Ask a Manager

It’s fast answer Friday — seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go…

1. Who should get the miles for business travel?

If you travel for work, do you think it is okay to collect air miles, airline rewards points, or hotel rewards points in your personal account? Or should these points be collected on behalf of the company, and used? This is assuming that the company does not have an explicit policy governing this (I know some companies do).

I used to travel heavily for work, and always kept the air miles and hotel rewards points for myself; what do you think?

If your company allows it, go for it. If they don’t allow it, they’ll tell you.

Personally, I’m a fan of letting people keep the miles they earn for business travel, because business travel is something of a hardship — you’re dealing with airline delays, and being scrunched into your seat on your flight, and that guy who keeps coughing on you from the middle seat, and being away from your home, and so forth. So I think it’s a nice gesture to let people keep the miles and points earned from their trip, in recognition of the fact that they’re the ones bearing the burden of being away.

2. My boss has one foot out the door and is constantly complaining

My boss is ready to quit with one foot out the door. I’ve really enjoyed working with her, but she’s not getting along with her boss at all and it’s just not working out. I’m struggling a little with how to best react to “I hate my job” statements like “I won’t be doing this much longer” and how to not get dragged down a bit by them. She’s already been told she shouldn’t talk like this in front of me by a peer, and she apologized and briefly slowed down, but the comments have picked up again. I plan on asking her for a recommendation, so staying professional is necessary. Additionally, any tips on how to best be prepared for what at this point seems inevitable would be greatly appreciated.

It’s worth noting that her boss is a bit of a monster, and not someone I can go to. She is fairly punitive, and places no value on professional development. Beyond my direct team, the office culture is pretty great — I don’t mean to make it out to be like I work in a dungeon.

I’d just try to see it as what it is and no more: someone increasingly miserable, to the point that she’s letting it get in the way of acting professionally. But if it’s really bothering you, you can try saying something to her in the moment like, “I’m sorry you’re so unhappy. Since I’m here for the foreseeable future, I’m trying to focus on what I like here, and it can be hard when we’re so frequently being negative.” (Note the we there; it’s softer than saying you.)

But if she’s unprofessional enough to still be venting to you even after realizing that she shouldn’t, this may not work, and you might need to just wait it out.

3. Talking to an employee who asked to work from home because she was out of gas

I work from a company that officially has a no-work-from-home policy. We are allowed, however, within our pyramids to make discretionary decisions for individual circumstances. My circumstance: A salaried direct report sent an email at midnight asking if she could work from home. The reason was because she had no gas and couldn’t afford gas until payday.

I’m in quandary on how to handle this, as we don’t have strictly defined rules on what constitutes okay to work from home. For example, another employee had a family member in the hospital pending decision on a surgery and was approved to work from the hospital because it was unclear when the decision for the surgery would be made. Often weather circumstances also come into play.

My issue is how to follow up with the employee without seeming too insensitive. I feel that it is the responsibility of the employee is to make sure that transportation to work is available–I think this shows a lack of critical thinking. In addition, I feel the individual should have brought this situation up the day before rather than sending an email about it late at night. However, I’m not sure how these competes with other reasons if working from home is occasionally allowed. I know I need to have a follow up conversation, but am not sure how to approach it. Thoughts?

I agree with you that that’s not a good reason in the context of a workplace where working from home is discouraged. It’s reasonable to expect employees to be prepared to get to work each day. I’d say something like this: “As you know, I can sometimes grant permission to work from home under very occasional circumstances, but in general we do expect you’ll have transportation to work each day. Is that something you’ll be able to do going forward?”

And I don’t know what her salary is like, but if you have any reason to think that the can’t-afford-gas situation might represent bigger problems in her life, it might be kind to talk with her about whether everything is okay, if that’s something you’re comfortable with.

4. Can my employer require me to use English when talking to coworkers?

I’m Filipino and I have a coworker who is also Filipino. We talk sometimes at work in our dialect, but now we are being told by our manager that we can’t do that anymore, because it seems to be bothering someone there. Is this legal or do you have any input in this matter?

