Ask a Manager

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

1. I bombed an employment test — can I ask to retake it?

I just got back from an interview and made a really terrible mistake! They gave me a proofreading test, and I bombed it – I missed around 60% of what I was supposed to catch. The thing is, this is very out of character for me. I normally produce error-free or close to error-free work and have consistently done so in my past occupations. I was very nervous, and I think I blanked out because of that. I feel like the rest of the interview went reasonably well, but unfortunately, proofreading is a substantial part of the job, so I know that what I did was very detrimental.

I’m wondering if there’s ANY way at all to mitigate this situation? I haven’t sent my thank you/follow up note yet, and I’m wondering if there’s something I can say in there to address this and explain that it’s out of character? Would it be appropriate to say something apologizing, explaining that it’s out of character for me, and possibly mentioning that if there was any way to give a second demonstration of my abilities, I would very much appreciate that?

I feel very bad about this, more so because it’s so unlike me and I let my nerves get the better of me. I want to communicate to the employer that this isn’t a reflection of my work without coming off as panicked/desperate. Is there a way I can do that, or have I basically lost my chances?

You can definitely try saying that you know your nerves got the better of you and that you’re normally a carefully and neurotic proofreader (people who want proofreaders love neurotic ones), and that you’d be grateful for an opportunity to retake the test if that’s possible, but that you understand if it isn’t. They may or may not agree, but you have nothing to lose by asking.

2. Can we be paid in pizza and beer?

I work for a mid-sized company (800 employees) that’s been in business for 10+ years (yet upper management tries to convince us we’re a start-up, but that’s a whole different thing all together). I’ve been in the same department for almost 3 years now and we are all salaried, but non-exempt employees.

When I first started in my role, it wasn’t uncommon to see emails requesting people to work overtime, and it was always clear it would be compensated and how much compensation there would be (usually time and a half).

Now these requests still fly into our inboxes at least once a month, but the compensation drastically changed: from time and a half to pizza and beer. Although it always says it’s voluntary to participate in these 3-5 hour “after hours” overtime shifts, several of my trusted coworkers and I have commented that management seems to subtly retaliate against those who don’t partake. We’re all folks who have a degree and although this is a job most people take straight out of college, we are still professionals and we are adults — not a fraternity! I much rather get paid in money than pizza and beer (which, frankly, I can buy myself if I really wanted to). My question is: is this even legal, working for pizza and beer? I don’t know if HR knows about this (I assume they don’t).

If you’re non-exempt, your employer is required by federal law to pay you overtime (time and a half) for all hours over 40 worked in a single week. It’s not optional. Pizza and beer does not count, and you cannot “volunteer” to waive overtime pay.

3. Can I make my raise request via email rather than in-person?

I have prepared myself for asking for a raise and I think I have sufficient arguments and enough space considering my salary at the moment and my contribution during previous years in the company. The thing is that I strongly believe that it could be presented better if it is written and summarized in email rather then in ordinary conversation with my boss. Should I write an email and how does that look in eyes of my employer?

It’s not the worst thing in the world, but it looks a little weird — like you were afraid of advocating for yourself/your work in-person. This tends to be a face-to-face conversation.

Also, how long is this email you’ve written? If it’s longer than a few paragraphs (which I suspect it might be, based on your belief that it’s better presented in writing), it’s too long.

Anyway, if at all possible, talk in person. You can certainly use notes to remember the points you want to make, but talk face-to-face.

4. Grieving at work

I lost my sister late last year, and I am just now starting to process the loss, if that makes sense. Her death was unexpected and early. How do I handle crying/sadness at work? I try hard to stay focused and busy, but sometimes a random thought will just bring on the waterworks. Most of my coworkers know, but that doesn’t make it any easier.

How awful; I’m so sorry. If you’re with others when it happens, it’s fine to say, “Excuse me, I need a minute” when you start to tear up or feel emotional; people will understand. If you’re alone at your desk, it’s fine to close your door or — if you don’t have your own office — go somewhere more private, even if it’s just the bathroom or for a walk around the block. And if you want to, you can tell the people you work with most closely that you’re finding it’s really hitting you at work lately, but you don’t need to do that if you’d rather not.

This is such a understandable thing to go through, and most people will be compassionate.

5. How do I come up with goals for my job?

I need to meet with my boss in two days time and be able to discuss my 5 and 10 year goals and objectives. We are a green energy company that is a new arm to a very large gas and oil distribution company. So it is a new area of the business that we are creating. My boss, for lack of a better word, is #1, making me the #2 of the western region. Because there is nothing established or to reflect on within the company, I am not sure where I can go? I do know depending on production and growth, we will be opening an office in a downtown area of the state we live in. For now, my boss and I both work solo from our own homes. Green energy is growing, it is expanding, and contracts are in excess of 25 years. So I know there is stability and growth.

How do I create goals and objectives that are realistic? Training within the company is spotty at best being we are breaking new ground. But I would like to know more about what we are doing and the process and to understand the birth to grave process of green energy.

I would like to stay employed with this company until I can not longer work and wish to retire. I would like to stay in the state I am in, near my family. That’s all I have to offer… what kind of goals and objectives can I create with this?

