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The Workologist: The Clinging Co-Worker

September 7, 2013 by

Dear Workologist:

I work in my company’s I.T. area. We are expected to remember a lot of technical information, or know how to find whatever we can’t recall. I have a co-worker who can’t seem to analyze and resolve his own work. He asks the same questions repeatedly, even though 85 percent of our work is documented. By the end of a typical day, I’m exhausted not only from doing my work, but also from helping him with his. How do I encourage this needy co-worker to stand on his own? Pamela, Brooklyn

So often, issues with co-workers are most smartly resolved by channeling your inner diplomat, nudging your adversary into compliance without giving offense. Not this time. You don’t have to be a jerk about it, but you do need to be direct with your needy colleague. Pussyfooting around this problem is not only bad for you and your company — it’s also not doing him any favors.

You can do this by degrees, pushing back on each question with a polite but definitive variation on “I have a lot of work to do right now — you can look that up.”

Or you can use the next incident as an excuse for a serious sit-down: Just as you’ve done here, explain that you can’t do your job and his, and that he needs to get over the hand-holding and do his own work. Don’t make this sound like a threat, because that’s not the idea. You’re just having an honest conversation, peer to peer. The message is not that you won’t help him; it’s that you can’t.

The worst outcome is that if he keeps leaning on you, you’ll have to explain the situation to management. That would be painful, but no one is benefiting from the current situation. And the best outcome — it’s possible! — is that he does shape up.

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Dear Workologist:

I work for a large city agency. I am considering applying for a position in a different unit. I have contemplated telling my supervisor about my intention to apply, in the interest of disclosure. But I’m not sure this is the best strategy. If I don’t tell her and I get an offer, then it seems that no harm has been done. If I tell her and I don’t get an offer, don’t I risk my future? She might be less likely to promote me or increase my responsibilities. Jean, Brooklyn

It’s almost never a good idea to tell your boss, in effect, that you’re thinking about quitting. And yet people do it all the time, and for one of two reasons. The first is that it’s a tactic for expressing dissatisfaction — the boss is supposed to panic at the idea of losing such a valuable employee, and respond with a promotion, a raise and access to the executive washroom. That’s often a false hope. Indeed, explicitly raising the notion of your departure can be a disastrous starting point for a negotiation. “I have a job offer” carries some weight; “I might be able to get some sort of job offer” does not.

Sometimes, employees tell the boss they’re thinking of quitting out of a mushy sense of obligation. But by and large, employers eliminate emotion from their thinking when they end their relationship with an employee. When they are considering whether to cut ties with their workers, they tend to keep that possibility to themselves. Layoffs are generally abrupt; any prelude to a dismissal is likely to come in the form of an ultimatum-style warning. Rarely do companies say: We’re kind of thinking of cutting your position, but who knows what’ll come of it?

The reverse should hold true for you. Unless your agency requires you to disclose that you are applying for a job in a different unit, you should keep that information to yourself. Telling your supervisor about your plans carries risk; keeping quiet does not.

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Dear Workologist:

I’ve been an Apple fan/user for many years, and have been fortunate that my employers for the past decade-plus have provided me with Macs for my work. However, I recently started a job that requires me to use a PC. The last time I had to use a Windows-based computer was in the 1990s, so there’s been a steep learning curve that has created a greater drag than I anticipated. My efficacy and productivity are not what I would like. How do I explain this to my boss without looking as if I’m making excuses for my less-than-stellar performance?

B.C.A., Washington

Operating systems come and go, but making excuses without looking as if you’re making excuses is a skill that no technology will ever disrupt. This is an interesting iteration of that commonplace challenge, because it’s probably not obvious to your employer that there’s any learning curve at all. We’re not talking about mastery of some obscure, ultramodern software here. This is Windows, one of the most familiar technology tools in the history of technology tools.

Offer your excuses in overlapping layers of good intentions — what you’ve done and what you’re planning (or willing) to do. Try saying something like: “It’s been awhile since I’ve used Windows, and it’s changed just enough to keep me from being as productive as I usually am, so last night I started brushing up with an online tutorial. Are there other resources you’d suggest to help me get up to speed as quickly as possible?”

