It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…
1. We’re sending mixed messages to our laid-off employees
I work for a small nonprofit that had to lay off about half the team two weeks ago because of Covid. I am still employed, and while I serve on the leadership team and was consulted on how the process should be handled, the communication about the layoffs came from our executive director. This has been really hard on our small team and while we would like to be able to bring everyone back on in 2021, we know that might not be financially possible.
Because of the desire to bring people back, the layoffs were first communicated as furloughs, but when no clear rehire date could be given, it switched to layoff. I am concerned because I think this mixed communication is really confusing people. For example, one colleague of mine has changed his signature line on his personal email account to list his title and the organization name from when he was still employed, as though he is indicating he still works in that capacity for our organization. In addition, not everyone had their email access removed. Our IT person, who was laid off, still has access to all of the email accounts, server files, etc. He can read anyone’s email when he wants. And when another ex-employee’s email account was turned off, he went in and turned it back on so she can see her emails even though she no longer works for the organization.
While it has been said many times that no one can expect to come back, clearly mixed messages are being delivered. Do you have any suggestions on how to put the genie back in the bottle on this? I’m very concerned about the liability for the organization if, when someone realizes they’re not being rehired, they have access to all these files and emails. I also worry that they aren’t going to be looking for new work, and I don’t want any of these people to be hurt. But when I raise concerns with the ED, her response is, “We don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings by cutting them off, especially since we may be bringing some people back.” I have recommended that it is easier for everyone to have a clean break, but they keep waffling on what to communicate, and it often changes based on the person.
Aggggh, your ED. The issue isn’t “hurting people’s feelings”; the issues are breaking the law, opening your organization to real security issues, and giving people false hope.
Let her know it’s illegal to allow people to work while they’re not being paid, and if people are reading and responding to work emails, that’s potentially a legal issue. Point out that it’s a huge security loophole to give non-employees access to work email (let alone the person who has access to everyone’s email, good god) or to let them still identify themselves as employees. And tell her that people are putting themselves in financial jeopardy by not seeking other work as actively as they should, because she’s helping them believe their jobs might come back — and that it’s awful to allow that because it’s more comfortable than making a clean break.
I have a feeling she won’t care about much/any of this, given her response so far. But you can and should try.
2. I’m being called back to the office but I’m a single mom with no child care
I have worked for the same small business for 5-1/2 years as an office manager. When COVID hit, I was directed to work from home and stop in the office twice a week to drop off and pick up work (we decided on times and days so they could ensure no one would be there). The owners (husband and wife) are working in the office with the other two of us working from home. We have several field guys who travel a lot and go from job to job. My working from home has been successful with no complaints on my work or performance. The few times something came up and I had to go into office for a short while, I did.
Today one owner told me I need to start going in office Monday through Friday for regular hours. I am not comfortable with this given the pandemic and due to the fact I am a single mom with a child who cannot be left home all day every day alone. Usually during the summers I send her to day camps, but there are none in our area now. I had a conversation with them and they were adamant that my job is in the office and would not listen to the fact that I have been able to do my work from home successfully. We had a heated conversation and I told them I was taking vacation the rest of the week (I need to take time to figure out what I am going to do). The owner sent me an email refusing my time off and demanding me in the office the next day. I read up on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) and called the DOL and they said I qualify for that leave. I would rather not make them pay me to take time off through the Act and would like to continue working from home, but they will not see to it. Any thoughts on what I can do? I am desperate!
You should indeed be eligible for 10 weeks of expanded family leave under the FFCRA at two-thirds of your regular rate of pay; the new law specifically provides for that if you’re unable to work because you need to care for a child whose school or child care provider is closed for reasons related to COVID-19. If they’re demanding you return to the office full-time, that may be your only option. And you wouldn’t be “making” them pay you for that time off; they’d be the ones choosing if it they refuse to let you work from home anymore.
I would frame it this way: “I’d like to continue working, but because of the pandemic-related child care closures, I’d need to continue working from home. If that’s not an option, I’ll need to take the paid family leave provided by the new FFCRA law. My preference would be to continue working from home, but of course it’s up to you. Let me know which you’d like me to do.”
Also, be aware that it’s illegal for them to retaliate against you for using or requesting this leave.
I’d also try to figure out what’s going on. Why are they suddenly being this insistent? Is it related to the way the virus has been politicized, and pretending all is now fine is a political stance for them? Are they anti-telework in general? Have they been adversarial with you about other things? Something is up, and understanding what it is will help you navigate how to respond.
3. I feel awkward about editing senior colleagues’ writing
I’m an early-career analyst coming out of an adjacent degree in writing and copyediting. I’ve received really great exec feedback at several different workplaces on the documents I send up the line, and I think I have a good ear for the type of technical writing I do.
