Ask a Manager

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Should managers always know the salaries of the people they’re managing?

Is there ever a situation in which a manager should NOT know how much his or her direct report is making? Should every manager, even a first time manager, be entitled to know the salary of the person he/she is managing?

Yes. If you’re truly managing people (and not, say, a team lead with only limited supervisory authority), part of your job is to ensure that your people are being appropriately compensated. Another part is to to work to retain high performers, and salary is a big part of that. If you’re being asked to manage people but told you can’t know a fundamental part about their employment relationship with your organization, that’s a problem and indicative of a pretty weird philosophy somewhere above you.

2. Should I be insulted by this job offer?

I was flown into town for an in-person interview following a successful phone interview. During both interviews, we went through a round of hypotheticals in addition to detailing the specifics of my past experience on my resume. I flew home feeling really good about my chances (I also have never interviewed for a position I didn’t get, so I had that bit of confidence going for me, though I know that’s no indicator of future success.)

However, a week later (today), they called me (the executive director along with the rest of the team on the call) to say that they absolutely loved me, they thought I would bring great value to the organization but that they had concerns about my experience and that I didn’t have the same familiarity with the organization as their current team (?). Now, keep in mind, my experience hadn’t changed from the moment I applied to this phone call (in fact, it had recently been enhanced because one of my top accomplishments was signed into law this past week). She said instead of hiring me for the position they’d been interviewing me for for weeks, they’d like to offer me an entry-level position in the same department. The pay would be significantly lower than the original position (which was both already lower than my last position and would result in me making less than I have since I was 19) and would essentially knock me down about three rungs from where I am already professionally. They also said they wouldn’t hire anyone for the original position if I took the entry level one, but maybe in a few years, I could work my way up.

I have seven years of work experience and have operated at a director-level position the last year at a similarly sized organization, and haven’t interviewed or been offered less than that same level in a couple years by anyone until now. I have a ton of questions and I feel absolutely terrible about myself at this point, but I guess the one I’d like you to answer is: should I be insulted?

I don’t know about insulted; it’s such a ridiculous-sounding offer (take an entry-level position when you’re well above entry-level and maybe in a few years, you might be able to work your way up?) that it’s hard to take them seriously enough to be insulted. Also, calling to have this conversation with the entire team on the phone is weird, which is another point on the side of “there’s no point in feeling insulted by people who operate strangely.”

But it certainly doesn’t sound like a job you should take.

3. I’m nervous about carpooling with a coworker who I’ve heard is an unsafe driver

I work in a state government agency, and my coworkers and I occasionally carpool to out-of-town meetings in state-owned vehicles. After traveling to a meeting, one of my coworkers told me privately that another coworker, “Joe,” was a dangerous driver and kept picking at his nails instead of keeping his eyes on the road while he was driving a state-owned vehicle on the interstate.

Now I am nervous to carpool with Joe to meetings. We often have to drive six hours in one day for these meetings (three hours each way), and I know he always volunteers to do some of the driving, so it would be hard to justify why I or someone else in the car needed to drive the entire six hours. Should I say something to him or his supervisor about his driving, even though I haven’t ridden with him to witness it myself? I suppose I could drive my own car to these meetings, but he would still be putting himself and my other coworkers at risk.

Well, first, have you ridden with Joe yourself? And if so, have you observed this same issue? If you’ve ridden with him and didn’t see problems with his driving, I’d trust your own first-hand impressions over someone else’s.

If you haven’t driven with him yourself but you trust the judgment of the coworker who shared it with you, go back to that person and say that you’re troubled by what he shared, but that since you haven’t witnessed it first-hand, you feel a little stuck. Ask if it’s okay for you to discreetly mention your coworker’s observations to Joe’s manager, who can then figure out how to navigate it from there. (And really, this is not likely to result in Joe getting in big trouble or being yanked off the road; it’s more likely to result in his manager getting more information or observing it himself.)

Also, if you ever are driving with Joe or someone else who’s making you feel unsafe, you can say something in the moment! It’s perfectly reasonable to say, “Hey, pay attention to the road and stop doing other things,” followed by “I’m really uncomfortable with your level of attention to the road and would like to take over as driver” if they don’t stop.

