Ask a Manager

It’s seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go…

1. How can we implement a fair PTO system?

My work is not competitive at all when it comes to sick, vacation, or personal days off. They have acknowledged this is something they need to improve and change. Currently, employees do not receive any days until they have been here for 2 years, then the employee receives one week. Employees do accrue time off with hours worked, but it is extremely minimal.

However, now it is a question of how we will implement additional sick, vacation, personal days for brand new employees and be fair to employees whom have been here for a length of time. Any suggestions?

Sure. Decide how many days people will earn per year (you can increase it with years of service or have it remain the same for everyone; just make it competitive with what other employers provide), and have it accrue per pay period. And since you’re correcting a serious company shortcoming, implement it retroactively. So if you get X days per year, and someone has been there three years, put 3X in their PTO accounts right now. If someone is new and has been there for three months (a quarter of the year), put 1/4 of X in their PTO account right now. Then keep it accruing moving forward.

And start this immediately. Giving people no time off until two years is horrible.

2. My manager wants me to lie to the state unemployment agency

I am an HR rep and I have a ridiculous situation I must deal with. My manager is asking me to lie about the reason a previous employee was fired, in order to ensure they get unemployment benefits. Long story short, a coworker was fired for repeated poor job performance. This is as legit of a firing as I can imagine and this employee was absolutely horrible at their job. I will not lie and really need advice on how to handle this discussion with my manager. This employee would get unemployment after a penalty period and has already received plenty by way of severance (company was not required but did because of longevity) and vacation payout. I’m actually pretty furious that this has even been brought to me. I really wanted to paint a whole picture.

It’s pretty reasonable to say to your manager, “I’m not comfortable lying on a government form. All we can do is present the truth and let the state unemployment agency make their own determination.” (And actually, you might point out that this person is likely to receive unemployment benefits anyway; people usually do, unless they were fired for misconduct — as opposed to incompetence, as sounds like the case here.) If your manager pushes you to lie anyway, then I’d suggest telling her that you don’t think you can ethically do that and if she requires the form to be filled out that way, you need to recuse yourself from being involved in it. Keep using the words “lying on a government form,” because that’s what she’s asking you to do, and you might need to make sure she realizes it.

3. Should I mention the nastiness I overheard from a new coworker?

Earlier this morning, I heard one coworker talking to another. The second coworker’s desk is right next to mine, and I’m pretty sure others could hear this conversation as well. She referenced an interview she had for an internal promotion, and at first I was happy for her. She’s always very nice and while she hasn’t been here very long (three months), she seems to fit in well with the culture. I have no idea if she’s qualified for this promotion. We work in very separate departments, so I only see her in passing. Anyway, she went on to say that she really didn’t care about the work she was doing currently, which is concerning because she works directly with our customers. I think this may be explained by the fact that she said she wasn’t feeling well and therefore maybe she just didn’t care today, which I understand. However, she then went on to say something nasty about another coworker with whom she works closely. It wasn’t terribly offensive, but definitely inappropriate.

Should I say something to someone, considering her promotion consideration? My first thought was that it’s Not My Business, and I should stay out of it. I thought I’d ask anyway.

I would, particularly if you have a good relationship with her manager or the hiring manager for the new position, but then I have made a career of nosiness. But if I were either of those managers, I’d genuinely appreciate hearing a discreet “Hey, I was taken aback when I overheard this and since she mentioned she’s being considered for Promotion X, I thought I’d mention it to you. Now that I’ve done that, I’m going to wipe it from my mind.” But I suspect 99% of people out there will tell you not to say anything, on the grounds that it’s not your business or that you might have just caught her in a bad but uncharacteristic moment. (Which is possible, but in my experience, someone making comments like that after only three months on the job is nearly always capital-T Trouble.)

4. Was this role really put on hold?

I applied for a senior administrator/office manager role recently and happily the recruiters contacted me to say that I have a very strong CV and they would like to call me to discuss the role further. I spoke to a really nice lady from the recruitment company who asked me some very detailed questions to establish that I had the relevant experience and to explain the role fully. Following our conversation, she emailed me the same list of questions that she had asked me in our telephone conversation. I replied to the questions as requested – she then asked me to tailor my CV more specifically to the role and asked if she could send it on to her client. I sent the revised CV to the recruiter, and she emailed me to say it was perfect and that she had sent it on to her client and was hoping to hear back within a couple of days regarding interviews.

A week later, I still hadn’t heard anything back so I emailed the recruiter and received a reply a few hours later apologising for the delay in getting back to me – she had apparently been trying to contact her client and had only received a response by email to say that the role is on hold and that they wouldn’t be proceeding with any of her candidates. The recruiter thinks that they probably went with an internal candidate – but that doesn’t make any sense to me. Why would they bother using an agency and wasting their time if they had a great internal candidate? I would really appreciate your take on this .

