Questions tagged [employer-relations]
Questions about employer relations involve the relationship between an employer and its employees. These questions should generally involve the relationship with a group of employees rather than individuals.
524
questions
233
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12
answers
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Dealing with the unexpected death of an employee
This morning, a bunch of news flashed around in our regional TV about the death of a young male, just out of his teens, killed in front of his house while going home from college last night.
That kid ...
- 8,730
190
votes
16
answers
60k
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How do I prevent colleagues from making fun of the length of my password?
At work, we were required to choose login passwords on our first day. I choose a long and complex (mixed with numbers and symbols) password, it's easy for me to remember, but hard for anyone standing ...
user85194
184
votes
10
answers
21k
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Client wants me to do something explicitly illegal
I work as a freelancer, alongside my regular dayjob, for several different people with all sorts of odd needs for software.
One those clients asked me to do something highly illegal. This isn't ...
- 8,730
178
votes
13
answers
37k
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Given an ultimatum, threatened with dismissal
I work for a Mobile GIS company in South Africa with roughly 40 or so employees. This is my first job after finishing university. On Wednesday, after working here for about 8 months (and to my immense ...
- 1,289
163
votes
16
answers
50k
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Called into a meeting and told we are being made redundant (laid off) and "not to share outside". Can I tell my partner?
As title. Just been told we are being laid off, and asked to keep it confidential from anyone outside this room.
They sent us home "to absorb the news".
Is it really the case that we cannot tell ...
- 1,087
146
votes
23
answers
64k
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Fired because your skills are too far above your coworkers
I have been working for five months for a big French company building great things, a good product with trend methodologies.
I've just learned from an internal coworker (technical expert) that I will ...
- 3,818
142
votes
18
answers
35k
views
Employees unhappy with change of workplace to an inconvenient location
I'm responsible for a small group of employees and we just acquired a client that needs their skills, but require them to work on its premises.
The client's offices are located in an area poorly ...
- 1,079
134
votes
14
answers
35k
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Can I work just what I'm paid for while leaving?
At my current company, I spent months being bullied and told to quit. I then found a much better position, quit and my last day is on Friday.
I can honestly say I prepared a very solid handover - ...
- 1,069
133
votes
11
answers
26k
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How to objectively counter "You are the first one to complain about that."?
I've been facing this situation for some time where our office's management keep choosing the cheapest option whenever they have to pay for anything related to our work environment or company travels. ...
- 6,794
128
votes
10
answers
40k
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Placed on work schedule despite approved time-off request. Is it unreasonable to push back on this?
Since March of this year, I've been employed part-time at an amusement park in food service. I'd like to think I'm a good employee:
I show up before my shift starts and clock in at the right time
I ...
- 1,637
115
votes
15
answers
30k
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Retaining ambitious employee with rare skill set
We hired a talented engineer "Alice" some time back, and she has excelled at everything we throw at her. If she needs to use a new programming language or tool, she buys a book and learns it ...
- 887
114
votes
15
answers
32k
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What are the possible downsides of answering an "anonymous" employee survey truthfully?
We recently got an invite to do a short (handful questions) anonymous survey on employee satisfaction. My first impulse would be to answer with my honest, negative impression of the employer: 'bad ...
- 2,822
114
votes
11
answers
24k
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CEO tells employees what they should do next, bypassing company hierarchy
I work as a software developer in a medium sized company. The CEO has some technical background and has a habit of walking around the development department and talking to the employees about their ...
- 1,093
109
votes
16
answers
28k
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How should I deal with an employee who is stealing from the cash counter?
I own a pharmacy, and I have an employee who has been working for me for the past 5 years. However, he has recently started stealing money from the cash counter.
Maybe he thinks that I will not ...
- 935
108
votes
16
answers
48k
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Is it unprofessional to simply announce your absence in case of a family death?
Full disclosure: I'm a student, not an employee, but our current project is supposed to simulate real work experience, with everything from SCRUM meetings to clients and managers.
Recently, there has ...
- 911
107
votes
9
answers
26k
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How to turn down request from prospective employer for current employer's code?
I obtained an interview with the development team leader and CEO of a startup company. At the end of the interview, the development team leader asked me to send him an email with websites' links to ...
- 939
100
votes
11
answers
48k
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My boss frequently calls me outside work hours. How should I deal with it?