Your employer can prohibit you from speaking other languages if the rule is justified by a business necessity — such as when waiting on English-speaking customers, group assignments in which an English-only rule will promote efficiency, or to allow a manager who only speaks English to monitor the performance of staff members whose job involves communication with others. However, your employer cannot prevent you from speaking another language in casual conversation with another coworker, even if it’s making coworkers around you uncomfortable. (That said, it’s worth noting that most people do consider it rude to speak in front of others in a language that they can’t understand, so you might want to voluntarily take that into consideration if other people are in the room when you’re speaking to each other.)

5. Can I call the hiring manager before applying to ask about how long they’re accepting applications?

I have a question about contacting a hiring manager prior to applying. I saw that my dream company posted an opening for which I am well-qualified approximately two weeks ago. Since I am transitioning from academic to applied work, it has taken me a long time to prepare a resume and cover letter. (The anxiety of trying to make everything perfect didn’t help.)

Yesterday, I called the company to ask for the hiring manager’s name and was told, in addition to the name, that the post would be up for about another two weeks. That said, my contact within the company, a vice-president, heard that they were not looking at any new candidates and were in the interview stage. The post is still online.

Should I call the hiring manager to tell her of my application and ask about the hiring timeline or would this diminish my chances? I am very well qualified for the position and hate to think that my resume would not be reviewed.

Do not call. That will be annoying and yes, it could certainly diminish your chances (in part because it’s like announcing “I’ve been planning to apply but still haven’t managed to do it,” which doesn’t reflect well on you). Finish your application and send it in today. If they’re interviewing people, they could make a hire at any time. Delaying means you could miss the window to be considered.

(Maybe it will help your anxiety to realize that you have no idea whether this is your dream company or not.)

6. Asking to push a start date back by months

After receiving a job offer (to start in July) and finishing my degree, I’ve been backpacking through Europe. However, I’ve realized since that I had over-prepared and my funds could last me the rest of the year. I’m actually rather looking forward to the work, but I would dearly love to keep traveling for the rest of this year.

The company I’ll be working at is quite a large firm, and they have two intakes in a year — one in July and another in March. I was considering therefore the possibility of emailing them to request a start in the March intake if they hadn’t assigned me to a project already. Would this be presuming too much considering I’m just a graduate? As a secondary consideration, I’ve also been informed that the March intake is the main one, and is better for getting to know the rest of the graduates. Also, if this isn’t too frivolous a matter to bring up, how best should this subject be approached?

Is the July “class” very small or is it large? If it’s small, no — you got one of a small number of places that could have otherwise gone to someone else, and you should honor that. But if it’s big, then yes, probably (but only because they have two formal intakes; otherwise definitely not; that’s normally way too long to push a start date back by). I’d say something like: “I’m currently slated to begin in July but wondered about the possibility of starting in March instead in order to extend my current travel. I’m really excited to begin work and I’d be glad to stick to the July date if that’s better on your side, but I thought it worth checking with you in case March is a possibility.”

One thing to consider: There’s a slim chance that pushing your start date back to March could increase the chances of at some point having the offer pulled altogether, if they do cutbacks between now and then; some people have had offers with distant start dates pulled in that situation, so you’d want to factor that risk into your thinking.

7. Letting my company pay for future classes when I might leave at any time

I’m doing excellent work at my current job (so my supervisor tells me) and have expressed my desire for a promotion/increase in responsibilities. I have been told that there is “nowhere to go” from my current position and a raise is not possible, so I’ve started looking elsewhere for a new opportunity.

My current company is trying to retain me, though, so they have offered to pay for outside training/classes that I’d like to take, and it’s been implied that the material doesn’t even have to be relevant to my work. It’s basically “free money” to take any kind of course anywhere that I’m personally interested in. They’ve offered to pay up to $1,000/class for this, and it seems like I can continue taking courses indefinitely.

I’ve taken them up on this offer, but it’s not a long-term solution for me so I’m still looking for a new job elsewhere (though not with the same sense or urgency as before). If I do happen to get new job and if it happens to line up so that the company has already paid for a course that I am going to take (no refunds), am I obligated to pay the company back for these funds if I leave before the class starts?