However, I keep running into an awkward situation when a supervisor asks me to edit, re-draft, or review a document written by another, usually senior analyst who doesn’t have the same background. I go back and forth on how to handle these situations. On one hand, I can light-touch these documents, but I spend a long, stressful time fretting through whether a change will feel personal to the original writer, how I can justify what my “ear” thinks is better if asked, and whether I’m being arrogant. On the other hand, I can pretend it’s my own draft and cut/shift to my own tastes with abandon. Short, clear documents are highly valued in my industry and often have to be turned around in an afternoon. I can almost always cut 10 to 20 percent more when I let myself loose, and turn the document around easily three times as fast.
For clarity, I’m not editing personal style bugaboos like a particular approach to the Oxford comma. I’m not the type to get picky over that kind of thing unless I’ve been explicitly asked to edit to a style guide, and I wouldn’t dig my heels in on anything but factual information if somebody wanted an edit reverted. Instead, the type of editing I’m doing is fairly large-scale shortening, clarification, and information ordering.
Ask whoever delegates the work to you. Say, “Do you want just a light-touch copyedit, or do you want me to edit for style and voice too?” In a case where you suspect you’d ideally cut a lot, you could add, “I can often tighten things up significantly, but I don’t want to edit more heavily than you want.” If someone frequently assigns you the same kind of document, you can also ask the question more broadly (“with this kind of thing, do you mostly want X or Y?”).
Preferences can vary wildly on this, and can vary by the type of document or the particular context too. There no one rule for how you should always do it; the only rule is to ask!
Also, if you’re worried the writer of the piece won’t realize your boss asked you to do a heavier edit, when you return edits to them you can say something like, “Jane asked me to edit for length and voice, so you’ll see some tweaks along those lines.”
4. Arriving early for video interviews
I have a remote interview coming up next week, and I just have a quick etiquette question. I was taught that showing up 10 minutes or so early to an in-person interview is expected, but is there a similar expectation for remote, video-based interviews? Some platforms have digital waiting rooms that let the hosts know you’re waiting, some platforms allow the host to admit participants individually, some platforms let everyone in at once. Since this is a panel interview, I don’t want to arrive before the people interviewing me arrive and get themselves organized. At the same time, showing up early is a good idea and gives me a chance to work out technical difficulties.
Yeah, it’s not a bad idea to be set up and logging in about 10 minutes before the call time in case you run into technical issues that you need to troubleshoot. I wouldn’t worry about not giving them enough time to get themselves organized — they probably aren’t logging in that early on their end, but even if they are, it won’t be a big deal that you’re set up and waiting.
5. How can I signal I’m not defensive about feedback?
I recently had an odd experience at a summer internship and wanted your advice on how to deal with this situation. A year ago, I decided to leave my career and go back to graduate school. I’m about 10 years out of college, while a lot of my peers went straight from college to graduate school or have 1-2 years of work experience. This summer, I set up two internships in my new field that will hopefully lead to permanent job offers after graduation (this is commonly how job offers are made in my field).
At my first internship, every time a superior was about to give me feedback, they would start with something like “I know you may be new to receiving professional feedback, and it can be awkward to have your work critiqued. When I was first starting out, I thought I knew more than people in the field and got defensive, but I encourage you to take this feedback seriously.”
This happened with four different people. I was wondering if you had any scripts to either cut this off or signal that I’m not uncomfortable receiving the feedback, but just don’t want to hear this condescending speech. I know this odd behavior didn’t stem from actual defensiveness on my part, because in my final performance review the grandboss for the company told me I “exceeded expectations” at receiving and incorporating feedback from superiors. I also brought a pen and paper to each meeting and made sure to take down notes, thank the feedback giver, and incorporated the feedback into my subsequent work to avoid making repeat mistakes and better conform my work to the company’s preferences and style.
I’d really like to have some language to use in case this happens at my next internship too.
This almost definitely stems from either (a) past experience with interns who did get defensive at hearing feedback or (b) the feedback-giver’s own discomfort with giving feedback. But you can easily signal that you’re on board with it — the key is to make it clear that you actively welcome feedback, rather than it being something that you feel awkward about.
If someone makes another of those remarks, you could say, “I’m here to get feedback, and I’d appreciate any you’re willing to give me!” You can even preemptively address it before it comes up by saying something like, “I’d especially love any feedback you have for me, at any time. I’m here to learn, and I’d welcome any suggestions you might have for me!”
mixed messages after layoffs, called back to the office but I’m a single mom with no child care, and more was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.
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