A few months ago I started a new, typical 8-4 job. Since I started, my boss has called me at usually once a week outside work hours to ask me what I did at work today and what I'll be doing in the ...
user48683
99
votes
12
answers
23k
views
What can we do to stop prior company from asking us questions?
Short and sweet of it, I used to work as a manager/supervisor at a prior company that had us build various applications for them. I was there close to twenty years! In any event last year the ...
- 2,311
89
votes
12
answers
18k
views
My employer (client) wants me to work in “ghost” mode [closed]
Here's the context:
I'm a freelance software architect/developer and have started working for a known company 3 weeks ago, for at least one year.
They recruited me because they completely failed ...
- 3,818
89
votes
7
answers
25k
views
How to say No to idea given by team member, when I know from my experience that it is going to fail?
I have a very hardworking team, and I like when they try to think about a project with broader perspective. I want to respect their contribution and don't like to refuse their ideas, but sometimes I ...
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89
votes
9
answers
24k
views
Coworkers showing up late to start their shift force me to stay longer
My employer cares for 3 slightly disabled ladies 24 hours a day. My job is from 2-6pm, to take these ladies to and from their jobs.
My employer is threatening to fire me because other employees ...
- 587
87
votes
15
answers
23k
views
How do I deal with talented, but difficult employees?
I am managing a team of 10+ knowledge workers (developers, testers, technical support, no sales person).
There are employees in my team who are extremely talented, who can consistently provide better ...
- 2,927
86
votes
13
answers
17k
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Mass resignation (including boss), boss's boss asks for handover of work, boss asks not to. What to do?
I am in a really awkward situation. I work in a small subsidiary company whose parent company is overseas. The parent company is in Singapore and owns our company here in Vietnam.
We are completely ...
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85
votes
11
answers
19k
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Getting more value out of an introverted person
I have a very highly skilled introvert person employed (Jane) who has been in the organization for many years. Jane has provided some brilliant programs and solutions during the years, but Jane is ...
- 993
84
votes
10
answers
20k
views
A fatal accident happened a few years ago with a product that I now work with. How can I tactfully ask what happened?
Background: Central/ Western Europe, Intern, Engineering.
My current employer, a chemical engineering firm, had a fatal accident a few years ago. One of their employees was fatally injured while ...
anon
83
votes
6
answers
22k
views
My boss wants me to recreate everything I have done for my previous employer
I was working in a start up until July, and I resigned to move to another continent. This start up is selling a specific product available in a SaaS Platform for retailers, no other company is doing ...
- 611
82
votes
6
answers
18k
views
My CEO wants permanent access to every employee's emails. How do I explain that this is a terrible idea?
Our CEO wants our IT provider to configure his email client so he can see every employee's work emails in his inbox all the time. To make a long story short he's concerned about a specific employee ...
- 561
81
votes
13
answers
25k
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Trainee keeps missing deadlines for independent learning
We have a trainee that needs to learn a lot of tech. We decided that she takes online courses with exercises independently, before touching in-house stuff.
In the beginning we talked about schedules, ...
80
votes
7
answers
91k
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How do I explain being unemployed for nearly two years due to untreated depression
For the first three years of my career, I was always employed (internship and one full-time job). Then, after I got laid off because the last company I worked for went under, I couldn't motivate ...
- 1,087
79
votes
10
answers
47k
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Unable to complete a task at work due to lack of relevant skill. How should I tell my employer?
In February I was hired as a Software Developer Apprentice. I mainly code in C# which I have learnt in this apprenticeship. I am currently rewriting a programme the company currently uses. Within this ...
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78
votes
13
answers
18k
views
My boss is taking a leave of absence and leaving the company to us [closed]
We are a small company of 4 people (including my boss) and are facing a difficult situation.
To put this into context, we are underpaid compared to the market, every hour is clocked by the minute, ...
- 485
78
votes
9
answers
25k
views
How should I respond when I lied about my education and the company finds out through background check?
I lied about my education to my employer and background check revealed I did not graduate. How do I respond to my employer after they send me the following?
In order for us to move forward and ...
- 617
78
votes
7
answers
15k
views
Unpaid suspension due to management error
Two weeks ago, I was placed on a 3-day, unpaid, disciplinary suspension due to an error in a database.
My job involves manually entering data into a database. When roughly three consecutive entries ...
- 719
73
votes
9
answers
34k
views
Is it okay for my family to intervene when my boss treats me unfairly in the first few days of work?
I'm an 18 year old student who just started a part time job a few days ago.