Your goals should be about what you’ll achieve over defined period of time. Frankly, 5 and 10 years are unusually large chunks of time for individual goal-setting; it’s more typical to do them for one-year period. (Companies and departments often have 5-year plans, but you might talk to your boss about doing annual goal-setting for yourself, and longer-term goal-setting for your region. Or maybe the nature of your position means that it’s the same thing — I’m not sure.) In any case, the idea is that the goals you come up with should describe what a successful performance would look like during that period. What do you want to achieve? What plans will you need in place in order to do that? If you imagine it’s X years from now and you’re looking back on what you achieved during that time, what do you want to be able to say was accomplished?

If you’re not clear on the answers to this stuff, the first step is to have a conversation with your boss to get better aligned on what you should be working toward achieving.

6. Can my employer make me find people to cover my shifts and not pay them extra?

My employer has “retired” the receptionist and has distributed her duties to the rest of the secretarial staff. No compensation in wages was given for this, and we are still expected to complete all of our regular work while having to come up to the front of the building to answer phones and deal with constant interruptions for several hours each day.

I am preparing to go on a long overdue vacation, and my employer has instated a policy that I have to find someone to take my “shifts” at the reception desk. OK, I can do that. The problem being that they want that person to do it for free. My question is: Is this legal? Of course no one is going to want to do this for free!

Yes, it’s legal. They can put whatever restrictions they want on vacation time, since no law requires them to offer it at all. As for not paying people to take your shifts, they’re not required to pay extra for additional responsibilities. Or do you mean that the person wouldn’t otherwise be working on those days, and they want them to come in and work those days for free? If they’re non-exempt, that’s not legal; non-exempt employees have to be paid for all hours they work. If they’re exempt, or if these are times they’re already working, then the employer isn’t obligated to pay them additional wages on top of it.

7. Workplace called me to come in when I was supposed to be out of town

I work for a restaurant in the state of California. I was scheduled Tuesday and Thursday off. I covered my shift on Wednesday with another employee. The manager signed it. I was going to leave home for three days. But my trip got canceled. So I come home from being gone all day and have two messages on my home phone. They are trying to call me in for Wednesday.

Since I didn’t leave on my trip, I was home to receive the message. What if I had taken off for three days? How would not receiving the message be my fault? I don’t own a cell phone — never have. They know this. Should I never leave home?

Well, you’re assuming here that it would be a problem to not return the phone call, without actually knowing that it is. In most workplaces where this happened, it would simply be because they forgot the reason you were going to be out (and figured you were in town and potentially available), and when you returned from your scheduled days off, you’d simply say, “Hey, I got your message, but I was out of town,” and that would be the end of it. Now, certainly if you have reason to think that will not be the case here — or if it ends up not being the case when you return — then there’s a problem. But so far, there’s no reason to assume that.

It’s tiny answer Tuesday — seven short answers to seven short questions. Here we go…

1. I can’t get to the office bathroom when my boss is in the conference room

My boss is a control freak and wants to be involved in everything that going on in our district. He holds all the meeting for our company in the conference room — at least five scheduled meetings and then when anyone stops in to talk with him. The problem is our only restroom is in the conference room. I start work at 9 a.m. (I have a 20 – 25 minute drive into work and like to use the restroom before I start work). Many mornings I come into the office to find the conference room being used. He has a small conference table in his office, but won’t take people in his office because it is such a mess. Are there any laws to stop him from blocking the restroom from employees?

Your workplace needs to offer access to a bathroom, yes. But before you go at this from a legal standpoint, have you tried simply knocking on the door, opening it, saying “Excuse me, I’m headed to the bathroom,” and simply walking through the conference room to your destination? In other words, the fact that he’s holding a meeting in there doesn’t have to mean that you can’t walk through it to use the bathroom; if he’s even halfway sane, he’s probably assuming that’s what people will do if they need it. If, however, he tells you not to walk through there while the conference room is occupied, then ask him what people should do for bathroom access during that time.

2. Including quotes from coworkers on your resume

I had the opportunity to look over a few resumes for a position my company is hiring for. I noticed that a good handful of the resumes (about 20% or so) had about 2 inches of the left margin blocked off and filled with quotes people supposedly said about the applicant, like “John is an outstanding coworker,” ” Susie Q has great communication skills,” etc. Not only did most of these quotes contain little substance to speak to the skills of the applicants, but I found the whole thing a little narcissistic. Thoughts?

Well, it’s not narcissistic to promote your own work on your resume; that’s what it’s there for. The problem with what you’re describing is that the quotes are so lacking in substance or concrete specifics that they’re essentially worthless. Including anything worthless on your resume isn’t a good idea, but when you feature it so prominently, it says, “I don’t know what truly high performance even means, so I think you’ll be impressed by a quote saying I’m a good coworker.”

