It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…
1. Should I tell my employer I may have brought COVID-19 to work in January?
I’m hoping you can help me with an ethical dilemma I am having. Back in mid-January, I took a trip to Northern Italy, where I caught a weird little respiratory virus. I didn’t think too much of it at the time (the virus wasn’t really on anyone’s radar at that point), but now I see that my symptoms were consistent with COVID-19. I was also visiting areas that have now been particularly hard-hit in the pandemic.
I got sick on my way home, but didn’t feel sick enough to stay home from work when I got back, so I went in as normal — with symptoms. Again, coronavirus wasn’t really on anyone’s radar in the U.S. at that point. I am not sure if it was COVID-19 and there’s no way to find out for sure now, as I’ve fully recovered except for a minor cough. I’m also not sure if I would have been contagious when I got back. This was back in late January, so if I did bring it to work it’s now been far beyond the incubation period for the virus. But I want to be socially responsible, so should I notify my employer anyway? If you were my manager, would you want to know? (There have been no reported cases of coronavirus in my workplace or coworkers’ families at this point.)
My initial thought was it’s been two months, the incubation period is two weeks, and no one got sick, so there’s nothing anyone can do with the information now. My second thought was … hmmm, if someone connected to one of your coworkers did get sick (and you didn’t know about it), is it useful to be able to track it to the source? My third thought was that this is beyond my expertise and we really need someone with public health expertise to weigh in.
I still lean toward thinking there’s nothing actionable at this point, but could people with actual expertise in this weigh in via the comments?
2. My mom makes her team stay on video all day
My mom is a younger boomer who manages a fairly young team at a start-up. I am in my mid-twenties and have never managed anyone, but I’ve been in the workforce for several years.
Her entire team is working from home, and when I was chatting with her about how that was going, she mentioned that she makes them keep their video cameras on. At. All. Times. I asked her if she trusts her team to do what they’re supposed to be doing, and she said yes, but she likes the confirmation.
I know that this is probably none of my business, but from what she’s told me about her team they seem pretty capable, and I know a few have kids and other distractions right now. I know they might be uncomfortable pushing back, since she’s pretty no-nonsense. Do I have an obligation to do more than just hinting that it might not be best practice? She can’t fire me from being her kid, so it’s not like I have much to lose. I just don’t know how qualified I am to make that distinction since, as I said, I am not a manager, nor have I ever been.
For what it’s worth, she doesn’t have any boundary issues with me, nor has she ever been especially pushy. I think this might be a generational thing?
It’s not a generational thing; it’s a managerial style thing. Making your team work on video all day long because you “like the confirmation” that they’re working is the sign of a manager who (a) isn’t skilled at isn’t thoughtful about (I changed that since it’s your mom) assessing productivity and (b) isn’t aware or doesn’t care that it’s intrusive and heavy-handed and will make her team feel untrusted and completely devoid of any privacy (and how thahat impacts things like morale, creativity, and long-term retention). You see those things in every generation of managers.
I don’t think you’re obligated to get into this with her, but if you’re willing to, it would be a kindness to her team. She might dismiss you as not knowing what you’re talking about, so maybe you could show her this, this, and/or this.
3. Getting promoted in the midst of this crisis
I have worked at the same company for five years. I started by answering the phones and slowly climbed up the chain by working hard and forming strong relationships with the people I work with. A couple months ago, I was presented with an amazing opportunity to move into a role that is several steps above what I do now. I was so excited (and a little nervous too!). I was just waiting on an official offer letter…
Then COVID-19 struck. Our offices closed. We are all working from home. Projects are paused. Everyone is stressed. Everything feels uncertain. I feel a little disoriented myself.
With everything going on, I decided I would shut up for a couple weeks before asking about what was happening with my new position. But to my surprise, despite everything going on in the world, I was just promoted into my new position today! I am so happy! I want to shout it from the rooftops! I want to go out and celebrate and tell all my friends … but you know, social distancing and stuff.
