“open thread – February 15-16, 2019” plus 4 more Ask a Manager |
- open thread – February 15-16, 2019
- car alarm keeps disrupting our office, coworker is blocking me from work, and more
- our office won’t tell us in advance when people leave – and sometimes won’t confirm or deny if someone still works here
- my new job isn’t what I signed up for
- I feel unsafe in the neighborhood I work in
| open thread – February 15-16, 2019 Posted: 15 Feb 2019 08:00 AM PST It's the Friday open thread! The comment section on this post is open for discussion with other readers on anything work-related that you want to talk about. If you want an answer from me, emailing me is still your best bet*, but this is a chance to talk to other readers. * If you submitted a question to me recently, please don’t repost it here, as it may be in the to-be-answered queue. open thread – February 15-16, 2019 was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager. |
| car alarm keeps disrupting our office, coworker is blocking me from work, and more Posted: 14 Feb 2019 09:03 PM PST It's five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. A car alarm is disrupting our office many times per hour My office is small, one story, and located on a relatively busy street. There is a car that parks along the street directly in front our our building, and this car has a VERY sensitive car alarm. This has always been an issue since I started here, almost three years ago. The owner of said car previously used to have a car where the alarm system blared every single time a car would zip by. It didn’t matter if it was a smart car or a 4×4 lifted diesel truck, that alarm would go off. Every. Single. Time. Now, she has a different car, with an even more obnoxious car alarm. Sometimes it takes her 2-5 minutes to walk outside the building and turn it off, and it often happens nearly every 5-10 minutes. This is maddening. We are unable to hear clients on phone calls and unable to focus on work because her car alarm is blaring for what seems like hours, every 10 minutes. It is so bad, we have two clients that refuse to meet in our office, which is an issue because of the nature of our work. The reason that we don’t know what to do is that this car does not belong to one of our employees. It belongs to someone in the next door office. I have suggested calling next door and requesting the employee park across the street in the communal lot, rather than right outside our front door, thinking that if it is located in the lot, it won’t be triggered by street noises. This was shut down because they don’t want to cause any hostile tensions between us and that company. They also believe this will come off as controlling. I have also suggested writing a friendly note and leaving it on her car, letting her know her car alarm is very disruptive to our business and the others on the street. This was also called too aggressive (which, who cares at this point). Aside from it being disruptive and giving me regular headaches, I am positive that this has to be annoying for the owner too. Having to get up from your desk to turn off your car alarm every 5-10 minutes has got to be disruptive and aggravating to her too, so I am really at a loss as to why she even wants to park there knowing she is gonna be pulled away from her desk to turn off the alarm. Do you or your readers have any suggestions? P.S. I decided to track the alarm and how long it blasts each time it goes off. In the last 49 minutes, her car alarm has gone off seven times. Since it takes her so long to turn off the alarm, the alarm has been blasting for a combined 28 minutes. I am losing it. Good lord, how is this woman okay with going outside leaving seven times in an hour to turn a car alarm? How is her employer okay with it? I do not understand this situation. In any case, leave the note. You don't need your employer's permission to leave the note, as long as you don't identify your company in it. Leave a note saying you work nearby, the alarm is giving you headaches and driving away clients, and beg her to disable the alarm (which clearly isn't serving any function at this point) or try parking in the lot. That said, this is not someone who is governed by logic, so the note may make no difference. Your other, and perhaps better, option is to report it to your local police. Many cities will cite car owners whose alarms go off too frequently. 2. My coworker is blocking me from work a senior manager asked me to help her with I'm fairly new to my job doing administrative work at a large company. Recently, a senior-level manager (Sara) asked if I could help another admin (Mary) catch up on some of the work she was behind on for a C-suite executive. I responded that I was happy to help and reached out to the Mary to get the details and formulate a plan. Honestly, I was flattered and excited that I would be helping out an exec! For a bit of context, I have a great working relationship and a budding friendship with Mary. Upon my initial outreach, Mary agreed to send along some materials that I could help with and did so, however I'm limited in how much I can help without more information. I did but I could, but told Mary I’d probably need more and she agreed, but expressed that it was really more work for her to share info with me. I offered to sit with her so that she's not sending me info, but rather we can work together to speed up the process and be there together to field questions but she didn't go for the idea. I feel like I’ve tried everything to be helpful, but