I don’t know why your recruiter is assuming that “the role is on hold” is a lie; if they went with an internal candidate, the employer would have likely just said so. But in answer to your question, people often use recruiters when they have a strong internal candidate, for the same reason they do job postings in that case too: because they want to see the full pool of candidates before making a decision (or because they have internal policies that require them to).

(Also, I suspect that recruiter is … not the cream of the crop. Asking you questions over the phone and then emailing you those exact same questions for you to answer again? No.)

5. Can an employer make you fill in for a higher-paid position without raising your pay rate?

A few coworkers and i would like to know if and employer can make you fill in for someone in a position that has a higher pay yet reman at your current pay? If so how long? A year? A month? A day? Or even an hour?

Yes — an hour, a day, a month, a year, or even a decade! There is no law requiring employers to increase your pay, ever (aside from minimum wage laws). If you would like more pay, however, you can certainly try to negotiate that, by making a case based on the value of your work.

6. Should I mention that I know the CEO personally?

I applied for a position that requires a little bit more experience than I have (I’m a recent college grad) but using your tips on cover letters, I was able to score an interview. I am confident that I can excel in this job but I am still afraid that I will lose out to someone with more experience.

This particular company interested me because I know the CEO personally. It is a large institution and I think it’s virtually impossible that my interviewers will be aware that I know him. Is it completely out of bounds to bring up my connection to him if I am asked why I applied to the job? I’m not sure how an interviewer would react to this and I don’t want to come off as thinking that I can use him to get the job. However, I want to give myself the best possible chance of getting the position.

If you’re directly asked why you applied and a part of that reason is that you know the CEO, it’s absolutely fine to say that — but be careful not to sound like you think that connection will help you. (It’s certainly possible that it will, but it might not, and either way if you sound like you expect it to, you will turn off your interviewer.) But something like this would be fine: “I’ve known Fitzwilliam Darcy for a while and always thought the way he talked about the work here was fascinating, so I was excited when I saw this opening.”

7. Should I have two separate LinkedIn profiles?

I have two careers, so to speak. My day job is finance and professional. My LinkedIn profile reflects that.

Evenings and weekends (and early mornings!), I am a fitness instructor/personal trainer. I would like to start connecting with more people in the fitness industry. Do you think I should have a separate Linkedin profile to reflect my fitness career? Or should I use one profile for both?

You should have one profile for both. First, LinkedIn’s rules prohibit multiple profiles for one person. Second, the profile isn’t for your job; it’s for you. You do two things. They’re both part of who you are. Include them both. (And to many people in both fields, it will make you more interesting.)

It’s seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go…

1. Did we waste money flying a fired employee back home?

I work for a company that justly terminated an employee while that employee was out of town on company business (for a company policy violation). Is the company obligated to provide that employee with transportation to get back to his home base?

The manager who did the firing wanted to leave the employee stranded, but I insisted we fly him home – and we did. However, now this continues to be a complaint of how money was “wasted” on this flight. What would be the correct answer in this case?

Of course you’re obligated to provide transportation back. Why should the employee have to pay to return himself home when he was there on business? The correct answer to that manager is: “We are not going to leave employees stranded when they’ve left town on business, both because that’s incredibly unethical and unkind and because other employees who hear about it will never want to go on business travel for us again, and quite rightly.”

2. Can my company make us ineligible for unemployment benefits?

I work for a company in California. That just sent an email alerting all employees today that there was a high likeliness we would not have jobs by the end of the year with company layoffs the first two weeks of December. Alarming, yes! Even more alarming is that they are suggesting that there is a law protecting them from us getting unemployment benefits because they are giving us notice. Is this possible?

No. If you’re being laid off, you should be eligible for unemployment. The only real law around advance notice of layoffs is the WARN Act, which requires employers with 100 or more employees to provide notification 60 days in advance of plant closings and mass layoffs. If an employer fails to give that required notice, they must pay the laid-off employees for those 60 days (so it’s basically severance in lieu of notice). So I wonder if what your company meant is that they’re not planning to pay out severance since they’re giving you the required notice. This would be totally different from unemployment benefits, though, which you should be eligible for.

3. Required to read a self-help book — and take a test on it

An employee of mine works for another dentist part-time.The dentist is requiring her and all of his staff to read a 292-page self-help book not related to her position or dentistry. He said they have to write a report and take a test on this book. They are not being paid to do this. They must read it on their own time and finish by a certain date. Is this legal for him to do?

It’s certainly legal for him to require them to read the book and test them on it (although the testing part of this is really weird and he should rethink at least that part of it). If they’re exempt employees, he does not have to pay them for the time they spend reading it. If they’re non-exempt and the book is required work, he does need to pay them for that time — since non-exempt employees must be paid for all their time.