If they haven’t asked you to sign a repayment agreement (in case you leave before X months are up, or whatever), then no, you’re not legally obligated to repay the money. That said, ethically, I don’t feel great about you signing up for future classes on their dime when you’re actively looking to leave, especially since you know that they’re paying for it in the hopes of retaining you, and that’s particularly true if they’ve treated you well and didn’t misrepresent your job. You’d also want to consider whether it’s likely to harm the relationship if this happens, since a great reference is generally worth more than any class.

It’s terse answer Thursday — seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go…

1. I have to pick my own punishment

I was going to be 15 minutes late to work and another employee clocked me in on time. My boss was told and she told corporate. Corporate said I need to pick how I should be punished for having another employee clock me in. What should my punishment be?

What?! They want you to pick your own “punishment”? Who the hell is running things over there? Adults don’t need to be punished; rather, consequences for wrongdoing at work are generally along the lines of serious warning conversations; having the problem reflected in your performance evaluation, raises, references, and growth opportunities; being given less trust and flexibility; or being let go.

Honestly, falsifying a timecard should be a fireable offense — even for something like 15 minutes, because it goes to fundamental issues of trust and integrity — but I doubt you want to tell them to fire you.

2. Can I use prepaid travel arrangements that my company made for me before I was fired?

Let’s say a company prepaid a business trip for you – nonrefundable airfare, and hotel accommodation. Then you’re fired. They’re not getting any money back – the money paid is nonrefundable. If they fail to cancel the tickets/hotels (all in your name), is it illegal to take said trip?

I can’t think of any laws that it would break. But it doesn’t feel right, that’s for sure, because those tickets aren’t really yours. Can anyone think of a law that would be in play here that I’m not thinking of?

(By the way, I bet your hotel reservation actually is refundable; they typically are if they’re canceled far enough in advance.)

3. Should candidates know they should always submit a cover letter, even if it’s not explicitly requested?

My office is hiring a new staff member and a few of us are working on the recruiting and screening process. We are really small and don’t have any HR staff, so the task falls to the rest of us.

I posted the job description online and asked that applications be emailed to a member of our team. We are getting some emails with just a resume and a 2-3 sentence note from the applicant. I say that prospects should know that “application” means cover letter and resume and that if they can’t figure that out, they don’t have the standards for professionalism and common sense that we highly value at our office. However, my coworker insists job searching is a stressful process, we were unclear with the directions, and that it is fine to email them back and ask for a cover letter. Can you help us settle this discussion?

Actually, lots of people think that “application” just means a resume. I’d go back and change your ads to say “please submit a resume and cover letter” so that it’s clear. Anyone who doesn’t send a cover letter after seeing those directions can be written off — but as for the group that’s already applied, for anyone with a strong resume, I’d send a quick note back requesting a cover letter rather than rejecting them outright.

4. Employer asked me to interview with one day’s notice, but I’m not local

I’m currently job searching for a job in another city (NYC) but I live 3 hours away and work in my hometown. I read on your site that if you have the ability to use a local address when applying to jobs, do so. I am fortunate enough to have family in NYC and used a family members address. Immediately after changing the address on my resume I got an e-mail from an interested company I applied too. Only thing is, they wanted to meet me the very next day. I also took your advice and tried to give them a reason why I wasn’t in NYC at the moment but they stated they needed someone immediately and didn’t seem interested in meeting me anymore.

Is there a more professional way to let employers out of state know you are interested in their open position but aren’t available that day/the next to meet?

First, just to be clear, I haven’t said to make up a reason for not being there at the moment — what I’ve said is be prepared to explain the real situation if invited for an immediate interview. For instance: “I haven’t yet moved but plan to be there by X, but I could be there for an interview as soon as next week.”

You do need to be prepared to fly out with very little notice (not as in one day, but definitely as in one week) if you’re job-searching long-distance, unless your skills are very hard-to-find and in-demand (because otherwise they’ll just turn to local candidates).

5. What does this email from an employer mean?

I had a phone interview and was later called for a second in-person interview. The second interview, I think, went pretty well (but you can never be sure). I sent the committee a thank-you email the following day. Surprisingly, I got an email from them saying, “It was a pleasure to visit with you yesterday and learn more about your background and what you would bring to the position.” Does that mean I didn’t get the job? The email is so vague that I can’t tell. It doesn’t say “ yes, you got the job,” but it also doesn’t say “you got the job!” Am I reading into it too much?