4. Applicant tracking systems that don’t allow for context

I will be completing my BA this December. I have already started applying for jobs. Many employers specifically ask if you have a bachelor’s degree. I’m worried that by answering no, my application is being rejected as soon as I complete it. How can I avoid this? Is it too early to apply for positions? There is a position that I really want but at the end of the application, the very last question was “do you have a bachelor’s degree?” I feel like the tracking system will kick out my application and resume. What should I do?

Yeah, one of the problems with automated application systems is that they often don’t allow for the judgment that a good hiring manager would bring to screening. If you’re going to have your degree by the time you’d start — or very close to it — it would be silly to screen you over not having it this very instant.

When you’re using an electronic application system, it’s reasonable to answer questions in the spirit in which they’re intended so they don’t screen you out over something that you’re pretty sure wouldn’t be an obstacle for a human screener. In this case, it’s reasonable to just answer “yes,” as long as your resume makes it clear that the degree is expected in December, but not yet completed. It’s unlikely anyone will think you misrepresented anything, but if you’re asked about it, you can explain your thinking. More on this here.

5. I share a last name with someone I don’t want to be associated with

I’m in my 20s, and currently undergoing a job search after being laid off a few weeks ago from my job of over five years. So far, no one has contacted me as yet, which I can understand. But a couple of days ago, I happened to google {my last name} {my city} in that exact format…and to my shock and horror, the top search results were several news articles about an impaired driver with the same last name and from same city as me, who caused the death of a pedestrian (about 15 years ago; I was under age 10 at the time)…and yet due to shoddy police work and legal loopholes, never faced criminal charges nor jail time, and instead got slapped with only a temporary license suspension, which caused an outrage in the community.

My last name is uncommon enough that I’m sure many in my city would automatically assume I’m related to the impaired driver. For the last 15 years, no one ever brought the incident to my attention (I only learned about it by googling). But I now have fear that maybe this may hamper my job search. Should I be worried? How should I handle something like this?

I wouldn’t worry about this at all. First of all, an employer who googles you is generally going to google your full name, not just your last name. Plus, we’re aware that there lots of people share the same last name and aren’t all related … and even if this was your relative, few employers would hold you responsible for a crime you obviously had nothing to do with.

I’d assume this is a non-issue and not worry about it.

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. The etiquette of keeping personal supplies in an office kitchen

I recently started working in an office space that shares a small kitchen with a different unit in the same organization. The kitchen has the usual appliances – coffee maker, microwave, fridge, etc. There is a french press that lives on one of the shelves that I’ve been using to make my coffee a few times a week. Today I went to do so as usual, only to find a bright yellow label on the french press that says “SARAH.” Some of the other coffee supplies (filters) appear to also now live in a box also labelled “SARAH.” Sarah doesn’t work for my unit, and I have no idea who she is.

My sense is that SARAH does not like other people using her french press and that I erred by assuming it was a communal resource. However, maybe it’s my caffeine withdrawal induced crankiness, but I’d think that if you don’t want people using your personal appliance you should put it in out of view in a drawer somewhere, or keep it at your desk. Sarah doesn’t work for my unit and I have no idea who she is – if I worked with her I’d probably say “hey sorry for using your french press,” but I’m less inclined to hunt her down to apologize when I’m not sure I erred. What do you think?

I don’t think you need to hunt her down and apologize, and I don’t think you erred. It’s possible that the culture of your new office is that people keep personal belongings in the kitchen and people know not to touch them, but you’re new to the space and it’s reasonable that you didn’t know that a French press sitting right there wasn’t for communal use.

It sounds like you might think it’s unreasonable for Sarah to keep it there at all if it’s not for communal use, but I think it’s okay for people to do that if the kitchen is large enough/office is small enough that people can do that without cluttering it up. But if they do, they need to label it or others are likely to assume that it’s okay for them to use.

Sarah would be being unreasonable if she’s actually pissed off over this, but it’s possible that she’s not; she may have just realized, “Oh, someone is using my stuff, and it might be because I haven’t labeled it.” Now she’s labeled, it, you’ve discovered it’s hers, problem solved. As long as both of you are shrugging it off and not terribly perturbed, this seems to have worked out fine.

(That said, I don’t know why Sarah objects to people using her French press to begin with, although maybe she’s had problems with people not cleaning it after they use it or something like that.)