3. Disclosing depression to my manager

My question is about how much I should disclose to my manager about mental health problems. Since the start of this year, I’ve been dealing with depression and anxiety. I am in treatment for it and had mostly been functioning normally, but lately the depression has gotten worse and affected my work. I have trouble staying motivated, am losing confidence, and have been all over the place emotionally. For the last couple of days, I’ve sat at my desk holding back tears and spent my lunch hours driving to somewhere I could sit and cry without being seen. All of this is affecting my productivity and now I’m worried about missing a deadline. On top of that, I’m a youngish woman in an industry that’s traditionally male-dominated, and I’m concerned about keeping my place in the corporate culture.

I know I need to say something to my manager since it’s affecting my work, but I’m not sure how much to share or what to say. I am in treatment, and she might already have a clue because I adjusted my schedule for a recurring “personal appointment” every week. But unfortunately getting better is likely to be a long-term process. I’m sure my manager will be very understanding about it and be glad I was honest — she is awesome about things like this. But she is also under quite a bit of stress because we recently lost a team member and she’s been doing two people’s jobs while traveling and trying to hire a replacement… so I don’t want to make it any worse.

Well, here’s the thing: Just letting her know about something that’s already going on isn’t going to make anything worse; it’s just going to give her some context to understand what she might already be noticing. In fact, if she has been noticing some of this, letting her know what’s going on will likely relieve some of her stress rather than adding to it, because it’s more stressful to worry that someone’s performance is slipping for no known reason or to notice that you’re not yourself but not to have any context for it.

So talk to her. You don’t need to go into detail, but you can say, “I want to let you know in confidence that I’m working on some issues with depression. I’m trying hard to keep it from affecting my work, but I realize that I might be behaving differently than before, and I wanted to let you know what’s going on. I’m working with my doctor to get it under control.”

Read an update to this letter here.

4. How can I convince my father to run his business differently?

My father runs a multi-agency that sells every kind of insurance, bookkeeping for other small businesses, taxes, immigration, and more. I have recently graduated with a B.B.A. and my parents have strongly requested that I start working for my dad. I am trying to help him manage his business, yet I am losing motivation to help him because he will not implement the things I have created at the workplace. I have created an employee handbook, installed clock-in/clock-out software, and helped advertise across social media. He keeps putting off on slowly changing the workplace and installing some workplace etiquette and policies. He is scared to lose people. He currently has 2 employees, one part-time bookkeeper and one sales representative. Both of them make personal texts/calls (30-40 minutes daily), which should have been taken care of during their paid lunch hour!) and get paid a generous salary while overstaying breaks and not completing daily tasks. What can I do in this situation? How do I organize this workplace and better yet, how do I get my father to understand I want to help him make money and that I am not nitpicking!?

You can’t. Find a job somewhere else. You’ve proposed changes, and your father/manager has indicated that he’s not interested in implementing them. That’s his call and his prerogative. That would be true in any case, but it’s especially true when you’re right out of school and don’t have a ton of experience in the work world, because at that point it becomes not just a fruitless quest, but a sort of silly one too.

You’re better off finding work somewhere without family ties, so that you can have a more straightforward relationship with a boss, unencumbered by family dynamics and expectations.

5. Should typing speed go on my resume?

I am applying for an administrative assistant job, and I was wondering should I put my typing speed on my resume. I have a fast words-per-minute, but I’ve read online that I should leave that off of my resume. I feel with my typing speed, it could be a useful addition to my resume but other websites say otherwise. What is your take on this?

Put it on. I agree that it doesn’t belong on there for non-administrative-assistant jobs, because if you’re applying for, say, a research analyst position, selling your typing as one of your qualifications doesn’t make sense — but it does make sense for admin assistant jobs. If it’s high, include it. (P.S. Mine is 103, and I would like to have that tattooed on my face for all the world to know about.)

6. What does it mean that my interviewer cc’d a bunch of other people?

After my final round interview, the interviewer, who would be my supervisor if I was hired, told me that they would get back to me in the next few weeks, after I asked for a timeline. I emailed 2 weeks later, on a Friday morning, reiterating my enthusiasm and asking if I could get a sense of their new timeline. The interviewer emailed back on Monday, saying they would get back to me sometime this week. My interviewer CC’d the office manager and regional HR head, as well as another manager who I had interviewed with previously. What does this mean? I guess I am still in the running, but they need to think about details, like salary and work authorization? I know I’m trying to read tea leaves here.

You are trying to read tea leaves, and you are better off not. It could mean anything — from an offer being imminent to the interviewer nudging others on staff to let you know they’ve chosen another candidate. In other words, it means nothing. Be patient and wait for an answer.

7. My company is making me log how I spend my time

My company insists that I use a daily log sheet. I therefore have to state what I do throughout the day, but no one else has to do this (I job share). I find this degrading, as I have worked there for many years and have only been asked to do this recently. Is this lawful for them to expect me to do this on a lengthy basis?

Yes. Of course. Do you really think there’s a law saying that employers can’t ask you to log how you’re spending your time? Think this through — what on earth would be the reasoning for such a law?

In any case, since this is a change, why not ask your manager what’s behind it? Say something like, “Was the change to the daily log sheet prompted by any concern about my work? I was surprised to be asked to do it after so many years of not, and wanted to make sure it wasn’t indicative of a problem on my end.”