4. Should you always email your thanks to people for answering questions, or will it clutter their in-box?

When you ask someone a question via email and they answer you, is it considered polite to email them back to thank them for answering your question? On the one hand, I sometimes feel rude not acknowledging when someone has taken the time to answer a question I’ve had. On the other hand, I don’t want to clutter their inbox with an email which might be considered unnecessary.

Depends on what is it. I don’t think constant thank-you’s are necessary for routine internal emails from coworkers (although they’re still gracious), but you should absolutely be thanking (a) coworkers who go out of their way for you and do something that isn’t part of the normal routine of their job and (b) any non-coworkers who answer anything for you.

5. Talking to an employee about inappropriate cell phone use

I am the principal for a small juvenile justice facility. I am on my cell a lot; my boss texts me, especially since my minutes have run out. We don’t have a long distance line yet as we are a new program and really just getting set up and severely technologically challenged.

I noticed that recently (the last 2 weeks) my assistant is on her cell more than I am. I’ve seen her playing games on her phone and having personal conversations…more than I’m really comfortable with. There were some transportation issues, and her child was sick. Those types of situations, I don’t really mind. However, chatting with a friend over what to buy a child for a birthday is unnecessary at work. But what I’m expecting when I tell her that we have a problem with her cell usage is that she will most likely throw it up in my face that I’m on my cell too. So I’m seeking advice before I get bent and say some things I probably shouldn’t.

She does a good job with paperwork and all that, but other people have said things to me about the cell use. She will also go MIA at times. She is also related to some of the other people who work in this building. So there is a PR issue on both sides. I’ve got to formulate a plan of action to deal with her because saying one or two things about the cell will most likely cause conflict that I’m hoping to avoid if possible.

You can’t avoid conflict as a manager; you will need to have tough conversations and give difficult feedback. This one is actually pretty straightforward though: “Jane, I don’t mind you using your cell phone for personal matters when it’s an emergency, like a sick child. But other than that, please don’t use it for personal conversations during the work day or play games on it.” If she responds that she sees you on your cell, then say, “I use my cell primarily for business, but we’re talking about you now, and I’m letting you know what I need from you.”

It’s really not her business how or why you use your cell phone. If she continues bringing it up after this, then you have an insubordination issue that’s probably bigger than the cell phone usage.

6. How can I thank my boss for taking me on this business trip?

I just returned from a work trip to Las Vegas with my boss, the managing director, and one other director. We had a conference for 3 days and stayed on an extra few days. We did so many cool things after the conference, like a helicopter tour to the Grand Canyon and a famous show. I really appreciate this and would never be able to thank my boss enough for taking me with them.

The question is, how do I show them my appreciation, other than working hard (as I always do)? Would a small gift be appropriate, and what if I do give them?

Don’t give a gift; that would be overkill. This was a business trip, first and foremost, and a gift wouldn’t seem quite right. Instead, just tell your boss how much you appreciated being able to go, and explain what you got out of the conference, and then add that you were thrilled to be able to stay those few extra days and you had a great time. That’s it. Make it sincere and heartfelt, and that will have far more meaning than a gift could.

7. Manager keeps calling employees “old”

I’m writing in to ask about a situation that my mother is in at work. She has been with the same company for the past 15 years or so. She’s in her early 60s and loves her job and does it well.

Her new supervisor has never managed people before and has had several slip-ups with her direct reports. These slip-ups mostly revolve around my mother and another seasoned coworker of hers. Namely, the supervisor has called them “old” in meetings and in individual encounters. Yesterday she called them “old” in a meeting of the whole staff. When my mother interrupted her and said that was inappropriate, the supervisor said “Would you rather I call you elderly?” She said this completely seriously and with a straight face!

I told my mother she should be documenting these instances and writing to her HR representative. She’s hesitant, though, because she’s approached the HR representative in the past about other issues and had no response. What do you suggest?

Just because she hasn’t had a response from HR in the past doesn’t mean she won’t now. She should talk to them in person and then follow up with an email summarizing her concerns, and she should be specific that she’s concerned that the manager is demonstrating an age-based biased “which could get us into trouble because of federal laws against age discrimination.”

Notice the “us” in that sentence. That’s intentional, because it’s far easier to have this conversation when you put yourself on the same side as the company than when you position yourself as an adversary.

Any competent HR department will hear about this and take action, because that manager is laying the grounds for a reasonably strong age discrimination lawsuit if any of the older staff happen to get laid off, fired, or demoted. (In other words, the comments on their own probably don’t provide grounds for a lawsuit, but combined with actual adverse action, they could.)