Ask a Manager

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

1. How to announce a firing to the rest of your staff

Can you please provide me with an email script to inform my employees that someone has been dismissed?

“Unfortunately, Jane’s last day with us was today. We wish her the best of luck, and we’ll be moving quickly to hire a replacement. Until her replacement is hired, please see Fergus with questions about teapot research and Lucinda for any other questions.”

Your staff will generally understand that you’re not going to share every detail with them in cases like this. The real key, though, is to ensure that your staff understands how performance problems are handled. After all, you may know that you had multiple conversations with Jane before letting her go, and gave her warnings and opportunities to improve, but since her coworkers probably weren’t privy to that, you don’t want them worrying that people get fired out of the blue. That means that it’s important to be transparent with people about how you handle performance problems in general, so that they understand there’s a fair process in place and know that they’d be warned if they were in danger of losing their job.

2. I’m losing my bonus, which accounts for a big chunk of my pay

I’m hoping to get some perspective about a recent change in the pay structure at my job. When I was hired, the offer included a base salary plus what they estimated would be about 20% in bonuses earned throughout the year, dependent on our branch’s business level. For the first few years this worked out great, and actually averaged above the 20% level.

Recently, however, we were told the bonus system was effectively on hold (for how long, I don’t know). While my salary alone is livable, it’s on the low end for the field and my experience level, based on other positions I’ve seen advertised and surveys by trade organizations.

I like the work, but if this is a long term change it will end up being a considerable reduction in pay from previous years. Adding to that, the bonuses were staggered based on staff members’ experience and level of responsibility for various projects. Absent them, my base salary is pretty similar to that of staff with less experience. Comparing with my co-workers feels petty, but I do feel I should be compensated for experience, extra time put in and additional responsibilities.

Mentally, I’ve been all over the map in terms of what to do. Stick it out for awhile? Look for opportunities to move on? Try to negotiate a higher salary, even if it’s below the amount with the bonuses? Although if that fails, I’m not sure where that leaves me.

I tend to be pretty nonconfrontational, and I truly like the work, but I also don’t want to avoid standing up for my interests here. Any advice would be appreciated!

You’ve just been given a pretty significant pay cut, and that’s a very reasonable thing to bring up. I’d say this to your boss: “I understand there are reasons for putting the bonus system on hold. However, this leaves me with what’s essentially an X% pay cut from what I’ve been earning and what was included in my job offer when I was hired. Is there something else we can do to bring my pay back up to the range we agreed on when I took the job?”

Read an update to this letter here.

3. My husband started a new business and wants me to connect him to my boss

I work for a large company and have been working for a partner for several years now. My husband has recently started his own business and wants me to connect him to my boss, so he can setup a meeting to see if there is any projects within this company that can be outsourced to him.

I have a good relationship with the partner; he has attended my wedding and he is familiar with my personal family life (parents, kids, etc). However, in the past few years he has climbed the ranks within the company and I don’t communicate with him as often, because of his busy schedule.

I want to help my husband with his new business and I know my boss will be a great connection, but not sure if it’s appropriate or how to do it. My husband has suggested that he writes a short intro email about his new business for me to forward to my boss. What is your take on this?

Don’t do it. It’s a conflict of interest for you to recommend your husband’s company, and you risk it making your boss uncomfortable. Plus, if your boss is smart, he’s not going to outsource work to your husband; there are too many potential problems if something goes wrong. (For example, if he’s unhappy with the quality of the work, it could cause tension with you, and so forth.)

4. Writing a cover letter when you don’t know anything about the company

I have a question about writing cover letters to job postings that provide a good description of the position, but very few details about the company.

I’m currently looking for a new job and recently found a craigslist ad asking for someone with my skill set and interests, in an industry I’m excited about. Per your advice, I want to write a personalized cover letter to help my chances at an interview, but the ad doesn’t give the name of the company. It gives a nice, detailed description of the job and their ideal candidate, but only refers to the company as “an established high-end teapot company” which, in my city, does not narrow down the possibilities at all.

I tried reaching out by responding to their Craigslist ad 9 days ago, asking for more details about the company (website, team size, minor clarification about the job description), but never received a response. I checked craigslist again today, and the company had reposted the same ad 2 days ago, so I’m guessing they have not yet filled the position.

I really want to apply for the job–should I send my resume without a cover letter? Send it with a cover letter that is as personalized as it possibly can be, with the limited information I have about the company? Hope they respond to my initial email asking for more details?

You can write a good cover letter without knowing details about the company. Write about why you’d excel at the work, which matters more anyway (and really should be the bulk of your letter even when you know all about the company).