Would it be totally distasteful for me to update my LinkedIn with this new information? For some reason, seeing that new title on my LinkedIn page is one of the things that excites me the most. But I feel like a horrible person doing this considering the current environment. Businesses are closing, people are getting laid off left and right, some people aren’t getting paid right now. And here I am, getting a raise and a promotion at the end of the damn world. Should I keep my news quiet for a while? Will I look out of touch if I share my news on LinkedIn?
Share it on LinkedIn. Sharing professional updates on a site meant for professional updates isn’t distasteful. I understand your hesitation — you wouldn’t want to run into a wake and bellow, “I GOT A PROMOTION!” — but work is still happening and people are still being hired and promoted and you’re allowed to have an accurate title on LinkedIn.
You’re not rubbing it in anyone’s face; you’re just updating your info. (And some people will be happy for the normalcy of it.)
Congratulations on your promotion!
4. How do you earn political capital at work?
I’m newish to the workforce (five years) and enjoy reading your blog during downtime as a way of learning a bit about professional norms and handling workplace issues.
There’s a term that pops up a lot that I wanted to ask about: capital. I understand the gist is that it’s value that an employee earns and can use for their benefit. But it seems really nebulous. How does one earn capital? Is it just inherent from your position and tenure, or do you have more or less based on performance? And when and how do you use capital? Does it vary by workplace? Professional experience?
Capital in the work sense is influence that you build and bank over time and can use to advocate for yourself, others, projects, changes, etc. How much capital you have is based on how long you’ve worked at your company, how senior your position is, how well you get along with people, how much your work is valued, how much your boss likes you personally, how accommodating you’ve been to others, and generally how much good will you’ve accumulated.
I saw commenter CM define it really well recently:
“You build social or political capital by building relationships and establishing a good reputation and track record for yourself. This type of capital is your reputation, credibility, and value to the organization, which translates into influence and power to change things.
If you are a star employee, you build up lots of capital. So if there are things you want to see changed — whether for yourself, or on behalf of others — you can ‘spend’ that capital by advocating for change. And there’s a good chance that change will happen because the organization wants to keep you happy, or even because people think, ‘If Star suggested it, it must be a good idea.’ On the other hand, if you never get your work done, you’ll be seen as complaining. Even if you’re a star employee, if you argue about every little thing, you’re exceeding your capital and you may start to be seen as a troublemaker. For most of us, we need to pick our battles and decide how to spend our capital.”
5. Cover letters for internal positions
I’ve read and utilized so much of your cover letter advice in previous job hunts — thank you! My boss has recently taken a new position within the company and I’ll be throwing my hat in the ring for the promotion. While I’ve already talked to the hiring manager (my grandboss) about my interest in the position, I will have to formally apply through our internal job posting portal. This is my first time applying for a job posting internally, and I’m struggling with how my cover letter should be structured differently from cover letters I’ve written as an outside candidate. I have a strong and familiar relationship with the hiring manager, so the words I’m putting to paper seem awkwardly formal in that context.
You want the same content you’d use for an external cover letter — i.e., talk a little about why you’re interested in the position but mostly about why you’d excel at it, without just summarizing your resume — but your tone can reflect that you already know each other. Use the same tone you’d use when emailing your grandboss about anything else work-related; you don’t have to pretend a formal relationship if you have a more informal one with each other. (Obviously don’t take that too far; if you normally speak to each other exclusively in internet slang, don’t do that here. But a normal, warm, collegial tone is good.)
Also, don’t assume that she knows the details of your work or your accomplishments. She may not, or may only know in generalities, so don’t pass up mentioning something just because you assume she already knows it. Include any specifics about how you’ve stood out against your peers (like “resolved 15% more cases than management team average” or whatever), although that’s true for external cover letters too.
I might have brought COVID-19 to work in January, is my mom a bad manager, and more was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.
from Ask a Manager https://ift.tt/3anTrQU
0 Comments