Ask a Manager

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

1. Company took away our desk fans

I work in a high-stress call center, which is often warmer than I would prefer. I (along with many other employees) helped this problem with small desk fans. We were recently told that we had to take our fans home as it could be a liability in case the fan caused a power surge and shorted something out. I had the fan plugged into a surge protector but was told this was still unacceptable. Perhaps I should be sending this question to “ask an electrician,” but I am curious if you’ve ever heard of fans not being allowed in an office. As this is a phone sales job, I am finding myself increasingly irritated and uncomfortably warm. I’ve done everything to reason with management and have found them intractable. Do you have any suggestions how I might approach this? Do I have any grounds to fight this?

No legal grounds, but certainly on the grounds of common sense. You and your coworkers should talk to whoever in charge of this about the fact that people generally work better when they’re not uncomfortably hot, and ask what solutions can be found for the temperature problem. It doesn’t have to be fans — maybe it’s central air or some other solution. But make the case for it. You can’t force them to agree, but you can certainly try, and doing so as a group might help.

2. How should we launch an employee performance tracker?

My question is centered around the delivery of employee performance metrics. I work in a fairly new department, and we are about to roll out a performance tracker that gives front line employees feedback on their performance for the last couple months. We didn’t give our employees all the specifics on which data we would be tracking and how they can influence it (because we didn’t know what it would be at the time). We did give them a general overview of what their competencies would be.

My boss seems eager to get the information out ASAP, but it makes sense to me to deliver the specifics on what we will be measuring, give the staff time to perform, and then roll out their performance tracker and develop improvement plans. It doesn’t seem fair to me to give an employee specific feedback on metrics they were not previously informed would be tracked and monitored (although the metrics are for things that they should already understand are relevant to how their performance is assessed). My boss is saying this is just a benchmark, but I’m concerned about those employees who might get lower ratings and their perception of the information.

I think it’s fine either way. There’s certainly no harm in giving people a heads-up and then waiting before the first official reporting, but if these metrics are measuring things that they should already know they’re being assessed on more generally, then I also don’t see any problem in rolling it out immediately. If you were going to launch metrics on things no one had ever told them they needed to care about, that would unfair and demoralizing. But since it’s on stuff they should already be thinking about, I think it’s fine.

Read an update to this letter here.

3. I didn’t tell my staff that our new employee is deaf

I just hired a part-time person who is deaf. The person is able to do the job fine, but I am not sure what to do in regards to the rest of my department. Before the person started, I sent an email introducing them to everyone with a little background on the person, and I mentioned the university they went to, which is recognizable as one that caters to deaf people if you know that. I do this with all new hires.

I had decided not to mention the fact that they are deaf because I would not mention anything else that is not really relevant to the job (this is a job where you are in front of a computer mostly and pack/unpack things). But just in introducing them around in person, I noticed there were a few miscommunications (they didn’t get they were being asked a question, for example). Having interviewed and now trained them one on one, I think it’s just a question of making sure we are facing the new person when we talk and such small adjustments but I worry that if the rest of the team does not know she is deaf, they will just think the new person is slow or aloof, and it will create a negative atmosphere. On the other hand, I don’t want to draw attention to something that I don’t think should matter in an office. Do you have any suggestions on how best to handle this?

Please tell people, today. It’s not kind to allow people to think this employee is slow or unresponsive, when the problem could be so easily solved. I assure you that your employee doesn’t think being deaf is something to hide, and would probably appreciate having people know how to best communicate with her. In fact, she probably assumes people already know. Your instinct not to mention the deafness comes from a well-intentioned place, but the result is not helpful. Let your staff know that because Jane is deaf, they should make sure they face her when she talks, and any other adjustments they should make.

4. How should I respond to this email from a hiring manager?

I interviewed for a position last Friday and sent a thank-you card a few days later. Today I received an email from one of the hiring managers, thanking me for the card, telling me that they expect to make a decision in a few days, and thanking me for my patience. I’ve never received a thank-you email for a thank-you note. Should I respond or just wait to hear their decision?

It’s not really a thank-you for the thank-you; it’s an update on their timeline. No response is really needed, although there’s nothing wrong with responding with a quick “great, thanks for letting me know.”