Mary doesn’t want to put in the up-front work in order to share her load. I know she’s open to help and it’s not a matter of controlling the situation, it’s like she’s too unorganized to make this process easier. Now, Sara is asking why we're not getting the work done and what's taking so long. For now, I've let Mary respond to these emails and say "we're working on it" and "(my name) has been a great help," even though I haven't because she's making it impossible for me to help! I don't want this to reflect poorly on my work ethic and I don't want to throw Mary under the bus. There's a chance that nothing will come of this and I'll never be asked directly about how involved I've been thus far, but as a new employee I want to impress senior leaders, not shy away from stepping up like this. Is there anything I can do here? Or do I just let this pass and hope I can impress her next time? You need to let Sara know what's going on. She specifically asked you to do some of this work and needs to know that it's not happening — especially since it sounds like Mary is letting her go on thinking you're doing work that you're not doing. If the real situation comes out at some point, you're going to look like you were complicit in Mary's lie and that's not good. Reply to Sara and say, "I was able to do XYZ on this project, but after that Mary felt it would be more work for her to relay the information I'd need to assist her further — so since Tuesday, I've been sitting it out. But I'd be glad to keep helping if Mary wants to pull me back in!" This is not about throwing Mary under the bus; this is about updating Sara on work that she asked you to do and is now checking in on. You can also say to Mary, "I need to let Sara know that I'm not working on this since it sounds like she thinks I am" so that she's not blindsided when Sara asks her about it. 3. Can I ask if I'm going to be laid off? Is it okay to ask if you might get laid off? My job is entering a slow period that's projected to last for a year, so I'm terrified that I'll get laid off, considering that I have very niche skills that make it so I can't just be transferred to another role in the meantime. And if it is okay to proactively ask, how on earth do I go about doing that — just come out and as, "Hey, am I about to get laid off"? The problem with asking is that if they say no, you can't really believe that answer. Your manager may not think you're going to get laid off, but then it happens anyway. Or they may know it could happen but aren't allowed to say that. Some people have been told their jobs are safe hours before they get laid off. As a general rule, companies do not want to announce layoffs until they're actually happening, for fear of causing rumors and panic and losing people they wanted to retain. What would be more useful would be to talk to your manager about how you can be useful and productive during this slow period, and to come up with your own proposals of things you could work on. Or if it seems really clear to you that there just won't be anything, then you can say something like, "Could you talk about the plans for my role during the next year while this project is slowing down?" (You might worry that'll call your manager's attention to the fact that you don't have much to do, but it's very unlikely she won't notice that on her own, and meanwhile you'll get the peace of mind of actually discussing it.) 4. Can I tell my references I turned down a job where they vouched for me? I’ve been job hunting for a few months. I recently reached the final stages of two hiring processes, and gave my references a heads-up they might be contacted by two places. One organization moved quickly and gave me an offer. After a lot of soul searching, I turned them down. (It was objectively not a good fit for me, and I was really excited about the second place.) I’m still in the running for the second organization, but their timeline is a little slower and I probably won’t hear back from them for at least another week. I’m optimistic, but of course anything could happen. I don’t think they’ve contacted my references yet. I know I need to follow up with my references. One of them emailed me asking how it all turned out. I hate not responding for 2+ weeks, or worse, not responding for a while, then following up to let them know another reference request might be coming from the second organization. That feels really transactional! Is it okay to tell them I turned down the job? Does that seem entitled? I shouldn’t lie and say they turned me down, right? Or should I just wait until I have something definite to tell them about the second organization? Tell them you turned down the job! It doesn't seem in the least entitled. People get to turn down job offers for all sorts of reasons — they couldn’t come to an agreement about pay, or the health insurance was ridiculously overpriced or non-existent, or the job just wasn't right for you, or so forth. Receiving an offer in no way obligates you to take it. And you haven't wasted your references' time when you turn down an offer; sometimes you don't know whether or not you'll take an offer until you actually get it and can consider the details. So respond to that reference (do not leave her hanging!) and say, "I did end up receiving an offer from Company A. Ultimately I ended up turning it down; after a lot of soul searching and reflecting on what I learned in the hiring process, I realized it just wasn't the right fit for me. But I really appreciate you taking the time to talk