice as a factor in recruiting? First, your employer is silly if they think the notice period is supposed to let them find, hire, and train a replacement before you leave. That’s not what it’s for (not in most fields, anyway). It’s just to give them some time to transition work, tie up loose ends, find out the status of your projects, etc. So yeah, of course they’re not finding four weeks sufficient to bring someone new on board. Frankly, changing it to eight might not solve that problem either, depending on the position. In any case … yes, it could cause problems for you when you leave, depending on your job. In some jobs, waiting two months for someone to start is no big deal. In others, it would be. You need to know your field and what’s typical — and if this seems like it’s going to be a problem, I’d recommend that you and your coworkers push back on this as a group. You may also like:pushing back on unreasonable reference requests: a success storyhow do employers know if you're answering "have you ever been fired" honestly?I think my nanny candidate used a fake reference { 65 comments }
office holiday gift-giving stories: unburden yourself here by Alison Green on November 28, 2013 Well, we’re officially in the holiday season — which in workplaces is also the season of forced merriment, holiday party gaffes, pressure to donate to extravagant gifts to your boss, and other seasonal pleasures. In the spirit of the season, I want to hear about workplace gift debacles. Did a game of Secret Santa end in tears? Did you win a used cat toy in the gift exchange? How about the box of crushed peanut shells that mysteriously appeared in the office gift swap? Were you asked to pitch in to send your CEO’s family on a ski trip? (These are all real stories that we’ve heard here in the past. Now you must top them.) Share your weirdest or funniest story related to gifts in the office in the comments. And if you have a great workplace holiday story that isn’t gift-related, throw that in too. You may also like:how can I stop my employees from giving me holiday gifts?my office Secret Santa gave me a gift from a pornstarBoss's Day is a crock and we need to kill it off { 493 comments }
resume paper is obsolete by Alison Green on November 27, 2013 A reader writes: What are your thoughts on “resume paper”? Considering how many retailers stock it (and have stocked it for decades), I imagine many people use it. Is there any value to it? What do hiring managers think of it, if they even notice? I am going to hereby free you from any reason to ever purchase resume paper again. No one cares if you use it. Or more precisely, they don’t notice, or they don’t care, or they think, “Wow, people still use resume paper?” And of course, the only time you even need to print your resume these days is when you’re bringing it with you for an interview as a possible back-up copy. And at that point, if what wows them the most is your incredibly fine paper stock, things are not going well. Resume paper is a relic from days of yore when you’d actually have a bunch of resumes nicely printed up and then mail them out in order to apply for jobs. As you have probably noticed, that’s not how you apply for jobs these days. Retailers still stock it because some people still believe they’re supposed to use it. But you are not. You may also like:how far back should your resume go?am I doing dog-friendly wrong, do I still need printed copies of my resume, and morecan you leave dates of employment off your resume? { 135 comments }
what non-obvious things should I know about being a receptionist? by Alison Green on November 27, 2013 A reader writes: Hi — long time reader of your blog, and I’m very grateful for your advice, which has helped keep me afloat during a grueling job search. Happily, in a week I’ll be starting a receptionist position with an awesome small office that deals with pensions and retirement plans. The position answers phones, greets visitors, and does some data entry, management of office supplies, proofreading, accounts receivable, and client follow-up. Although I have a lot of adaptability and solid customer service skills, I haven’t had much administrative support experience. Are there any handy resources for becoming the best receptionist I can be? General, non-obvious advice? I’ve been combing your archives for insight in the comments section. I’d be grateful for any pointers. Great question. I want to throw this out to readers to answer, but I’ll start us off with three things: * Be insanely, neurotically organized. Frankly, everyone should do this, but it’s particularly crucial in your position. * Be uptight about the details of your job — take them seriously, care about getting the small things right, and don’t take a laid back attitude toward details. * But don’t be uptight about how other people do their jobs. As an admin, your job will be process-oriented in many ways, which can make it easy to start thinking that other people should be just as process-oriented. And sometimes they should be. But often, doing well in their jobs will be less about process and more about relationships or entrepreneurialism or just plain old results. If you lose sight of that and fall in love with process for process’s sake, you will become less effective. The trick is to get the balance right — being obsessive about details yourself while understanding that other people’s success can rest on other things. If you’ve ever seen an admin or office manager who delays getting someone some much-needed supply because they need to learn to fill out the requisition form correctly (or creates similar bureaucratic obstacles), you’ll know how out of touch with business priorities this makes them. (That doesn’t mean that you can’t assert yourself about what’s needed to make the office run smoothly — it just means that you need to balance it with an understanding of the big picture.) That’s just three things of many. What other advice do people have — either from working as an admin yourself or from seeing other people do it really well (or not so well)? You may also like:customers are ignoring our male receptionisthow can you tell if an overqualified applicant is right for the job?surly coworker resents that he’s in a junior role, parking lot gate wars, and more { 231 comments }
