It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…
1. As HR, should I stay out of private Slack channels?
I’m the head of HR for my small(ish) international company. I’m a mixed-race woman and a mom. We have a variety of private Slack channels, including channels for parents, women, people of color, etc.
Our POC channel is a relatively new addition started by an employee of color who wanted a safe space for folks who identify as non-white. I was explicitly excluded from the channel because I am HR and the people in that channel wanted it to be a safe space to talk about the issues they face. As a mixed-race person, I felt the sting of exclusion, but as a person in leadership totally understand the desire to have a place where people can vent and express themselves without worrying about the ever-seeing eye of management.
This makes me wonder, though, if I should recuse myself from the other private channels that I am part of (parents and women) for fear of my presence making those channels seem “unsafe.” I’d be sad to lose that part of my work community but I want my employees to not worry about leadership watching their every word. Alternatively, should I make sure that I’m in those channels in order to keep a watchful eye? I don’t know the right answer.
Yeah, you likely should excuse yourself from those channels. It’s not likely to be a problem if you’re in the channel for, like, Doctor Who fans, but channels for parents and women are ones where people might want to talk about issues they face in your company, and they’re much less likely to feel comfortable speaking freely when the head of HR is there. They might even feel like you’re there specifically to keep an eye on them (a possibility you even floated).
A middle ground would be to ask if people would prefer HR not be present, but they won’t necessarily speak up if the answer is yes. The better option is to recuse yourself. You could explain why and add that if issues ever come up that they want to bring to HR, you’d welcome it but you don’t want your presence to inhibit discussion.
2. What do I do when I inadvertently pass on bad info from a coworker?
I have a question about something I’ve run into several times. Working on a project, I usually have multiple streams of information coming in that I have to manage for specifications, schedules, capabilities, etc. But every once in a while I get some info given to me either directly or secondhand that is wrong. It hasn’t been a very critical piece of information yet. Usually it’s smaller things like “Sure, we’ll move that piece of furniture over by two inches” or “We’ll have downtime tomorrow” but when it comes time to act on that information, the furniture has not been moved by two inches or there is no downtime.
If it was just to me, I wouldn’t mind because, again, usually not critical, but the real issue comes from when I pass this information along. I usually say “They said X” or “So-and-so told me Y” but still when the thing isn’t done or isn’t true, I get kinda thrown under the bus — “You said X and Y but those aren’t true!”
What’s the best way to handle these sort of situations? And when it is more of a critical item that I can’t check (because the person I’m getting the info from is the sole supplier of said info, like shipping dates), what can I say besides, “That’s the information I got from Person Z who apparently straight up lied to my face about that”?
You’re framing this as lying when it’s far more likely that the person just got it wrong. Thinking of it as lying is puts a strange spin on it — you should think mistakes, not malice.
And mistakes happen! People think they’ll have downtime and then it turns out they don’t. People say they’ll move a piece of furniture and then something else comes up and they forget to do it. Obviously that’s not ideal, but people are human and this stuff happens.
If you’re getting blamed for that, the right response is, “Jane told me they’d be able to do X; let me check back with her and see what happened / get an updated timeline.”
Also, for what it’s worth, it sounds like people are making things a lot more personal in your office than they should be! You’re talking about people “lying to my face,” other people are telling you “you said X but it’s not true” — this is all strangely adversarial and not how this kid of thing normally works. Typically you’d assume basic good intent and expect others to assume it of you too.
3. We’re being forced to switch from 9-5 to 3-10
My employer is going from a loosely 9-5 based schedule to split shifts (7 am – 3 pm and 3 pm – 10 pm). This will be permanent and mandatory. They have asked all current employees to decide which shift they want. No one has requested the 3 pm – 10 pm shift. Due to the lack of voluntary evening shift workers, the company is starting to hint that they will assign shifts and employees will have no choice in which shift they are assigned. Assignment will be based on seniority and type of work to be performed during the shift, regardless of personal ability to work then. Obviously, everyone hates this idea and lots of people are grumbling about leaving the company. Is this legal? How can this company expect employees to be okay with completely rearranging their lives?
It’s legal. They can change your work hours at any time and can say that the new shift is a condition of continuing in your job.
But legal doesn’t mean reasonable or smart! Forcing people who have been working 9-5 to suddenly start working 3-10 isn’t likely to go over well, and they’re likely to lose a lot of employees if they do that. It’s likely to be particularly problematic for anyone with young kids (particularly single parents — how will that work?) or other caretaking responsibilities. I suspect they will end up not assigning that shift to parents, or at least not to parents who cite child care responsibilities, and that’s going to cause even more resentment among the people who do get stuck with it.
It’s hard to advise you what to do without knowing the reason for the change; if there’s a pressing business reason to split the shifts, the reality might be that the needs of the job have changed in ways that no longer work for you (or your coworkers). But it’s worth digging into what’s behind the change and whether there are other ways to meet that need. You could also suggest offering incentives for people to take those shifts voluntarily; they’ll probably get more volunteers if it comes with additional pay or extra time off) But ultimately, if they won’t budge, you’d need to decide if you still want the job under those terms.
4. My husband’s office space is embarrassing
My husband is a professional engineer. After retiring from his job a few years ago, he went to work for a multi-state engineering firm. His office is in an old building that desperately needs some upgrades. It’s mainly older guys, but even my husband says the stained carpets and ugly walls are embarrassing and unprofessional. The bathrooms are horrible because there’s no cleaning crew. The then-boss decided that everyone could just pitch in and clean. Consequently, nothing gets done. The many other offices in the company look great in online pictures: fresh and professional. I’ve urged him to talk to his now-boss but my husband is more of a don’t-rock-the-boat type. I know better than to contact his work myself. Can you suggest some language that would give him the words he needs to get his boss to take a fresh look at his surroundings? I really feel (and he agrees) that any potential clients who come to the office are taken aback by the way it looks.
Does your husband want to talk to his boss about it? If not, it’s not something you should push; he knows the politics in his office best, and he gets to make the call on whether he wants to spend capital on this or not. If he doesn’t feel as strongly as you do, you should leave it alone — it’s his to handle however he decides. (I’m especially questioning this because you said you feel feel clients are taken aback — but you can’t know that since you’re not there to see them! It sounds like you might be projecting how you would feel, but that’s not necessarily how their clients feel.)
But if it’s truly important to him to speak up, the best thing would be for him to point out the client reactions he’s seen — that’s likely to be more convincing than anything else.
5. Should I disconnect from coworkers at my toxic old job on LinkedIn?
I’m trying to decide if I should remove my LinkedIn connections to my former boss and colleagues at my old workplace. I didn’t like the team I was with and quit on my own terms (the place was toxic, I recognized it and left). However, I’m concerned that still being connected to them on LinkedIn makes it look like I’m on good terms with them, and potential job leads or recruiters may contact them once they see I’m connected to them. I also don’t think they would speak favorably of me if contacted by other people. What advice can you give on this?
You’re over-thinking it! People don’t usually read that much into LinkedIn connections. Most people won’t think it means anything beyond that you used to work together. And recruiters who want references will usually just ask you for references, not contact people you happen to be connected to on social media. You can definitely disconnect from them if you want to, but there’s no harm in keeping the connections either.
HR in private Slack channels, being forced to work a late shift, and more was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.
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