5. Explaining a period of caring for a parent

I worked for 25 years in telecommunications. I was laid off in 2008 and since that time have been caring for my elderly parents. My dad passed away a few months ago, and my mother, although handicapped, is stable. I am ready to begin a “second phase of my life” job search. Is it acceptable to put on my resume the duties I performed caring for my parents? For example, managing their money, taking them to their doctor’s appointments, managing in home care, etc. I want to make sure that a potential employer knows that I have been very busy the past few years although I have not been collecting a paycheck.

I wouldn’t list it as a job on your resume (just like I wouldn’t list caring for your own kids on a resume), but you can certainly mention in your cover letter that you’ve been caring for a family member but are now ready to return to work.

6. Manager is making me move my computer monitor

Can a manager dictate as to how you place your monitor on you desk? I have mine directly in front of me because of a neck issue and now she says it needs to be of to the side to be patient friendly. She doesn’t sit in my place, and I think she has no business saying how it should be. I would appreciate your opinion.

Legally? Sure, unless your neck issue is covered under the ADA (although the bar is fairly high for something to qualify for a disability). Your best bet is to professionally and politely explain to the impact of having your monitor where she’d like it and offer to bring in documentation of your neck issue from your doctor if she’d like it. (Doctor’s notes don’t obligate an employer to act on this type of thing, but some employers are responsive to them.) But to get the best outcome here, you need to approach this in a professional problem-solving type of way, not in a “you have no business saying how it should be” kind of way.

7. Can I just write “see resume” in online application systems?

I have been applying to university jobs, which require both a resume and cover letter and the submission of an online application. These online applications ask you to input all of the information that is on your resume, including job duties. I’ve been putting “see attached resume,” but wonder if I should be inputting something else? Should I copy and paste the bullets from my resume or provide a synopsis of my job duties in sentence form?

Ack, stop that! Yes, if they ask you to input information from your resume, you need to actually put it in, not just write “see resume.” There’s a reason they’re asking for it — it either gets stored in their system that way and/or they prefer to read it within the system that way, or whatever — but if you don’t follow their instructions, your application may not ever even be viewed. It’s a pain in the ass, but if you want to apply to jobs that way, that’s what it requires.

I’d recommend having a plain text version of your resume that you can easily copy and paste from. Bullets are fine (but use asterisks rather than actual bullets, because special characters often don’t translate well in these systems).

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

1. Did I schedule this interview for too far out?

I just had a second-round interview with a place I’d love to work. I interviewed with one of the hiring managers (first round was a phone interview). She said she wanted to bring me in for another interview to meet with the VP and another hiring manager. I ended up scheduling two weeks out because of schedules and difficulty in taking time off. They would have told me if this is a problem, correct? Should I go back to them and say I can do it earlier? Will they think I’m uninterested?

If they were willing to let you schedule for two weeks out and didn’t sound put out by it, I wouldn’t worry about it. Employers generally have no problem saying, “We’re wrapping up interviews by January 20” or whatever if that’s the case.

That said, in the future, if you can make it work earlier, I tend to think it’s a good idea to — you never know if another candidate might come along and wow them in the meantime. (And now I’ve sent a bunch of people into paroxysms of anxiety. Sorry!)

2. Employers hesitating because I look young

Much like your 30-year-old who had to deal with patronizing comments yesterday, I am 30 but look very young for my age. I have been working for a local government for about 6 years and have hit the ceiling in terms of my current position. Because of this, I have been seeking out higher-level jobs with other cities. I interviewed at two places, but in the after-interview discussions with HR, they both said they weren’t sure how the public would respond to “such a young person in a public role.”

I am qualified for the roles, at least according to their position profiles. The ones I apply for state they want “3-5 years of experience” and I have 6-1/2. I do not apply for ones that mention “X years supervising others” or “X years in an executive role,” etc.

Any advice other than to keep looking? Hearing the same thing twice is really discouraging.

It’s certainly true that if you’re baby-faced, you might have a higher bar to meet when it comes to public positions where the public is more comfortable seeing someone “seasoned” or with gravitas. That’s true in a number of positions that involve acting as a public spokesperson, representing the company on the news, etc. The employer may not want to deal with the public not taking a very young-looking representative seriously. (And for anyone wondering, age discrimination laws don’t kick in until age 40.)

Ideally, this would motivate you to show them why you’d be so good at the job that this won’t matter … but yeah, it’s frustrating.