company wants my past performance evaluations and tax forms, and 4 other “is it legal” questions by Alison Green on November 27, 2013 It’s five short answers to five short questions — and this the “is it legal?” edition. And you might be surprised by the mix of legal vs illegal. Here we go… 1. Company wants my past performance evaluations and tax forms I am an HR professional currently interviewing with various companies. I am in the the interview process with a company, meaning I have had phone screens and this past week I went to the site for interviews with the team. My concern is this request they sent me: “In order for us to assess cultural fit and to achieve the best possible outcome, we evaluate numerous criteria that we believe are predictive of success at (company). One such criterion is the candidate’s history of career advancement and accomplishment over the course of their career as demonstrated by increasing responsibility and meaningful compensation rewards. To aid our hiring team in making this assessment, we ask candidates to provide the following information if they are selected as a finalist for the role: 1. Copies of past performance reviews which help us to see what kind and the level of performance feedback that the candidate is accustomed to. 2. Detailed compensation history including both base and variable/incentive compensation, which is to be disclosed in the employment application and should be supported by the most recent full year’s W-2 statement.” Either they are brilliant and all recruiters should be asking for copies of performance reviews and W-2’s, or they are reckless , setting the tone of mistrust and legal risk. I don’t know an unemployment attorney so I am shopping around to find the answer. Before I work for a Company, I want to ensure they are being ethical in their HR practices. No, they’re not brilliant; requiring salary history is actually the mark of a lazy company that doesn’t trust themselves to accurately understand what they should be paying people, and it’s also a huge, unjustifiable invasion of candidates’ privacy. And asking for performance evaluations isn’t outrageous, but it’s not practical to require it, since some companies consider them confidential documents and others don’t do them at all or don’t do them in writing. And taken together, I’d say that this is a sign of a company that doesn’t know how to hire effectively — how to sufficiently evaluate past accomplishments, assess candidates’ skills and approach, probe beneath the surface in interviews, and get useful information out of references. But legal risk? There’s no legal risk here. It’s perfectly legal to request or even require all of this. It’s stupid to, but it’s legal. 2. Employer is docking my wages by asking me to give them cash My employer is attempting to dock my wages by asking for the money cash in hand at the end of the month. This means that my wage slip won’t be officially altered to show that I’ve been docked and I’m unsure as to whether this is legal or not. I would be grateful for any help that you could offer. No, it’s not legal, because it means that you’ll be paying taxes on money that you weren’t actually paid, and the employer will be reporting payments to you that aren’t correct. Furthermore, if you’re exempt, docking your pay is illegal to begin with. Or, if you’re non-exempt, docking your pay could be legal, but not if it takes your wages below minimum wage for the pay period in question. 3. Not paying a new employee for days off I work for a small company. The boss is giving us the Thursdays after the two holiday days off for both Christmas and New Year’s as a reward for this year. We are all exempt. However, there is a new employee who has just completed her 90 days, and she is not planning on paying her for those two extra days. Is this legal? Nope. If she’s exempt and she does any work during that week, she must be paid for the full week. (If she were non-exempt, this wouldn’t be required.) 4. Am I entitled to be paid if I left a job after three days? I accepted a position well below my pay in past jobs as I needed cash flow. The pressure, from the moment I stepped in during training, was unbearable. The position was in sales, but with no customers. My title was different than the one in the offer letter. This is a small company and my boss never even greeted me when I started. I spent two days doing nothing but clerical work, not selling, not calling customers (I had none assigned) and finally said enough was enough after three days. I quit on the third day after a long discussion with the “boss” when he showed me the “new” commission plan. The question, finally, is am I entitled to salaried pay for the 2-1/2 days I worked? I’m in Illinois. No matter what state you’re in, you’re required to be paid for work you do as an employee, even if you only worked three days (hell, even if you only worked one day). And each state has its own laws on how quickly you must receive that pay. In Illinois, you must receive that pay no later than the next scheduled payday (and those scheduled paydays cannot be less frequent than twice a month — or monthly for professional, executive, and administration positions). 5. Can our company lock us inside at night? Is it against the law for a company to lock all the doors in the building and only let you out when they’re ready? Even 2-3 hours after people’s shifts have ended? It’s ridiculous. Nope, that’s not legal. OSHA requires that employees must be able to open an exit door from the inside at all times — without keys, tools, or special knowledge. (And they do fine employers who violate this law.) You also have to be paid for any time that you spent waiting to be allowed to leave, even if your official shift has ended. You may also like:are short interviews always a bad sign?interviewer wants me to write a fake performance review for my future selfis it true that nothing in a performance review can ever be a surprise? { 255 comments }