boss assigns work by pulling names out of a hat, has everyone stopped emailing, and more

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

1. My boss assigns work by pulling names out of a hat

I work on a team of about 10 people. At our weekly meetings, my manager tries to assign out any new tasks. Team members usually volunteer for tasks related to their ongoing work. But when no one volunteers to take on a task, he pulls names out of a hat to see who gets assigned. These tasks aren’t always quick things; they can take a lot of time.

This frustrates me so much. To me, it’s dismissive of the other work we have and just bad management. The team doesn’t really push back on it, but I’m wondering if I should. When no one volunteers to take on an assignment, I try to explain my concerns and why I can’t take it on. But then no one else chimes in, and he just goes on to draw a name at random.

What do you think? And if this isn’t going to change, how do I not let this bother me?

Yeah, managing by hat — as opposed to managing by, you know, looking at people’s workloads and strengths and weaknesses — is absurd. Not only does it mean that your boss is completely forfeiting the opportunity to assign projects where they make the most sense, but he’s also signaling to your team that he sees you as interchangeable, doesn’t care about distributing work equitably, and doesn’t care enough about any of it to put actual thought into it.

As for how to stop it from bothering you … look at the actual impact. If it’s not resulting in significant workload inequities, then just write this off to a crappy manager and roll your eyes at it internally. But if the hat distributes work in a way that doesn’t make sense, you should feel free to speak up — as in, “My plate is really full with X and Y this week; do you want me to push those back to make room for Z or should it be assigned to someone else?”

2. Has everyone stopped responding to emails?

Have people just … stopped responding to emails?

Okay, maybe not everyone, and maybe not literally. But I feel like over the last year to 18 months, it’s extremely frequent that I have to send second or even third follow-up notes to get a response, mostly to external contacts (as in, not my coworkers.). And when people do reply, it seems to be increasingly common for them to wait a week or more. This has been my experience in communications with both junior-level and senior-level staff. My role, and my workplace, are corporate in nature. It’s not a sales role, so my emails are not sales-related.

For the record, I’m a VP-level employee myself, so I wouldn’t chalk this up to more senior people ignoring me. Is this something you’ve noticed? Something your readers have noticed? And if so, what gives?

I haven’t noticed much of it, but it could certainly be happening. If it is, my hunch is that it’s field-specific — and in particular, if you frequently deal with people in fields affected by layoffs, you might be emailing overworked people who can’t be as responsive as they used to be. I don’t think there’s a culture-wide shift happening where people in general no longer feel the need to be responsive to work emails, but I do think there are lots of things happening in the world that could be making it harder to respond as quickly.

3. Can I file for workers’ comp for an injury I got walking my dog while working from home?

I’m a remote employee, and my job requires four in-office visits per year to HQ. They cover travel and expenses while I’m there.

Following my Q3 visit, I got home from the airport, ready to get back to work. (We’re supposed to work on travel days if we can.) However, my dog, who had been home alone while my husband was at work, needed to go out. While walking her, I tripped and broke my wrist. I ended up spending the afternoon in the ER rather than working.

My husband suggested I file a workers’ comp claim because I had traveled for work and was supposed to be “on duty.” To be fair, my travel exhaustion did play a role in the fall, but it didn’t seem to be workers’ comp worthy. How does workers’ comp work for remote workers? What would qualify as an “on the job injury” when “the job” is at your house?

Good try, husband. But no.

Remote work is covered under workers’ comp if the injury occurs while your’e completing a work task during work hours. In most cases, the remote employee has the burden of proof and needs to demonstrate that they were acting in the interest of their employer at the time of the injury. Walking your dog is not going to qualify.

4. Does my boss want a written record of a mistake to justify firing me?

I have been in my current role for about 18 months and have nearly eight years of experience in the industry and 15 years in my field. My role is fairly specialized and requires project management, QA/QC, and hard and fast deadlines.

My company provides services to other companies, and when they need a service, they issue a request for information or bids. Recently, a client asked us to provide a statement as a supplementary response to something we bid on. This statement was to cover a requirement that was requested in the initial ask, but had been overlooked by not only myself, but a large group of people. After discussing this with my manager and ensuring them I will be more vigilant and adopt a better system for compliance, my grandboss wants a written explanation as to why the mistake happened. This is not the first time my grandboss has requested a written statement, and this is the first time I made a mistake like this.

Is this normal or is my grandboss compiling information to justify letting me go? I feel it’s not normal to have to provide a written statement when mistakes happen as we are all human and I already discussed the issue in detail with my direct manager. I really like this company but I’m getting toxic vibes.

I don’t see any reason to assume your grandboss is complying information to justify letting you go. It’s possible, but I wouldn’t jump to that without way more signs of it. Rather, it sounds like she just wants something in writing about how the mistake happened. Maybe that’s because she needs to cover her ass with her own boss, or maybe she thinks putting it in writing will make you and your boss take it more seriously, or maybe she functions better when she has stuff written down so she can consult it if it ever comes up in the future, or who knows what. I don’t think it’s particularly toxic on its own.

5. One accepted(ish) offer, two more interview processes

After being laid off three months ago, I received an offer from Company A, which I accepted via email last Sunday. The offer is a strong one, albeit in an industry I’m not particularly passionate about and for a role I can do well but I’m not super excited about. My tentative start date is in about a week.

On Monday, Company B reached out to schedule an interview. On Wednesday, Company C reached out for an interview. Both Companies B and C are in industries I’m much more interested in, for roles I’m excited about, and I have personal connections to both, which I think may give me a strong chance of being a finalist in both interview processes — though I’m aware nothing is guaranteed! The interviews with B and C are the results of networking I did early on in my job search, but results have just come about in the past week.

On Friday, the hiring manager at Company A sent an email that indicated he somehow did not receive the signed offer letter I sent on Sunday. I double checked: I did send the signed offer letter, but because there were two email chains going with the hiring manager on both of them, I think he somehow missed it.

I’d like to see the interview processes through with Companies B and C, but without compromising the offer from Company A. Do I:

1) Start working with Company A in about a week, and then resign if I receive a better offer.
2) Ask A if I can postpone my start date. (I anticipate the processes with B and C will take at least another month, and that seems like an unreasonable amount of time to ask for.)
3) Decline the offer from A. If I don’t receive offers from B and C, I could reach out to A and let them know circumstances have changed, and find out if there is still opportunity for me to join their company.
4) Some other option(s) I’m not seeing?

In the current job market, it seems risky not to accept Company A’s offer. I have some temporary work in the meantime, but the sooner I have full-time work, the better it will be for my financial situation.

The salaries at A and B are comparable; C’s is higher. All three offer strong benefits packages.

If you don’t get B or C, would you regret having turned down A? If so, accept A with the existing start date. If you get offered one of the others and accept it, you can explain it fell in your lap and you can’t pass it up. It will burn the bridge with A, but it’s worth doing if you strongly prefer B or C.

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