And don’t wait for them to respond to your email asking for more details. Many employers won’t spend the time answering questions from people who they haven’t even determined yet will be strong candidates), and you risk the posting closing while you wait.

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

1. My husband’s employee keeps driving by our house

My spouse is a supervisor at his company, which happens to be two blocks away from our home. We moved here before he got the job and didn’t know how close the job was until he was hired (which should be a blessing right!?). Anyway, this job has some pretty bad unprofessional behaviors there, such as gossip that has been going on since day one.

The last few weeks my spouse has been out of the office because he has been flexing hours. One of his staff members (who for some reason knows where we live) keeps driving by the house to see where he is. Then she goes and gossips about it to his whole office about whether his car is there or not. For one, I am not sure how she got our address (that’s a red flag by itself) and secondly, I caught her driving around our house a few days ago and today she mentioned to him today about my car being out front and that I was home. My husband has informed his HR rep about the previous incident of her checking in on him, but nothing happened afterward. After the conversation today, I feel she is invading my personal space and privacy when she should be at work. I am not sure how to handle this. Normally I stay out of any complaints he has about work because it has nothing to do with me, but now, it’s physically coming to my home and involving me. As a spouse, what can I do? I think this crosses some huge boundary lines.

This is an issue for your husband’s workplace. As a spouse, there really isn’t anything you can do. There’s nothing illegal about something driving by your house, after all, and even if there were something you could do, it would inject drama into your husband’s work life in a way that won’t be useful. It’s an issue stemming from work, and it needs to be handled at work.

Fortunately, your husband is this person’s manager, which means he has the authority to say to her, “Jane, I need you to stop driving by my house and speculating with others about whether or not I’m at home. It’s disruptive to the team and frankly it’s a little unsettling to have an employee checking up on me at home. If you have a concern about my hours or availability, I expect you to come to me and discuss it directly. Now, please tell me what’s behind this recent behavior so that we can get whatever the concern is settled.”

2. CEO giving out bible stories to employees’ kids

I work for a privately held company. The CEO gave employees who had recently had babies a book with bible stories for children. What do you think of this?

I think he’s thoughtlessly injecting his religious beliefs in a situation where they don’t belong and potentially making some employees feel uncomfortable. But I also think that if this is the only instance of this kind of thing in your workplace, I’d just let it go and move on.

3. What should I wear to my MBA program?

I’m about to start grad school full-time for my MBA, but I’m not sure what to wear! I’ve been working in fashion (and have dressed accordingly) for the past five years. My usual “professional” wardrobe is very fun and fashionable, and the clothing I wear is, without sounding biased, beautiful. It fits all the requirements of a business casual dress code, which my job has, but I love bright colors, vintage styles, poofy skirts, and fancy dresses. I’ve read online that you should always wear a suit for MBA courses, but is that really true?

My program is a very selective one, but when I went to my interview, I wore my most conservative outfit (a Calvin Klein “career-y” A-Line dress with pearls and low heels) and my interviewer wore jeans and a slouchy sweater!

My orientation is a few weeks away and I want to be able to fit in! One thing weighing on me specifically is what work bag to carry. I have a lovely designer hot pink leather briefcase, which is definitely not the norm. Will I stick out like a sore thumb? Do I have to go buy a boring black briefcase and a blah black suit? I don’t have an undergraduate degree in anything remotely close to business, so I’d really appreciate some guidance.

Sorry for sounding like a 2015 Elle Woods. Here are photos of two outfits I wore last week (not actual pictures of me). Do they pass your MBA dress codes?

Your clothing is beautiful. I want you to dress me.

I too have heard stories of MBA programs where everyone wears suits to class, but I think it might be a myth. Everyone I’ve talked to from MBA programs reports that much, much more casual clothes were the norm in their classes — ranging from business casual to full-on sweats. Regardless, yeah, I do think that your clothes will likely stand out. You might be just fine with that, of course, but I’d probably tone it down for the first week until you have a better feel for the culture of the program, and then decide if you’re up for being The One In The Bright Poofy Skirt.

I do think, though, that you’ll want fairly conservative suits and bags for recruiting events.

4. My coworkers can’t get the spelling of my name right

How do I make peace with the fact that my coworkers of seven years still cannot spell my nickname? My email address is, say, Elizabeth.Smith@work.com, but I go by Lizzy. My coworkers have seen me sign emails as Lizzy for years, yet they insist on spelling it Lizzie, even if the correct spelling was in the email they’re responding to. I know I need to care less, but how do I get there? I assume you’ve had the same problem with the one-L versus two-L spelling of Alison.

Oh yes, so very frequently.