2. My ex-coworker has bad judgment on Facebook

I’m friends on Facebook with an ex-coworker of mine, “Jane”. Jane has made several posts about her current job on Facebook recently that are inappropriate at best. One was describing an interaction with her boss about a chronic medical condition she suffers from where the boss allegedly said something insensitive. Regardless of the legitimacy of her concern, a public Facebook post isn’t the best place for her to air out that issue, especially when it’s incredibly easy to figure out who she’s talking about (her boss is the owner of an independent insurance agency). At the very least I don’t think her boss would appreciate it.

The second post was a screenshot of a work report that listed top agents (first and last names), number of policies written, and yearly commission totals (!!!). She posted it to brag about her own personal production but the shot included information about many other agents. For context, Jane left her old job (my current one) under bad circumstances of her own making. She feeds on drama and is hyper-defensive. She has decades of work experience (military included) and should know better than to post stuff like this online. Also, I’m cordial with her but not a close friend.

My gut tells me to leave it alone and that it will work itself out. However, I know if that was my personal information posted on Facebook, I’d want it taken down immediately. Should I make her employer aware of this, and if so, how?

Why don’t you say something to Jane, rather than to her employer? It would be easy to say something like, “Hey, I don’t think your coworkers would want their commission info shared with the world.” (I’d probably leave the complaining alone, unless you’re close friends — in which case you could certainly point out that she’s taking a professional risk by doing that.)

3. Did employer mislead me about benefits?

I applied for a job at a prestigious university and completed my second interview last week. The position is listed as full-time, but I was informed during the second interview that the position was only 30 hours a week. I was assured that I’d still be a full-time employee and receive full benefits. My spidey sense went off, and when I got home, I checked the university’s employee info section on their website. Lo and behold, the university’s website clearly states that full-time employees MUST be scheduled for a 40-hour work week, and that any employees who work less than this will not be entitled to full benefits. I am uncertain if the department that I interviewed with is unaware of this rule or deliberately deceived me, but either way, I was misinformed. On top of that, the position is hourly, and according to my calculations, I would make less than half of my current salary if I accepted the offer.

I need to rescind my candidacy for the position, but I want to let them know that I was misinformed, and that they are potentially misleading other candidates as well. I am seeking your advice on how to do this without leaving a bad impression and coming across as ungrateful for the opportunity.

You’re assuming that they misinformed you, but it’s possible that this position is an exception to that rule; it’s also possible that the website is right and whoever interviewed you didn’t realize that. You can’t know for sure which one it is. (It’s pretty unlikely that it was deliberate deception though. Not impossible, but definitely not the most likely of the three possibilities.)

Instead of assuming that the website is right in 100% of cases, I’d just ask about it by sending an email saying this: “I noticed on your website that the university requires a 40-hour schedule for full benefits eligibility, so I wanted to double-check with you about that since I know you’d mentioned that this position does include benefits despite being part-time.”

However, if you’re definitely not interested anyway because of the pay, I would just explain that and withdraw. I wouldn’t get into the benefits question, because you really don’t know if they’re misleading candidates or not; again, it’s possible that this position is in fact an exception to their general rule on benefits, and I’m having trouble thinking of a way to raise the question at the same time that you’re withdrawing from consideration. I’d instead just say: “I realized after we talked that the salary for the position would be prohibitive for me, so I need to withdraw my candidacy. Thanks so much for talking with me.” (I suppose you could also add, “By the way, in reviewing the information about benefits on your website, I noticed a rule saying that the university requires a 40-hour schedule for full benefits eligibility; I wasn’t sure if that was in play with this position or not but thought I’d flag it for you in case it is.” It just feels a bit unwieldy to me and not really your concern at that point.)

4. How can I get an employee to take a full week of vacation?

I’ve been a manager for 10 years, and have one employee who has not had an entire week off for over eight years. About two years ago, I started to encourage her to take PTO, and she often takes off Fridays. However, she has yet to take a whole week off, and this does not seem right to me. I’ve asked HR, and the company does not have rules around this. HR tells me I cannot require her to take a week off. She has banked about six weeks of PTO, and just takes enough off not to lose any. The latest wrinkle is that the company has lost a major contract, and I may not have another staffer next year to fill in while she is out. I would really like her to take an entire week off sometime—anytime!–this calendar year. Can you give me any advice about how to seriously encourage this?

