Performance Tracking and Feedback

It’s the Thursday “ask the readers” question. A reader writes: I’m writing in to find out how to get prepared, both literally and mentally, for a relatively quick change in my work situation. Context: I work at a state agency in Minnesota and for the last five years a large majority of state employees have been teleworking, with occasional in-person attendance for division meetings, conferences, trainings, etc. There are state employees who have been working onsite the whole time, so I understand that I am very fortunate to have been able to work from home. However, on Tuesday a notice was released announcing that state employees are being ordered back to the office at…

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Do I need to rush to buy a new car for my job? I have a long-term job where I didn’t need a car until a few months ago, when I began transporting stuff for a new project about 2-3 times a week. Unfortunately, my car recently broke down beyond repair. Fortunately for me, I live in a bike-friendly area and can also easily take public transit to work. Because of where I live and personal finance goals, I do not want to buy a new car right away. But now there’s this dilemma about who is going to transport project stuff. I have asked about a courier service and really hope one can be set up soon (but sometimes things take …

A reader writes: The room I work in is an office with about 10 cubicles located in the middle of the building. We have windows to the hallway, but none to outside. Two summers ago, our AC broke and the temperature in the office was between 79 and 82 all summer. Management bought italian ices for the office once or twice (super helpful /s) and said if anyone wanted to work in a different room they could work anywhere that was available — not a ton of options, mostly conference rooms that were frequently in use. They eventually got that fixed, and I thought all would be well. Unfortunately, for the past 10 months, including all through the winter, the office was so, so, …

A reader writes: I manage someone with extreme social anxiety who seems a lot like person #1 in this column. Lee is very good at their job-specific tasks, which are largely operational and do not require much social interaction with the team or outsiders. We have established some office protocols that help support them (allowing camera-off in Zoom meetings, using Teams chat as a communication tool, etc.) However, we are a very small team and do have times when we need all hands on deck — for example, for an event for all of our clients, when I need Lee to do something like staff the registration table so other staff are free to lead parts of the event that are more rel…

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. A group of coworkers are pushing for our in-office breakfasts to be vegan My company is doing a weekly in-office breakfast (a “hotel breakfast”-like assortment: toast, cheese, ham, eggs, yogurt and granola, etc.) with the goal of bringing people together, since we’re largely remote. A small group of vegan coworkers are pushing for a “plant-based default” breakfast, where all animal products are subbed with vegan replacements and meat and dairy are opt-in on request, citing sustainability (which is important in our company culture) and health benefits. I’m all for a diverse breakfast spread, but this seems a little ove…

Last week we talked about times people “misused” their power for good. Here are 12 of my favorite stories you shared. 1. The payout I had a colleague, “Carol,” who decided to retire, and went in to tell our site HR person this and get the pension paperwork started. The HR person, “Grace,” was apparently unhelpful and said that she couldn’t do anything until the following week, and Carol should come back and remind her on Monday. Two days later, Grace called Carol and the rest of her team into a meeting to inform them that their entire department was being outsourced, and they were being laid off. This is the UK; there’s legislation around minimum payments in this situa…

A reader writes: I started a new job abroad. It’s a small country, and I’m adjusting well. I lived as an expat for six years prior to this in a less developed country, working in a much smaller, less professional company, and I know how much worse things can be in terms of working conditions, pay, and general living standards. I’ve been treated 1,000% better by this company than I was by the last place I worked, and I try to tell them that, but they don’t listen. They seem convinced that it’s only a matter of weeks before I find out what it’s “really like” here and quit. To be fair, my first day was admittedly shaky. My boss, Jake, wasn’t there to provide any guidance an…

A reader writes: I manage an employee who has admitted that she struggles with ADHD, and unfortunately it’s affecting her work. I could use some advice on how to proceed. She regularly forgets to clock in and clock out when she works, sometimes missing more than half her clock punches in a pay period. This leaves us struggling to finalize her timecard when it’s due, often having to call her at home on her day off to find out her hours. I’m concerned that her memory of the hours worked a week prior might not be accurate either, so who knows if we’re paying appropriately for the time she actually spent at work. She often ignores high-priority work that needs to be finish…