I think the best thing you can do is just let it go, unless it’s from close family members, who you can reasonably expect to get it right. After all, people who misspell it aren’t doing it to needle you; they’re just doing it because the other spelling has lodged in their brains. Could they get it right with enough reminders? Sure, probably. But I’d so much rather spend that capital on something else that matters to me more. (That’s not to say that I don’t get why you’re annoyed; it’s legitimately annoying.)

While we’re on the topic, though, this is pretty epic.

5. I caught a candidate lying in an interview

My wife and I are both ex-scientists. For several years I’ve worked for Company A, and she recently started working for Company B; both companies actively and enthusiastically hire ex-scientists to do non-sciencey things, so it’s very common for soon-to-be-ex-scientists to apply to both (as indeed my wife and I both did).

I was recently part of a group interview for a candidate. He was asked what other kinds of jobs he was considering, and he said nothing so far — Company A was his first nonacademic application. But I happened to know that he had interviewed at Company B, in my wife’s division, a couple of months earlier. (We don’t discuss specifics about candidates’ applications or interviews, but we do sometimes talk about their scientific backgrounds — ex-professional interest — and had done so with regard to this candidate before I met him. Same guy, no question.)

I didn’t say anything afterward because (1) that’s internal business of Company B that I happened to know about but probably shouldn’t have, and (2) I really didn’t think much of it — it’s a very small, if odd, lie in the grand scheme of things. He was a good candidate and he’s actually been hired here, and I’m fine with that, but…

He told a bald-faced lie in an interview. And I knew it. Should I have done anything about it?

I don’t think so. I’d argue that this is different from the candidate earlier this week who said she’d never held a job before when she actually had; work experience is relevant and a reasonable thing for an interviewer to want to know about. But in this case, the rest of this candidate’s job search isn’t really the interviewer’s business, and when someone asks something that isn’t their business, I don’t think you’re required to provide a full and thorough answer. (It’s also possible that there’s some other explanation, like that he didn’t apply for the job in your wife’s division but was approached about it and didn’t end up seriously entertaining the role, or who knows what.)

I’m curious to know what others think though.

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

1. Overweight employee keeps breaking office chairs

We have an obese employee who has broken several office chairs. We purchased two new ones just for her with a higher weight ability. She again broke the base of one of them. As a result, she has used other chairs in the office and broken them. I am getting ready to purchase more chairs and another one that goes up to 400 pounds for her.

Is there anything that we can legally say to her? I’m not sure how to go about it, but this is getting close to $1,000 in chairs in the last year. Can we address the money being spent on her chairs, as well as others that she is breaking? I know it’s a fine line because of the ADA, but my boss is getting irritated.

Nope. It’s not certain that the ADA would be in play here, but unless you’re willing to bring in a lawyer to examine the situation and make a determination (and probably spend a lot more than $1,000 in doing that), let’s assume that it is. That means that unless you can show that purchasing your employee new chairs is an undue hardship — which is pretty unlikely — you do indeed need to deal with the chair situation. And that means not only ensuring she has an appropriate chair to sit in, but not making her feel like it’s an inconvenience that you or your boss resents.

But leaving the law aside, I’m sure she realizes she’s breaking chairs and why it’s happening and that you’re having to purchase new ones, and is mortified. I don’t see what you’d gain from saying something, and you potentially lose a lot by humiliating a presumably good employee.

2. My boss won’t give me a budget for the work I organize

I am an admin assistant and my duties are pretty typical of an admin, including ordering supplies and planning office events. My direct supervisor is the CEO, and I don’t really report to anyone else. We’ve had friction in the past and while things are pleasant on a superficial level, I can sense that our communication is way off. I’m not sure what to do about it, but that may require a different conversation. I make a point to say this just to give you some insight into our relationship, which I do feel is a little dysfunctional.

Whenever I need to order supplies, my boss wants to see what I want to order and then she approves it. I’ve never been given a budget, even though I’ve asked. Also, whenever I’m planning something, like a staff outing, I’m never given a budget. Because of this, I typically just give my boss a list of options and their respective details and cost, and she’ll just let me know how much she’s willing to spend after the fact. Sometimes, like now, I don’t hear back from her in a timely manner. Sometimes, she finds all of the prices too high and I’ll have to scramble to put something together. This makes it difficult to secure dates and other logistical details. The most recent event I planned was for a fun team-building activity where the activity and food cost less than $800. She initially thought that was too high and tried to get me to find a way to get donated food, which really made me feel icky because it’s not like the staff gets treated often at all.

I get the feeling that this may be her way of budgeting, but it comes off as very haphazard and not very thoughtful. It’s like she’s always exercising extreme prudence when it comes to staff, but when it comes to her spending for herself (on the company credit card) or the board, the sky is the limit.