Well, you’re not alone in wanting to push her to do this. It’s really common for managers — especially good managers — to encourage people to take real time away from work, especially people who haven’t had more than a day at a time off in eight years. So it’s ridiculous that your HR department is telling you that you can’t. I’d go back to them and ask why not; there’s no reason that you, as this person’s manager, shouldn’t be able to determine that she’d benefit from time away from work, and that it will be easier for her to take a vacation now than later on. Also, your company isn’t giving people vacation leave to stockpile forever; they’re giving it in part because they presumably believe that it’s beneficial for people to have time away. And just because your company doesn’t have rules around this doesn’t mean you can’t do it; there are loads of things managers do that aren’t specifically enshrined in policy. So I’d push back with HR.

But either way, I’d still sit down with the employee and explain why you’d like her to do this, and ask her to talk with you about her resistance. Maybe there’s some reason (like that she’s stockpiling it for some need she knows is coming up), or that she doesn’t believe her workload will allow it. But it’s a reasonable conversation to have, and you’re in the right to say “It’s important to me that you’re able to do this.”

5. Should I let a sketchy company know that I’m not going to show up for our interview?

A company that I applied to four months ago called me today. I answered not knowing who it was, and the woman on the other end proceeded to ask me questions, which I allowed. She came off rude over the phone and asked me why I even applied, and said that there are better candidates with experience for the job, but she scheduled me an interview in a few days anyway. This is for an entry-level warehouse-style job, by the way

I got home and started researching the company to see if it’s really what I want right now. It turns out it has overwhelmingly negative reviews from workers and was involved in an international scandal even involving terrorist suspects! No joke! It seems like a lot of what she told me was a lie and the turnover is very, very high at this place. I guess I am just wondering if I should even send an email or call saying that I’d like to cancel my interview when I truly have no desire to ever work at this place.

Yes, you should send her an email letting her know that you’re canceling the interview. It’ll take 20 seconds and it’s far politer than allowing her to hold room in her calendar when you don’t intend to show up. (And yes, she was incredibly rude to you, so you don’t “owe” her any courtesy, but you should still do it because it’s the right thing to do, and will take almost no effort to do.)

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Our rogue admin has published her own strict rule book for new hires, without any authority to do that

Our organization has an employee at a satellite office, Jane, whose job description clearly states she that supervises no one; she is administrative support staff. At least weekly a supervisor travels to this office to check on one of the other four staff located at this office.

However, I recently found out Jane has published an unauthorized and very misrepresenting 7-page document she has been giving to new hires. This document is very misrepresenting; it reads as though employees are to answer to her. Although we hold a very organized orientation prior to any employee beginning work, with clear policies and procedures, she has taken it upon herself to not only publish her own “rules, policies and procedures,” and has written them so they read as if they have been authorized by organizational management. An example of one item is “if you are calling in sick, you must call Jane. Voicemail and text messages are not acceptable. Your supervisor may require you to call them also.”

She goes as far as to state in the document that you are to sign your acknowledgement and receipt for this document. This is absolutely outside the scope of her authority and her duties. The copy I got my hands on says “updated 7/02/2014,” so this has been going on for some time without management knowledge.

I have had staff refer to her as a “bully” during exit interviews and now I understand why. They travel 110 miles to our administrative offices for orientation and when they arrive at the satellite office to begin work, she is presenting them with this document. I can very well understand an employee being conflicted about who they answer to.

I am definitely traveling to discipline her for going beyond the limits of her authority and exercising power that has not been granted to her. Is this a terminable offense?

As in legally, can you fire her for this? Sure. But why not first talk to her and find out what her thinking is, and tell her clearly that this kind of thing isn’t acceptable? You should also have a broader conversation about the nature of her roles, the boundaries between her and other staff members, and how you expect her to treat (and not treat) people in that office. Let her know that your concerns are serious and that you need to see immediate and significant changes in how she’s behaving with other people, and that her job is in jeopardy if you don’t see those changes. (And then, of course, you’ll actually need to watch her very closely for a while, as well as actively soliciting feedback from the people who work with her, so that you’re confident that you know whether or not she’s operating the way you need her to.)

You could move straight to firing her, and if she’s toxic enough to colleagues, that might be warranted — but in general it’s better practice to warn people before firing them, so that they have a chance to hear your concerns and improve. (And so that others in your office understand that they too will get a chance to hear about problems and fix them rather than being fired out of the blue one day.)

Read an update to this letter here.