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My coworker wants to know why my boss is scheduling a meeting … and it’s to address his mistakes My coworker, Karl, is higher ranking than I am. He is actually one of the top executives, but he has been making a LOT of mistakes. The CEO, George, is aware of this and will periodically ask me for updates. Yesterday George was asking me questions about our credit card procedures. I mentioned that Karl was coding the monthly charges before he gave me the statements to pull receipts and invoices, so he could not possibly know if a particular charge was supposed to be for a certain event or charged to a certain account. We h…

A reader writes: I am so uncomfortable getting praised or receiving good feedback that it makes me want to crawl out of my skin. For context, I started my job less than half a year ago, and the issue (which I have had all my life) became more prominent about two months ago. I was reviewing an important project for a coworker, noticed a lot of issues, fixed said issues, and sent it to the team lead. I didn’t think anything of it — my task was to make sure the project did not have issues, I spotted issues, and I fixed them. I then got an email from the team lead thanking me profusely for spotting the issues and correcting them, even though they were not all in the portion…

A reader writes: I work for a small organization that prides ourselves on being very good with our benefits, including paid parental leave. We’ve never had a pregnant staffer, so all of our plans are in theory and not yet been tested in real life. We’ve been having issues lately with staff not adhering to our office hours of 9-5 and coming and going as they see fit, so I had to call a staff meeting last week to address it and let them know that we can no longer be as flexible as we once were because too many people were abusing the system. This has included a lot of “I don’t feel well so I’m going to sleep a bit longer and then work from home today once I feel better” w…

A reader writes: I just completed the fourth and final interview for a newly created role at my company. It’s within my current division but with a different team. The process has dragged on for about three months, but up until now it’s been entirely positive. My first three interviews couldn’t have gone better. The hiring manager was supportive and communicative during a two-month lag, proactively informing me on where things stood in the process, and even sharing that I was on the shortlist of candidates. The hiring manager’s boss was also encouraging — instead of grilling me, he spent our interview helping me prep for my next interview. I have a strong sense that I’m…

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Is a credit for child care expenses fair to employees without kids? Recently a viral video and announcement has gone around of a company offering credits up to $3,000 a month for child care expenses. This is fantastic! However, as a child-free person I’m concerned about a benefit worth tens of thousands of dollars a year only being offered to a segment of employees who have young children. When point this out, am I the bad guy? How can a workplace support all their employees? I don’t think you’re the bad guy. I do think, though, that child care expenses are in a different category than nearly anything else — this coun…

This comment section is open for any non-work-related discussion you’d like to have with other readers, by popular demand. Here are the rules for the weekend posts. Book recommendation of the week: Three Junes, by Julia Glass. The story of three generations of a Scottish family, across three summers. It’s about the expectations and obligations of family, as well as marriage, love, and loss. One of my favorite books of all time. (Amazon, Bookshop) * I earn a commission if you use those links. The post weekend open thread – May 10-11, 2025 appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

It’s the Friday open thread! The comment section on this post is open for discussion with other readers on any work-related questions that you want to talk about (that includes school). If you want an answer from me, emailing me is still your best bet*, but this is a chance to take your questions to other readers. * If you submitted a question to me recently, please do not repost it here, as it may be in my queue to answer. The post open thread – May 9, 2025 appeared first on Ask a Manager. View the full article

It’s four answers to four questions. Here we go… 1. My employee is in remote limbo and it’s impacting her work I have an employee, Jane, who moved two hours from our office during the pandemic. My manager, who has since been let go, told Jane she could work from anywhere. It was a verbal agreement never formally agreed to with HR. Since 2022, our company has became stricter about working in the office. In summer of 2023, our HR rep told Jane she had by the end of the year to come into the office four days a week or she would have to “exit” the company. Understandably, she freaked out and had difficulty focusing on her job. Unfortunately, she became ill and had to take …

Two questions, same topic. The first one: I’m on the job hunt, and I have some DEI-focused experience on my resume. I’ve received five rejections from the ~15 jobs I’ve applied for (at least they responded instead of ghosting me!) and I’m wondering if the DEI work is getting flagged. I revamped my team’s interview process to be more equitable and reduce bias, I joined the company’s DEI group when it started in 2020, and I have volunteer experience with a DEI group outside of work. It’s not my entire resume, but it’s enough bullet points and buzzwords to show that I have opinions. In today’s anti-DEI world, should I remove this from my resume? Probably worth noting, I’m…