I do manage the petty cash for the office, but any other budgeting is completely out of my hands. This can’t be normal or an efficient way to work, is it? Am I wrong to expect/want access to budget information for these specific line items? I don’t even so much mind having to check in or get approval, but working without a budget is just seems very inefficient and odd to me. Do I need this information? It feels weird to even be asking this question. If I’m not totally out of line here, how do I go about talking to my boss about this?

It’s not unusual for an admin not to have her own budget in general, but it’s pretty normal to have a general budget for supplies or to only have to get supply orders approved if they fall outside the typical expenses for supplies on a given order or in a typical month or whatever. And it would certainly make sense to at least give you a general dollar range when asking you to plan events, so that you can plan more accurately and not just be flying blind. But that said, some bosses prefer to hear a range of options or to first hear what doing X would cost. It’s not the most efficient way to operate, but it’s not a terrible outrage either.

I’d (a) ask her if you can be authorized to spend up to $X on routine supply orders (or $X/month on supplies) and come to her for approval for anything over those amounts, and (b) start referencing the costs of previous events when she assigns you new ones to plan (“are you thinking of something in the range of what we spent on the April event, which was $750?”). But if she won’t, she won’t, and if that’s the case, your quality of life will likely be better if you accept that this is just a weird thing about the way she works. If it’s combined with other weird things, it’s worth taking a look at whether you like the broader situation, but if it’s just this, I’d roll your eyes and move on.

3. Hiring manager is flying to me for an interview

I’ve applied for a job about 1,500 miles away from my current location. A friend who works for the company informed me that the job would be coming available and also gave me contact info. Once I submitted my interest via email, the hiring manager emailed to schedule a brief phone interview. I called them at the agreed upon time and spoke for about 15 minutes. We left it as he felt I would be a good fit for their organization and he would like to meet with me in person.

About a week later, he emailed me for availability and said he would be scheduling a trip and booking a flight to meet me for lunch. I’ve never heard of a job where the hiring manager is the one doing the travel to meet the applicant. He’s asked me to pick a place somewhat close to the airport for around lunchtime. Is this normal? I’ve not been searching for a job in quite a few years, and I’m still employed.

If he’s interviewing others in your location or is traveling there for other reasons (which could be business or personal), it makes sense that he’d schedule an interview with you while he’s there. I’d be surprised if he’s coming there solely for the interview; if he is, yes, that would be unusual.

4. Asking for severance for staying on when a company is closing

I’m an employee of a very small company that will be closing within the next 6-12 months due to my boss’s retirement. Employees will probably receive 3-4 months notice before the end date.

It is important to my boss — with whom I have a wonderful relationship, which I very much wish to maintain — that his employees stay with the company until the very end, though this is not a contractual obligation. However, planning to stay until the end will make the timing for my eventual job hunt difficult, since I do not want to start the search too early and risk leaving my current boss in the lurch, nor do I want to start the search too late and risk months of unemployment when my current job ends.

Would it be reasonable for me to request severance pay, in exchange for agreeing to hold off on any serious job hunting until the very end of my current job (i.e., the day — or, you know, within a couple weeks ahead of time — that the company closes its doors)? If so, what is a typical/reasonable amount of severance to negotiate in this situation? If I ask and he says no, should I leave the company early when I get a new job, or stay loyal?

Yes, it’s very, very normal to offer severance payments or simply a bonus to employees to stay on when a company is closing. And it’s for exactly the reason you describe: It makes the timing of people’s job searches more difficult, so the idea is that the payments provide an incentive to tolerate that difficulty, or they cushion any period where you might be unemployed because you delayed job searching. In fact, I wouldn’t agree to stay on without that kind of arrangement — as much as you like your boss, it’s not reasonable to risk going without income just to make the closing of the company more convenient for him.

I’d say this: “Because it’s hard to predict how long a job search will take, if I hold off on searching until the company closes down, I risk being in a situation where I’m unemployed for a while. Could we talk about a severance package in exchange for staying through the end? Otherwise, I’d need to start searching sooner, to ensure I don’t have a period without income.” And if your boss agrees, get it in writing now — not after you’ve already delayed your search.

If he says no, then you should feel free to search on your own schedule and leave at your own convenience. That will not ruin a good relationship with a reasonable boss.

5. Impact of minimum wage bump on people already earning close to the new minimum

I have a question regarding cities that are raising their minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour. Right now, I live in one of those cities that plan to to do this. I and everyone I work with make between $15 to $18 an hour, and we are really curious about what is going to happen with our pay when this happens. Do people in this position get pay bumps or do we all now become minimum wage workers?

It’s totally up to your company. There’s no reason they have to bump up the pay of people who are already over or at the minimum. Some companies may decide to do that anyway, but I would assume that they won’t unless they tell you otherwise.