It’s seven answers to seven questions. Here we go…
1. Company wants coworkers to suggest who should be laid off
My mother’s workplace is panicking over the pandemic, and they have apparently asked the entire staff to suggest coworkers who should be laid off. That’s not normal, right? Is it actually illegal, or is it just a cowardly attempt to avoid responsibility for layoffs?
Noooooo, not normal. It’s not illegal, just an astonishingly bad idea. “Well, Martha, your coworkers don’t think you bring enough value, so today will be your last day.” WTF? “Jim, a lot of people suggested you go, but we’re going to let you stay for now. Better shore up those relationships for next time, though!” Again, WTF?
I mean, maybe it’s more like “we’re open to input about areas we could consolidate” and people are taking it as “nominate your coworker for a layoff” … but it’s anything in the realm of the latter, it’s terrible.
It’s management’s job to make layoff decisions, and they should be doing it based on what makes sense for the business. This is a ridiculous abdication of their responsibility, and is guaranteed to sow discord and panic.
2. Should employer restrict side jobs to lower virus risk?
My spouse is employed by our city as an EMT/fire fighter. His department is fully staffed and well equipped with respirators and PPE, for which I’m thankful. But a question came up in his department that I’m extremely torn on.
His department’s schedule is two 24-hour shifts over an eight-day week (one day on, one day off, one day on, five days off), so everyone has five days off in between shifts and many have side jobs that they work on those off days. It’s all above board and allowed in their contracts so long as it doesn’t conflict with their schedules. Some of them are not working those side jobs right now because of COVID-19, but a lot of them work medical-adjacent jobs that are also considered essential. Two people contracted the virus, which was traced back to these side jobs. One is a Russian translator on call for a local hospital, and another is a technician moving beds and equipment around as needed in the hospital. They are now self-quarantining and unable to work their full-time jobs at the department until they are cleared.
Their chief is considering putting a moratorium on side jobs until the worst of the virus is over, because their department can’t easily replace them if they’re out sick for two weeks at a time and they are the epitome of essential services right now. I understand where he’s coming from, but these jobs are also essential, especially when hospitals are overwhelmed with cases. My husband agreed with his chief, saying this is their full time job where many of them get their benefits and they shouldn’t be putting that at risk right now. What is the morally “right” stance to take here?
I don’t think there’s one morally right answer here; you could argue it either way.
So I’ll answer from a management perspective instead. A lot of companies restrict side jobs because it risks causing problems with the primary job, so this isn’t unheard of. And in this case, it’s reasonable for their chief to say that because of the essential nature of the work they do, they need people to minimize their risk when they’re not at work. If they continue to work side jobs, they risk contracting the virus at their side job and infecting everyone else at the primary job — potentially sidelining a good portion of the team. And we need our EMTs and fire fighters. If the chief says they can’t be easily replaced right now, I defer to that assessment.
I take your point that the side jobs can be essential too, but it’s in the interest of public safety to minimize the chances of an outbreak among their staff. (That said, I could see considering exceptions on a case-by-case basis, like if that Russian translator were the only one available in your county or if someone could show the risk posed by their side job was low.)
3. My new boss doesn’t speak to me, at all
I’m an upper-mid level remote employee of a company based across the country. At the start of the new year, I got a new boss after the person who’d hired me left. I emailed my new boss during his first week to introduce myself and offer any help I could; I even mentioned some friends/former colleagues we have in common, hoping to spark a connection. After getting no response (hey, it was his first week!) I waited a few more weeks and wrote another short note. Nothing.
When I told a more senior colleague that I’d never spoken to our new boss, she suggested that maybe my emails went into spam and asked me to send them to her so she could forward them to the boss with me cc’d. I did that and got no response. It’s been three full months and the boss has never emailed or called once; in group messages cheering on the team, he’s avoided mentioning me even when I’ve been part of a group he’s shouting out. In Zoom calls, he’s never acknowledged me. (My work is getting assigned through another more senior colleague.) There are only about 20 people working with us. It’s not like I’m employee 40,000.
It’s been way too long for me to say or do anything about this. What do you recommend I do short of getting on a plane and sitting outside this person’s office until I get a meeting?
This is very odd! It’s possible it’s more about him than any particular feelings he has about you; maybe he’s socially awkward, maybe he thinks you report to the colleague who assigns you work, who knows. But it’s strange, especially considering that you’ve tried to make contact directly.
If you haven’t already, I’d talk to the person who assigns you work, ask if they have any insight, and ask their advice in resolving this. If the person who earlier volunteered to ensure your emails were received is a different person, have the same conversation with her. Who knows what you’ll hear.