3. My husband, his lover, and I all work for the same company

I’ve been working for the same company (a public networking company) for 15 years and so does my husband. I am an engineer and he started as an engineer too and over the years he escalate and now he is VP RND. He started having an affair with the HR manager (she started working for the company around 3 years ago). I have all the proof, emails, even voice recordings about their affair. We have 2 children. She is also married with children. We are separating in a couple of weeks. Do I have any case to sue them/fire them/damage their careers? I’m really hurt.

Trying to get revenge in situations like this is an understandable impulse, but rarely one that it’s healthy to act on. I’d focus on moving on and making sure your children are as protected as possible from any fall-out. I’m sorry this is happening to you.

4. Asking about the chances to turn an internship into a full-time job

How does one go about asking, during the interview, if an (unpaid) full-time internship opportunity can lead to something full-time/paid/benefits, without seeming ungrateful for the opportunity? And if it includes expenses (daily food and transport allowance)? They vaguely mentioned it in one internship posting, but not in the one I applied to.

You can certainly ask whether previous interns have gone on to be hired by the company, but be careful not to imply that you’ll be disappointed if that doesn’t happen to you. If if they do have a good track record of hiring interns once their internships are over, they don’t know yet whether you’ll be one of them, and they’ll be wary of saying anything you might take as a promise. (And a lot of people hear “we do sometimes hire interns for full-time positions” as “we’ll probably hire you for a full-time position later on” — and once an interviewer has been burned by this, they tend to get very cautious.)

About expenses, you can say, “I know the position is unpaid. Do you offer any type of stipend to help with expenses?”

5. Mentioning that I previously applied for a job with the same organization

I applied for a job at a nonprofit back in the middle of December, and never heard anything back from them (probably because I was a bit late in applying, because I came across it weeks after it was posted). They’ve just posted another position that I would like to apply for. I don’t think they have an HR department (too small an organization), and the posting provides a specific email address and who to send it to. It’s a different person than the first job I applied for.

Should I be mentioning in my cover letter that I applied for a position a month ago, or just apply again without bringing it up? Is that something they would even notice/remember since I’m sure they look over a bunch of resumes and cover letters?

There’s no reason to mention that you applied previously; it doesn’t really impact your candidacy in any way. But I suppose if you want to show a continued interest in this organization in particular, you could say something like, “I was excited to see the X position last month because I’d love to work with ABC Organization, but I’m even more excited to see the Y position now, because ____.”

6. Explaining the impact of ADHD and depression on my job history

I’m 26 and I was recently diagnosed with severe ADHD and depression, which was a huge relief, since it explains a lot of my problems at previous jobs. I was very scattered, unproductive, easily distracted, and consistently late, which led to many poor performance reviews, and I was even fired from a couple of jobs for my poor performance and tardiness. I also had trouble staying at a job for more than a few months even if I didn’t get fired, because I became bored and distracted thinking of greener pastures. Now that I’ve been diagnosed and treated with therapy and medication (which is a continuing process, obviously), I’m a completely different person. I’ve become very reliable and I’m capable of working hard and doing a great job, consistently. I’ve been taking a break from my field for the past year and doing an entry-level retail job part time while I’ve been dealing with these issues, but I feel like I’m ready to go back to my field now. How should I explain my awful resume to prospective employers? Should I disclose my mental health issues?

Say that you were dealing with health issues in the past that made it difficult to fully focus on work, but that that has now been fully resolved. Kudos on solving it!

7. How do people find time for things outside of work?

I am wondering how everyone deals with work/life balance. I struggle with hypothyroidism, which, even though its controlled, still leaves me exhausted most of the time. I work hard at my job and do well at it but find it difficult to do much else. I am set to get married later on this year and desperately need to lose weight and need to get to the gym but feel like I have no time for it. I work your regular “9 to 5” job, don’t have dependents other than my fiance, have one extracurricular of playing in a community orchestra, and that’s it. I am not an early riser so morning workouts sound as appealing as tar, and I am always exhausted and want food when I get home from work, and then I feel like I can’t work out with a full stomach, and then it ends up being late and time to go to bed. I can’t go during lunch because that means buying a gym membership (I can’t justify when we a have a nice free gym in my apartment building, 50 minutes from my work) so what do I do? Would love your suggestions. And also a note, I have no idea how working mothers do it. None. It makes me scared to have kids.

I don’t know either. I have a high need for long periods of downtime, where I do nothing productive at all, so I’m confused by people who fill up every minute with activity. Readers?