Should this inquiry yield a useful answer, great. But the point is that this is a pre-emptive strike: You’re indicating that you know there’s a problem, that you’re working to fix it, and that you would welcome — but don’t require — help.

Whatever you do, don’t wait for a manager to be the first to bring this up — or, perhaps even worse, for one of your colleagues to sit you down and tell you to stop being so needy.

Send your workplace conundrums to workologist@nytimes.com, including your name and contact information (even if you want it withheld for publication). The Workologist is a guy with well-intentioned opinions, not a professional career adviser. Letters may be edited.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/08/jobs/the-clinging-co-worker.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: , ,

Workstation: Have a Great Vacation (if It’s Approved)

June 29, 2013 by Leave a Comment

Maybe this isn’t really a fear, but a fantasy — that I’m too valuable for the company to get along without me for even a week. Well, clearly that’s not the case, because I’ve always been allowed to go.

Other people’s vacations can make me anxious, too, because I often have to fill in when they’re away. Come to think of it, I have to fill in for a colleague next week. So, as peak vacation season begins, it’s time to worry at least a little about those left behind.

Employees should try to practice good pre-vacation hygiene — by doing as much of their work in advance as possible, and making sure that their replacements have the tools and knowledge to hold down the fort.

But, ultimately, it’s up to supervisors to set vacation policies that are fair and cause the least amount of disruption. That’s the view of Jay Jamrog, senior vice president of research for i4cp (short for Institute for Corporate Productivity), a research firm based in Seattle.

Did you just find out today that a co-worker will be gone this week and you need to take over for her? That’s poor planning. Too many managers wait until the last minute to start approving vacations because they have other things on their minds, Mr. Jamrog said.

Vacations should be agreed upon far in advance as part of a team effort, he said. That way, managers can find out as early as possible if too many people want to take the same weeks off — a particular danger during the holidays and the summer — and seek a solution.

Suppose that four people in the same small department want to take off the first two weeks in August, he said. It’s the manager’s job to decide that two of them will have to take the last two weeks of August instead — and “hopefully this would have been done in January,” Mr. Jamrog said.

In many industries, certain times of the year are off limits for vacations. The tax preparer who asks to take the first two weeks of April off will be laughed out of the office. When scheduling vacations, “protect your business interests, but in an equitable manner,” said Richard I. Greenberg, a lawyer for Jackson Lewis, a law firm that specializes in employment issues. If you have to turn down someone’s request for a particular vacation week, try to give that person first choice another time, he said.

An employee’s perception that a vacation policy is unfair can lead to a sense of distrust and a lack of commitment, he warned. It’s a feeling that can fester, and possibly even add fodder to a discrimination suit, he said.

Vacation policies should be consistent and clearly communicated, said Margaret Fiester, operations manager for the H.R. Knowledge Center at the Society for Human Resource Management. Sometimes it may be best to set up a bidding system in which employees submit vacation requests by a certain deadline, so that managers can accurately project staffing levels, she added.

Deciding vacations on the basis of seniority is one way to try to be fair, but that can also be hard on a new employee who must forgo a summer vacation with school-age children, or a homesick worker who can’t travel to see his family for the holidays. Still, a vacation policy based on seniority has the advantage of being clear. If a policy is unclear, and managers appear to be granting time off inconsistently, it can create the impression that they are playing favorites, Mr. Jamrog said.

It’s also a manager’s job to ensure that employees are properly trained to fill in for vacationing colleagues, he said. Present a vacation as a way for workers to develop new skills, and reward them for stepping in, he advised. “You can’t feel like you’re punishing your employees because someone is taking time off,” he said.

MORE than once, I’ve seen workers excel in their fill-in roles and receive promotions because they had proved they could handle more responsibility. So try to view a colleague’s vacation as an opportunity, rather than an occasion for worry or resentment. Managers can go a long way toward furthering this view by allowing time for training.