But also, can you just contact your boss directly via a method other than email? Is there any reason in your work culture not to just pick up the phone and call him? Or send a calendar invite for a meeting? Or ask his assistant, if he has one, to get time on his calendar? It’s okay to say straight out, “Now that you’re settled in, I hoped to meet so I can update you on (projects) and just connect since we haven’t had a chance to speak yet.” Or even, “I feel odd that we’ve haven’t had a chance to connect yet! Can we set up a time to go over what I’ve been working on?”
4. Collecting cash for a laid-off coworker
Someone on my very small team was just laid off because of loss of revenue from coronavirus. We are a close knit team and we are all devastated (not to mention that her layoff looks like a pretty bad sign for the rest of our jobs). The rest of the team is thinking of what to do for her, and someone suggested taking up a collection to send her off with some money. Is that a good idea? On the one hand, I’ve heard that that is considered a no-no because it can come off as condescending, but on the other hand s*** is wild right now and I think we could all use any extra cash we could get. Also, with the stores mostly closed, I’m not really sure how we’d go about getting her a gift card or a personal gift on such short notice, so maybe collected cash is the right call?
Well … I don’t think it’s condescending exactly (although it could feel that way, especially if she feels pretty financially secure because of a partner’s job, etc.), but I’d just be aware that it can set a precedent and make it weird if you don’t do it for the next person (if there is a next person / when the rest of you are more tapped out). And really, it’s your company who should be taking care of her via severance, etc. … But I’m sure as hell not going to tell you not to follow a kind impulse to help a fellow human right now.
If you did prefer a gift card, though, you can order them online and they can be electronic so you don’t have to wait for them to come in the mail.
5. I’m supposed to share a special project I’m working on during quarantine — and I don’t have one
I’m on the hook tomorrow morning to share during our daily check-in call what special project I’m working on during quarantine. I’m an artist and adopted a new cat a few weeks before this began, so my boss thinks I will have something delightful to share. She couldn’t be more wrong.
My workload has significantly increased, I’m the designated errand runner in our house due to my partner’s underlying medical condition, a colleague passed away two weeks ago (presumably from COVID-19), and I’m just struggling in general with all this. All of my energy and creativity has been zapped from my body, and all I have the will to do at night is sit on the couch, drink a couple glasses of wine, zone out to the TV, and/or play mindless games on my phone. I. Am. Struggling.
So do I just give the cheery answer about how my art has never been better? Or is there room here to be honest about the struggle? Or do I just decline to participate? My boss and I have a really good relationship, so I don’t want to embarrass her or others by putting mental health on blast during the call. I know they have good intentions. I just don’t have good answers to those intentions right now.
Why oh why are people doing this? Not everyone is baking bread and teaching their children Latin and raising a small village of otters. Many, many people are exactly where you are: exhausted and stressed and sapped of energy, and finding it harder than usual to just get the basics done, let alone new projects.
Because of that, you might be doing your colleagues a service if you’re willing to be the one to say, “Honestly, between work and everything else going on right now, I’m not getting much else done. I’m just working on disconnecting and unwinding when I can.”
But if you’d rather not get into it, it’s perfectly fine to just talk about your new cat. That qualifies as a delightful project.
6. Can I expense a bike for work errands?
I am an employee at a medical center in New York City. However, because I am non-essential staff, I have been working from home for over a month. Next week I’ll have to travel to my office to take care of a few things. My boss has told me that I am welcome to expense a cab ride to the office (about 30-40 minutes each way) if I prefer that over taking transit. Would it be weird if I asked to expense a rental bike (about a 50-minute ride) instead? The cost would be the same as taking a cab but would involve less social contact.
Not weird. Less expected, sure, but reasonable (and smart!). I’d just say to your boss, “I discovered that renting a bike won’t cost more than taking a cab and I think it’s a safer way to go. I wanted to give you a heads-up since you’ll see that on my expense report instead of the taxi.”
7. New job revoked my offer before I started
I received an offer letter from a company on April 1 detailing my benefits (salary, 401k, health insurance). I signed and returned this offer letter. On April 15, I was told by my employer that they were revoking my offer letter and not paying me for the month, because of COVID19. Although I hadn’t started work yet, don’t they owe me for those 15 days of work, and are actually firing me not revoking my offer letter?
If you hadn’t started work yet, they don’t owe you for the time between when you accepted the job and when they revoked the offer. They’d only owe you money if you’d done work. And it’s not a firing, because your employment hadn’t begun yet; it’s just a revoked offer.
If you left a previous job to accept this offer, you might be able to negotiate for severance, arguing that you relied on their offer to your financial detriment. You also likely qualify for unemployment under the new unemployment law, which gives benefits to people in this situation.
company wants us to suggest which coworkers to lay off, new boss won’t speak to me, and more was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.
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