with them, and I'm hoping to find a stronger match soon." If you turn down a bunch of offers for not being the right fit (as opposed to not being able to come to terms on salary, or the job offered being different from the one you interviewed for, or something else you couldn't have known until seeing the offer), your references could start wondering why you're not being more thoughtful about these jobs before they get all the way to the offer stage. But that's not going to happen with just one instance of it. 5. Does this email mean I'm going to get rejected? So you have a phone screening for a job. Then you go in for an interview. You meet three people. You feel good about how you did. Then the following week you get an email saying, "Thanks for coming in, we’re going to make our decision at the end of this week.” Is this a formal brush off? Should I expect an email telling me I didn’t get the job? It means "thanks for coming in and we're hoping to make a decision by the end of the week." There is no code here. Those words mean what you'd assume they meant in any other context. car alarm keeps disrupting our office, coworker is blocking me from work, and more was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager. |
| Posted: 14 Feb 2019 10:59 AM PST A reader writes: I wanted to reach out about something I perceive as “odd” in our workplace, but, this is my first full-time, professional office job so I wasn’t sure if I’m just not used to a normal practice! Our office generally has a unique culture, because we are almost like an “outpost” office attached alongside the company’s warehouse. Our corporate headquarters office is in a different location, and they have a much more professional atmosphere than we do. As a result, we often don't get many of the perks the headquarters employees enjoy, and are treated noticeably differently. One curious way this manifests is that our management doesn’t allow our coworkers to share that they’re leaving the company until the very day before they will no longer be working for us. Then, they make sure the coworker doesn’t announce it themselves, but that a senior member draws everyone together to make the announcement for them to the whole team. It’s not only jarring, but has also caused significant disruptions in the workflow. Recently, two team leads have left in this fashion, with only a day to redistribute new tasks among the remaining team. We realized that many of their duties weren’t discussed in the shortened timeline, and we’ve had to do a lot of detective work to accommodate. I’ve confirmed with both coworkers that they were made to sign a document saying that they couldn’t tell anyone they were leaving. Also, our managers don’t tell us when a coworker has a family emergency or is sick for an extended period, and will refuse to confirm or deny their continued employment, even after weeks of absence, which gets worrying when you care about the person! When this lack of transparency is hinted to management, they double down and get defensive over their choice not to tell us, citing negotiations to keep the coworker. However, it honestly feels like a power play, and makes us feel like children — like we can’t handle the truth and it must be mitigated. However, I could be totally off-base, which is why I’d love your opinion. Is this a common management practice you’ve used? Do your offices work this way? Is there a way to bring this up that doesn’t sound accusatory? Nope, this is not normal. It's extremely weird! There definitely are some offices that are weird and secretive about people leaving. It's not at all the norm, but they're out there. More often than not, it’s because they're concerned about the appearance of high turnover (which is of course terrible logic, because it's not like you're not going to notice the person is suddenly gone.) And it's a terrible practice! It creates a culture where people don't trust their management to give them relevant information, and where people feel they're not trusted to be able to handle totally routine and normal information. Plus, as you note, it creates a ton of inefficiencies because people don't have time to get information from the person who's leaving or fully transition their work. It's particularly odd that your company makes resigning employees sign a document saying they won't tell anyone they're leaving. They have very little leverage over people at that point, so ideally people would simply decline to sign. Any chance that lots of your coworkers are relatively young and inexperienced and thus don't realize they could or should push back on that? It's also especially strange that your company is similarly secretive when someone is out for an extended period and won't tell you whether or not they still work there! I can't imagine what their rationale would be for that, which makes me think that your company is run by people with severe control issues, and I'm betting they're weirdly controlling or secretive in other ways.  unrelated image for Valentine’s Day our office won’t tell us in advance when people leave – and sometimes won’t confirm or deny if someone still works here was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager. |