2. Hiring a coworker to babysit

I am a working mom to a 10-month-old boy. My husband and I are ready to branch out in terms babysitters – up until now it’s been my parents and occasionally my sister-in-law. What’s your opinion on hiring a coworker who has expressed interest in babysitting? She and I are in the same 30-person department, and she is not a direct report. I work with her and her boss on a few small projects throughout the year, but not closely. Prior to her taking her current position at our company, she was a nanny, so I know she has good experience as caretaker. Babysitting would happen only occasionally, perhaps once a month.

It’ll probably be fine, but if it goes bad, it has the potential to be pretty problematic, so you’ve got to decide if you’re willing to risk that. For example, if you have issues with the way she cares for your baby, will it cause tension at work? If she’s outright negligent or unkind to your child, will you be able to continue working with her? If she’ll be caring for him in your home, are you comfortable with her having access to potentially personal or private things?

Odds are that everything will go fine — but be aware of the potential for the stuff above to happen and weigh that against other babysitting options.

3. I think my former coworker is trying to poach me

A former colleague, who I get along well with, left my company recently to take a department manager position at another company in the same industry. She has sent me a couple of emails asking me to train her team on some software, and saying she’d like to meet up for a coffee or drink.

It’s not in my company’s interest to offer the training, and I’ve said no to that, but she has followed up again reiterating the offer of coffee. I’d be happy to see her and want to remain on good terms with her, as it’s a very small industry and we may have opportunities to collaborate in the future (and also because I just like her.) However, I’m reading this as her trying to recruit me, which I have no interest in. My company makes neat teapots, my colleagues are great, and I’m happy with my duties, salary, title, etc.

How should I respond, and should I meet with her? After all, I don’t know for sure what she wants. That said, I don’t want to waste her time or be coy about it, and I’m just not interested in a change of situation right now. I suspect if I decline without a reason, or just say “sometime” and wait, this will come up again. What to do?

Would you be interested in having coffee with her if you knew it was just to catch up and not an attempt to poach you? If so, go have coffee with her — and if she starts turning the conversation in a poaching direction, nicely but firmly cut her off and tell her it’s not something you’re interested in. Any reasonable person will stop pushing it if you clearly say, “I’m flattered, but really not interested in moving on right now; I’ll let you know if that ever chances.”

But if you’re not particularly interested in catching up with her, it’s fine to beg off; say that you’re in a busy period and cutting everything you can out of your schedule or whatever you’re comfortable saying. If you think she’ll keep trying, though, you might want to just go, drink a coffee, and put it to rest once and for all.

4. Can I get these conference expenses covered?

I wanted to ask a tricky question about travel expenses. I work on a remote basis from Florida. The rest of my team is in Tennessee. I moved to Florida for personal reasons and was able to continue working after the move. Naturally, since I live two states away, I am expected to travel back. I travel quarterly to visit my team. In addition, I have been travelling monthly to support a startup operation for my company in another city in Florida. This city is about 4 hours from me, so I always have rental car, hotel, and meal expenses when I visit.

I am travelling next week for an industry conference. I have attended conferences in the past, but I was always explicitly “sent” to the conference. This year, since I am in another state, I found the conference and requested to attend. The price to register was considerably more than the conferences I have attended in the past. To save money, I offered to stay with a friend in the city the conference is being held. I am also opting to take my own vehicle instead of a rental. My employer did cover the cost of registration. I am curious if it would be out of line for me to use my corporate card for fuel and meals not included in the conference. I am not sure in this case since I volunteered for the conference rather than being sent with my team.

It’s still something you’re doing for work, so those are business expenses that your company should cover. It doesn’t matter that you asked to attend (unless the answer was “we’ll cover the registration but you’d need to cover the rest yourself”). But if you’re not positive, just ask your manager. It’s completely reasonable to say something like, “I just want to be sure that it’s fine for me to expense gas and meals for the X conference in September.”

5. Child care arrangements while telecommuting

My company is putting a telecommuting policy in place. It is currently in draft and going through all the executives for approval. In the policy, it states that if you are allowed to telecommute and have kids that evidence of childcare arrangements must be produced for scheduled work hours. Is this something they are allowed to ask for?

Yes, and that’s a super common thing with telecommuting policies. They don’t want people thinking, “Great, I’ll work from home and then I won’t need to pay for daycare,” because obviously your productivity goes down if you are daily caring for a child at the same time that you’re supposed to be working.

(To be clear, these policies are generally about your regular plans; they don’t prohibit you caring for your kid while you work when the kid is occasionally home sick from her regular daycare or something like that. It’s about your normal daily plan.)