And if you’ve been lucky enough to go to the beach, or to a European capital, be sure to express gratitude to the people who filled in for you. Because probably not too long from now, they will be off on their own vacations, and you will be the employee who is left behind.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/jobs/have-a-great-vacation-if-its-approved.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: , ,

Workstation: Quitting a Job in a Huff Doesn’t Bring Applause

March 24, 2013 by Leave a Comment

What put-upon worker hasn’t fantasized about saying those words and walking out the door? Wisely, most don’t go that far, at least not then and there.

It’s fairly common to feel a passing urge to quit your job when you’ve hit a rough patch, says Nancy S. Molitor, a clinical psychologist in Wilmette, Ill., and a public education coordinator for the American Psychological Association. But the idea is surfacing in more employees’ minds these days, she said.

Many of her clients have hunkered down at the same company over the last five or six years, just grateful to have a job in an uncertain economy, Dr. Molitor said. Some were promised raises, bonuses or stock once the recession ended, but now that better times have arrived, companies are hanging onto their cash and withholding those promised rewards, she said. One result is employee resentment.

Sometimes an employee wants to quit because of an untenable working situation: an overbearing boss, a difficult co-worker, a crushing workload. Often, the reasons for feeling upset and wanting to quit are legitimate, Dr. Molitor said.

But because resigning has huge consequences, you never want to make that decision while in the grip of intense emotion, she said. Wait at least a week, and in the meantime discuss your feelings with a close friend, family member or therapist. Colleagues are another option — they may have a much better grasp of office politics — but make sure you trust them completely to keep your confidence, she added.

Anytime you cannot concentrate, or find yourself thinking the same thoughts about your job over and over again, “that’s a huge red flag,” she said. You are reacting to pure adrenaline and emotion. So take some time to calm down, and if necessary seek professional help. If you feel you are in danger of quitting suddenly, take a day off to clear your head, she advised.

Sometimes when we feel unhappy or helpless in our personal lives, we project that onto our jobs — and onto the boss, who has power over us, Dr. Molitor said.

Personal problems might be at least part of the reason for job dissatisfaction. Consider the 1977 country hit “Take This Job and Shove It,” in which Johnny Paycheck sings that the boss is a fool who “thinks he’s cool,” but also that his “woman done left” and took away all his reasons for working.

The song’s title still resonates, and for good reason. “I’ve been there. We’ve all been there,” said Robert I. Sutton, a professor and organizational psychologist at Stanford. In his heart, he’s a “take this job and shove it kind of guy,” he said, “but I have people around me who will save me from myself.”

Once you have cleared your head and separated emotion from reality, you may be able to find a way to change your work situation so that it’s no longer intolerable, Dr. Molitor said.

Many employees need to work harder at advocating for themselves, she said. If you felt that you deserved a raise and didn’t get one, try asking for one and you might succeed, she said. When preparing to talk to your boss about your concerns, it’s wise to write down your points in advance, she added: “That forces you to be coherent.”

After careful consideration, you may determine that your only option is to resign, but do so politely, and with plenty of notice. If you quit in a huff and make a dramatic exit, you can probably forget about using your employer as a reference, and word will most likely get out that you left your company in the lurch.

SUZANNE LUCAS, who writes a blog called the Evil HR Lady, says in a column for CBS News that it’s generally a bad idea and “just darn rude” to quit a job on the spot. But she notes exceptions that would justify a quick departure — for example, if staying in a job would put you in some kind of danger (a violent co-worker, say, or a safety violation), or would make you break the law or violate your ethical or religious standards.

In most cases, though, you can give notice. Try to be gracious when resigning, because “how you end things is incredibly important,” Professor Sutton said.

According to the “peak end rule,” as articulated by the psychologist Daniel Kahneman, the final memory that your co-workers have of you is likely to be much more vivid than most others, Professor Sutton said. If possible, you want that memory to be positive. He said that you, too, would feel better about the experience in retrospect if you quit in a graceful way.

“I’m a big fan of quitting,” he said, so long as it’s done for the right reasons and in the right way.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/24/jobs/quitting-a-job-in-a-huff-doesnt-bring-applause.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Global Business Tagged With: , ,

Thinking Entrepreneur: Is It a Mistake to Pick an Employee of the Month?