In addition to the new “sagas” tag (for letters with multiple updates, twists, and turns), we now have the following tags as well: AAM classics – a tag for posts that are still frequently discussed years later. It includes the new hire who built a blanket fort in her office, the new boss who was a ghosted ex from years before, the coworker who wanted everyone to call her boyfriend her “master,” the spicy food thief, and many more. Favorites – some of my favorite posts over the years. Worst Boss of the Year Nominee – now every finalist for Worst Boss of the Year has been tagged and you can read about these degenerates all in one place. These are tags, not categories, …

Last week we talked about the smallest amount of power you’ve ever seen someone abuse. But people can also use even small amounts of power for good — like the crossing guard who wasn’t really a crossing guard, or the graphic designer who sabotaged a homophobic group’s ad in her newspaper. This week, let’s talk about times when you’ve seen someone exploit their power for good — not just times when you saw someone be a good person at work, but times when someone violated the letter or the spirit of a rule or otherwise did something that could technically be considered under-handed in order to achieve good in the world. Please share in the comments! The post let’s talk abo…

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. My old employer wants me back I recently switched jobs from an in-office position to a fully remote position due to it being a better fit for my life. When I resigned, my work made it extremely hard for me to leave. They offered me fully remote (when previously they would not allow me to even work from home when my kids were sick) and a $20,000 salary bump. I was exasperated with the whole situation and decided to stay the course with my new gig. Fast forward a month and they are contacting me weekly asking me if I’m ready to come back yet — everybody from the billing manager to the practice manager. I mentioned to my…

A reader writes: I am currently looking for a new job because I am currently being taken advantage of … again (being given more and more work because I am skilled enough I handle it, but no pay increase so underpaid for my experience and the world we live in right now). So pay is the main factor for me in this job search. My first instinct is to just completely ignore the job postings without the pay listed because I don’t want to waste my time. A job may look perfect but if it’s for the same amount I’m making now (or less!) or not that much more, I don’t care what it is. (I also don’t care what it is if the pay is right. If I think I can do it, I’m applying.) But with …

A reader writes: Over the past year, I have been coaching my employee, “Mike,” on various performance issues and it has gotten to the point that we need a formal performance improvement plan. I don’t think this should be a surprise to him, but I’m getting the impression that he does not really understand how serious it is. We have very different communication styles. I prefer to be direct and detailed. Mike tends to use generalizations and can take a long time to think and gather his thoughts before answering a question. I’ve been working on softening my approach and asking clarifying questions to make sure we are on the same page, but things still get lost in translati…

A reader writes: I am a localized executive director for a nationwide nonprofit. Like so many not-for-profits under the current uncertain administration, we are going through some extreme financial strains. Our national office has been tightening belts all over the organization, including layoffs, frantic leadership calls that include a certain amount of crying when delivering yet another slate of difficult news, and frequent lane-shifting of priorities to the point where others in roles like mine are fleeing the sinking ship. Job descriptions are all changing to almost exclusively fundraising, even in roles that didn’t include it before, and the goals are simply not ach…

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go… 1. Coworker who (probably) has a crush keeps hanging out at my desk I was hoping I could get your advice on dealing with a coworker who won’t leave me alone (“Greg”) and is making me increasingly uncomfortable. I’m a woman in my 20s and Greg is a decade older than me. He asked me out a few months ago and I rejected him, and he hasn’t asked me out since. We are under the same organization and our work overlaps somewhat. Greg works in another building and frequently comes over to mine. While he says he has meetings in my building, he will often come to my desk and sit next to me to chat. He starts awkward, banal conversati…

A reader writes: I manage the recruiting of volunteers for a small nonprofit, and there’s an otherwise strong candidate, Jane, who has a past on the Internet. Another volunteer and I interviewed her Jane an open position, and it was wonderful. She presented herself as warm, professional, and knowledgeable in our work, and she was one of my top choices. However, a different volunteer recognized Jane because of a small “incident” that had happened at the volunteer’s alma mater, and the volunteer showed me evidence of what happened online. Six years ago, Jane’s then-high-school-aged sister had applied for a university in the midwest and wanted to be on a particular sports …