Yes. It means exactly what it says, no more and no less. They enjoyed meeting you. That’s all. There’s no decision being conveyed in this email in either direction.

6. Can you include a joke on your resume?

My daughter, a college student, is preparing her first resume to apply for an internship with a small web design firm. Trying to be funny, she asked: “Would it be wrong to write that I have the same number of Oscars as Leonardo DiCaprio in the ‘other accomplishments’ section of my resume?”

I replied: “A little humor down at the bottom isn’t necessarily bad, especially if it helps reflect who you are.” Did my years of reading Ask A Manager guide me properly? Or did I misdirect my daughter?

I am sorry to say that you misdirected her! She should not put something on her resume that isn’t true, even as a joke, and particularly not this. It will annoy too many hiring managers, and it will seem a little off. A resume is for her accomplishments and background, period. She can add some humor into the cover letter, though — just not a fake accomplishment (even obviously fake) on the resume.

7. Does it look bad if I don’t remind my manager to do performance evaluations?

I started a new job about two years ago, and it is company policy that managers should arrange appraisal meetings for employees on a yearly basis. For some reason, I have never had an appraisal (I suspect my manager has a calendar reminder that she hasn’t set or something).

I don’t mind or particularly want one — I’m satisfied my work is getting noticed, etc. — but am I likely to be seen in a bad light for not having reminded my manager about this or mentioned it to her?

No. Your manager is likely to be seen in a bad light if someone eventually notices that she hasn’t been doing this, but it’s going to reflect on her, not on you.

That said, you might ask for one anyway — you might be glad you have something documenting your performance if, for instance, a new manager replaces her at some point.

It’s wee answer Wednesday — seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go…

1. Did my manager change a rude email after I complained?

My old manager sent me a pretty nasty response through email while my current manager was away. I confronted the manager in question to say that I was upset by the tone in her email. Her response was that I was reading too much into it.

Today I looked at the email again to see if I was being over-sensitive, and the email had been changed or edited — as there is nothing offensive in it now! This manager has access to my computer. Could she edit an email on the master files and have it change the original and the cc? Is there a way you can somehow retrieve or prove the original has been edited?

I can’t definitively answer the technical piece of this question — I have no idea if that’s possible or not, although hopefully someone commenting can tell you. But since you saw one email and now it’s appearing differently, it’s safe to conclude that either (a) yes, she can and did change the email after the fact, or (b) you are hallucinating. Assuming you’re not hallucinating, it sounds like (a). Which would make her incredibly sneaky and lacking in integrity; she should have simply apologized and been done with it, not tried to rewrite the record.

2. What’s up with the way my company rejected me for an internal position?

About a month ago, one of my supervisors gave me a heads up that a new opening within the company at the same office was becoming available and this position was a strong match with my education and work experience. I applied and got selected for face to face interviews with HR and management. After the interviews which went fine, I got an email that stated they were going with someone else. I don’t mind being rejected for the position because someone was more qualified. This is a normal part of business.

What bothers me is the method for the rejection. It was just a generic email letter PDF attachment not even written in the body of the email! And this email was from a HR person that is literally down the hall from me. That person interviewed me and knows who I am. Our office is not very big so it seems odd that HR could not just let me know in-person at first or at least write something that doesn’t make me feel like a random person. From my point of view, I expressed interest in offering my skills toward a company need and in exchange I got a cold shoulder. Is there something I’m missing here?

Nope, aside from the fact that your employer has really crappy practices when it comes to handling internal candidates. Internal candidates deserve more communication than an email rejection when they’re passed over for a position … and ALL candidates, including external ones, deserve something more than a PDF with nothing in the body of the email. That type of thing reeks of someone who doesn’t know how to use technology or communicate appropriately, and who shouldn’t be having unsupervised contact with candidates.

3. Can my employer share everyone’s pay rate?

Are employers allowed to share our salary information to other employees? My employer emails the staff weekly schedule, which includes the schedules of each staff member in each department. They had also attached information about their weekly budget report on staff hourly pay, including everyone’s hourly pay. I will assume that was by accident. Is this legal?