September 13, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Thinking Entrepreneur

An owner’s dispatches from the front lines.

I recently met a management consultant and business author who asked me if I had an “employee of the month” program. I said I did, at which point he reprimanded me for the error of my ways. His argument was that it was a waste of time and was actually counterproductive; only one person wins, and the rest are resentful. My managers and I actually considered that before we started the program, but the conversation with the consultant, Aubrey C. Daniels, got me thinking about it again. As I have gotten older, I have become more open-minded about recognizing that my way might not be the best way.

We name an employee of the month in only one of my companies, the custom framing factory, where I have the most employees working together in the same place at the same time. I have about 30 employees at the factory who do everything from making frames and cutting mats to working in shipping and receiving. We have a meeting every Friday morning for 10 to 15 minutes to announce birthdays and anniversaries, review the progress of the week and discuss what is happening in the company. On the first Friday of the month we also give out the employee-of-the-month award.

Here is how it goes. The manager announces the three people who have been nominated and explains why. Typically, the nominees are an employee who was heads-up enough to catch a significant mistake, someone who filled in for a co-worker or supervisor, someone who went beyond the call of duty to get a job done or someone who did an extraordinarily good job on a difficult project.

Then the ceremony begins, and Alex, one of the supervisors, hits the button on the boom box and the “Rocky” theme song comes blasting out: “BUM-bum-bum-BUM-bum,  BUM-bum-bum-BUM-bum.” And the winner is … !

A small Rocky statue is handed to the winner, who also receives a free framing certificate and use of the employee-of-the-month parking space. In addition, a photograph of the winner is taken with the big boss (that would be me) and displayed with the statue in the cafeteria for the month. Everyone applauds. People seem happy, but the question I now ask myself is, Is it all a front? Do the employees really seethe and grumble and leave sad and rejected? I do not want to be naïve or delusional — at least not that delusional. (A little delusion, I’ve found, works for me.)

So I did three things. I asked my managers, I asked a few hourly employees, and I read Mr. Daniels’s book (“Oops: 13 Management Practices That Waste Time and Money”). After what I believe to have been a thorough analysis, I concluded that the program is in fact worth doing. People seem to look forward to it. They say they like it, and I think it helps reinforce the mission of paying attention and trying to operate in a quality-driven, efficient manner. Are my employees just telling me what they think I want to hear? I don’t think so. Two reasons: First, this is not some pet project of mine, and I have made it clear that if people don’t appreciate it, we should stop doing it. Second, my “corporate culture” is very noncorporate. People tell me all of the time if they think there is a problem — even if they think I am the problem.

Even so, can I be sure that no one is resentful that he or she hasn’t won the award? Can I be sure that there are not some employees who really don’t care if they ever win or not? Actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if there are people who feel that way — but I still think that, on balance, the program has a positive impact.

Has everyone won the award? No, but probably 80 percent have. And here is the harsh and nice reality: I do believe that the best employees have won, and I would rather not punish them by trying to avoid bothering others who have never done anything special to be acknowledged.

The final part of my analysis was an attempt to reconcile the consultant’s view with my experience. That was easy. After I read his book, it was obvious why Mr. Daniels had such disdain for employee-of-the-month programs. The examples he cites all have obvious flaws: they aren’t clear about why someone wins or they just give everyone a turn. He offers one example where he asked someone why he or she won, and the employee had no idea.

In those cases I would agree. A bad or meaningless program is worse than no program. But that doesn’t mean that a well-run program can’t have a little magic: “BUM-bum-bum-BUM-bum,  BUM-bum-bum-BUM-bum.”

Besides, who doesn’t love the “Rocky” theme song? O.K., maybe that’s me being delusional again.

Jay Goltz owns five small businesses in Chicago.

Article source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/12/is-it-a-mistake-to-pick-an-employee-of-the-month/?partner=rss&emc=rss

Filed Under: Small Business Tagged With: , ,