| my new job isn’t what I signed up for Posted: 14 Feb 2019 09:30 AM PST A reader writes: I was hired four months ago at a large organization to be a trainer and writer. I got to ask a lot of questions about the role, which fit what I wanted to do perfectly. My would-be boss pushed hard to bring me on and insisted to the team that this role was necessary, despite budget issues. Fast forward four months later, and my immediate boss loves me. The problem? I’ve hardly done any of the work I was brought on to do. She has piled work on my plate that was previously hers and fills my schedule with very long work meetings where I provide damage control to different teams about shoddy work she completed before I was hired because I’m better with people. Although I’m using my project management skills and getting a lot of things done, no one is noticing except her, and the work I’ve been doing was not part of the job description when I was hired. I am a total team player and am happy to lend a hand, but part of the role I was hired to do involved working within certain timelines, which I’m now not meeting. She doesn’t seem concerned about this, and there doesn’t look to be any end to this on the horizon. Our weekly one-on-ones where I bring up the need for time to develop my programs always fall on deaf ears in favor of immediate priorities. A coworker who also works under her had the same thing happen to him – for two years! He’s complained to our boss’s manager and asked for a reorg several times and is encouraging me to do the same. I’m wary of this since I’m just settling in and I don’t want to cause problems, although I’m starting to get resentful. My boss also tends to be sneaky and hold grudges, so I can see her getting really upset if she hears I did this. I’m concerned because my role is to work with most of the people in the organization, so not doing the job I was hired to do is starting to become very obvious. A lot of people are currently waiting for training, and I keep promising that it’ll happen soon. Should I just accept the the role has changed? Is this going to be detrimental to me in the long run, or should I just continue since she loves me? I answer this question over at Inc. today, where I'm revisiting letters that have been buried in the archives here from years ago (and sometimes updating/expanding my answers to them). You can read it here. my new job isn’t what I signed up for was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager. |
| I feel unsafe in the neighborhood I work in Posted: 14 Feb 2019 07:30 AM PST It’s the Thursday “ask the readers” question. A reader writes: I am a woman in my late 20s, and work for a nonprofit in a mid-sized city. I grew up in a bigger city than this one, and went to college in a city with a higher crime rate than where I am now, but I feel more unsafe in the neighborhood where my office is located than I ever have before. My office is in an area that is often referred to by a nickname that indicates the type of drugs often found here. Many of the people who live in this area might need the services my organization offers at some point. The majority of the time, I need to take public transportation to work, which involves about a 10 minute walk to and from my office. However, all of the issues I have had have been in the area closer to my office (rather than near the bus), including issues directly in our parking area behind the building. In the past six months alone, there has been a man hiding next to my car (someone coincidental pulled into the lot as I was walking into it so they ran away); another man follow me for blocks screaming threats as I walked to the bus, and another man drive slowly next to me as I walked to the office trying to get me into his car. I feel unsafe most of the time when I leave the building, but appear to be in the minority. I know that some people have quit without notice because of issues with people in the neighborhood, but most of my coworkers seem to feel they are overreacting. When I mentioned the person hiding next to my car to a coworker, she literally laughed and was shocked when I said I was afraid he was going to try to rape me. I have not spoken to my supervisor about this because I don’t really have any ideas about what the organization could do to fix this issue and I am not sure if they have any responsibility to do so. I feel like flood lighting behind the building is the least they could do, but of course that wouldn’t solve the issues that have taken place a block or so away. Also, I have been trying to get in early and leave on the earlier side because my husband is able to pick me up rather than me having to take public transportation and I’m not sure if I should discuss this with my supervisor. He does know that I tend to get to work on the earlier side and I do work a full 8 hours (if not more). I am not the only person in my office who works a bit outside the typical 9-5. I also know that before I started working here the office had a police officer come in to talk about the neighborhood, but the general feeling what that it wasn’t helpful. Everyone is also in agreement that continuously calling the police is unlikely to lead to a safer neighborhood for a variety of reasons. Is there anything at all that I can ask of my office? It seems a bit silly but ideally I would like them to have us take a self defense class. I have not spoken to my supervisor about any of this but everyone is aware of the reputation of this neighborhood. Lastly, I DO like my job and do not want to leave but it is stressful to have my personal safety threatened so often, and I know my friends and family feel worried about me. Readers, what ideas do you have? I feel unsafe in the neighborhood I work in was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager. |
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