Frankly, I am upset about this because I know that sort of information is confidential. How should I approach my employer about this?

Yes, it’s legal. There’s no law requiring that your pay be kept confidential. You can certainly express your concern that the information was shared without your permission, but there’s no law in play here.

4. Must my employee take a lunch break?

I have an employee in Tennessee who is hourly and turns in a timesheet every two weeks. Some days she takes a lunch and some days she does not. Is she required to take a lunch break? Can we get in trouble for not making her take a break?

If you google “Tennessee break laws,” you will find the answer.

Okay, fine, I’ll do it for you, but it’s good to know how to find this information yourself, and it’s not hard! In Tennessee, employers must provide a 30-minute break to employees who are scheduled to work six consecutive hours — except in workplace environments where the nature of the business provides for ample opportunity to rest or take an appropriate break. The break can be unpaid, but must be provided.

5. Interviewer offered feedback but then never got back to me

I had a second interview for this great organization I wanted to be a part of and did not get the job. The hiring manager left a nice and detailed voicemail, telling me it was great to meet me and thanked me for my time (for both interviews)—she also invited questions. I sent her an email, thanked her for the opportunity, and then asked her for feedback. I haven’t heard from her, and being that it is now 3 weeks later, I don’t think I’m going to.

Normally I would not care, but since I came so far in the interview process, really wanted this job, and she invited questions, I thought I would get feedback. This has never happened to me and now I’m not feeling very confident in this job search. We seemed to hit it off well; I expected a response back.

As a hiring manager, have you invited questions and when a candidate asks for feedback you never get back to them? Am I taking things too personal or is this common practice with hiring managers? Should I expect more of this in the future?

You’re taking it too personally. She probably meant it at the time when she offered to give you feedback, but later got too caught up in higher priorities. Yes, she should have gotten back to you, but she didn’t. It’s not personal, and you shouldn’t read anything into it other than people who hire usually have lots of other stuff they’re responsible for too, and non-critical hiring tasks can often fall off their radar. It’s not ideal, but it’s reality. Don’t give it further thought, and move on.

6. My previous employer is asking if I’ll talk to them about why I left

After being at my new job for 5 months, I received a letter from my previous employer saying that they have recently been informed that the reason I gave them for leaving may not have been true and that they would like to know if there were any incidents which caused me to leave the company.

Am I right to think that this is really strange? When I left, I just said I was leaving because I didn’t think it was a good fit. I hadn’t worked there very long and I didn’t really want to get into an argument about why I didn’t like working there.

What could be there possible reason for writing to me, and do you think I should respond and tell them what I thought of working there?

The most likely scenario is that they’re investigating something — a manager or other potential problems, and they’re hoping people who may have left because of it might be willing to give them feedback about it. You’re under no obligation to speak with them if you don’t want to — it’s entirely up to you. (For whatever it’s worth, I personally once reached out to some former employees when I began to have concerns about a particular manager, and their candor made it much easier for me to take action and address the situation, to many people’s benefit — and probably ultimately strengthened those employees’ relationship with the organization. So it does sometimes have a positive outcome.)

7. Does this PTO policy make sense?

The company I work for recently changed their PTO/sick time policy. Prior to April, employees accrued a certain number of vacation and sick days each month. The company scrapped the sick time and set us up on a PTO schedule. The seemingly ridiculous part? For those of us with hours in our sick time bank — policy rules we can’t tap into it until after using 2 PTO days. If I’m out for 4 days, I can use 2 PTO days and and 2 sick days with a doctor’s note. If I come back for a day, but have follow-up appointments, the game starts over. It has to be consecutive.

Is there a reasonable explanation to this policy? It seems to us that the company just wants us to use up all our PTO days. (They don’t pay you for stored sick time when you leave.) Unless it’s a serious health issue, 2 days is about the max a person will be out for their health. And if you have 300 hours of sick time, you probably aren’t an abuser of the benefit. Oh, and the company I work for? A hospice. The irony.

It sounds like they want you to save your sick time accrued under the old system for longer-term sick leave. But why, I don’t know. Why not ask them what the rationale is for this part of the new policy, and explain that you feel you’re being penalized for having been among the most responsible employees with your sick leave in the past?