This was what happened: I went for the interview for the part time job and was told that the boss's wife would give me a ...
user45467
73
votes
12
answers
12k
views
Is it possible I am damaging my long-term employability by staying at a company with terrible structure?
I work as a software developer, currently in my first job out of school. I have been working here for about 15 months. For all intents and purposes, our software "department" is in absolute shambles. ...
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70
votes
4
answers
11k
views
Should I warn a friend about a former employer?
I have a friend who for the purposes of this question we'll refer to as Paul. Paul is a University professor who hasn't been actively involved in business outside of academia. He's shown me some ...
- 891
70
votes
9
answers
41k
views
How to respond if boss asks if I'm looking for a new job
I'm currently searching for a new job. If my boss asks me if I'm looking, should I tell the truth?
My small group is pretty demoralized at this point. One of my coworkers gave his notice late last ...
- 1,171
69
votes
13
answers
19k
views
How to avoid previous employer who is nagging me to do their job?
I used to work for a very small family-owned startup with minimum wage, zero benefit, and it was very exploitative and toxic in nature.
The family had other businesses and they used to run the startup ...
- 881
68
votes
3
answers
13k
views
How do I resign when I know my employer will lose a big client when I leave?
I'm in a tricky position. I don't enjoy where I'm working and I've been offered another opportunity. Unfortunately, I know the current client that I'm consulting for isn't on good terms with my ...
- 3,809
67
votes
9
answers
12k
views
Is it really a bad idea to work at a company that misses the mark for perfection once or twice? [closed]
On The Workplace, I see very frequently a comment along the lines of:
That is a company I would personally never consider working for. That is so stupid and short-sighted that it means the rest of ...
user8712
64
votes
10
answers
17k
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How do I deal with a very manipulative employee who doesn't do his work? [duplicate]
I am the supervisor of an IT department in a small but a high-paying company. I supervise 12 employees. There's one that I'm having troubles with lately, he is newly hired and is a great person.
But ...
- 503
58
votes
12
answers
28k
views
Feeling like a fraud at a startup I joined as an intern
TL;DR: Young inexperienced coder gets an internship, gets offered a stake in the start-up he's working for, and now feels like a big fraud.
Some context
I'm a coder from an undisclosed European ...
- 611
56
votes
5
answers
22k
views
Manager that is mad because I won't work during sick leave
In France, we have strong sick leave laws, with the prohibition of work :
If you are in a work stoppage (due to work-related or non-work-related illness or accident at work), you must refrain from ...
- 677
55
votes
6
answers
15k
views
Company looks for long-term employees, but I know I won't be interested in staying long
I have an interview soon for a technical sales position. I initially got the interview through a temp-to-hire service, and the woman who initially interviewed me has advised me that the company I'm ...
- 883
55
votes
10
answers
55k
views
Is it professional to tell my boss that major illness in my family was the reason for my lack of productivity? [duplicate]
I work in a telecommute position so most of my correspondence with my boss is over email/Skype. Today, I got a phone call that my mom's cancer has spread to the rest of her body. I knew she had cancer,...
user5621
55
votes
8
answers
18k
views
How to deal with a developer that has poor skills but with whom I get on well? [closed]
I'm a Tech Lead since 4 months, as a Freelance, for an end customer.
One of "my" developer has really poor skills and, despite a severe amount of time spent to teach him and help him, I haven't ...
- 3,818
54
votes
8
answers
15k
views
Using gym at workplace during work hours
My company has a gym, a nice swimming pool, squash court, badminton court et al but the employees are not allowed to use during working hours. The employees can only use from 6 am - 8 am and from 5 pm ...
- 1,458
53
votes
5
answers
14k
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Is it normal/professional for a younger female employee to say that they want more meeting time with their male boss?
I am working at a startup and it’s a very busy time right now where there is a lot of pressure on me to get something done very quickly.
My boss (who also is the company CEO) asked me today if there ...
user5621
53
votes
3
answers
10k
views
How do I sell to the company I'm employed something I have previously made
I am a software developer and as such my productive output is easily repurposed.
Some background
A few years ago, long before I was employed at my current job, I made a piece of software in an ...
- 1,376
50
votes
8
answers
14k
views
Gave a bad feedback to an employee on an appraisal and my manager has basically demoted me
I'm the marketing manager of a very successful start-up and the social media manager who I have been managing for the past two months and a half is really bad. She's incompetent, she's a bad colleague ...
- 1,433