306
votes
Accepted
Prospective employer asking for my current pay slip during interview
My usual answer is, "I don't ever disclose my current compensation package, but I can tell you that I need a total compensation figure of $###,000.00 to leave my current role." That statement ends ...
272
votes
Shouldn't I expect my boss to change his attitude when it is detrimental to office morale?
I suggested to my boss, to prevent this kind of situation, that he
could announce the start of the meeting 2 minutes before time so that
we still have time to prepare and gather around his desk. ...
- 387k
243
votes
Is celebrating small victories unprofessional?
This is so common among coders as to almost be a cliché, and even termed a "coder's victory". I do it all the time and so do my colleagues. We usually just grin, knowing the feeling.
Not only is it ...
- 160k
220
votes
Accepted
Manager strongly suggests that I do more unpaid overtime during performance review
What your manager says is nonsense.
What he apparently wants is "bums on seats". A nice quote from some top manager at Microsoft: "You can make people stay in the office 80 hours a week. You can't ...
- 170k
215
votes
Accepted
Assigned to a buggy, failing project days before it is due
You should be focused on a lifeboat for yourself
Someone promoted you to lead a project with just 5 days remaining which is an absolute disaster? With only 5 days, it seems that they should have ...
- 47.9k
205
votes
How can I manage my team to maintain a reasonable productivity when my employer doesn't treat employees well?
A wiser man than me said “You can make people stay in the office for 80 hours a week, but you can’t make them work more than 40 hours a week.”
That’s the problem you are running into, and there’s ...
- 170k
204
votes
Accepted
I reported the illegal activity of my boss to his boss. My boss found out. Now I am being punished. What should I do?
You've witnessed something illegal. By law, you are most likely required to report it to a federal agency, not your supervisor's boss. In other words, having told the boss, you haven't actually done ...
- 49.6k
201
votes
How to find a job with as little social interaction with coworkers as possible?
How do I find a job that is as corporate as possible? Ideally it would
be a large company that's very depersonalised, with private offices or
at least sectioned off. No pressure to try to fit the ...
- 387k
187
votes
Does diversity provide anything that meritocracy does not?
Here's a Harvard Business Review study on why diverse teams outperform homogeneous teams.
Diverse teams are more innovative and focus on facts better than homogeneous teams. However, it's not as ...
- 9,052
165
votes
What should I do when colleagues keep commenting on my attire?
As an Indian woman working in MNC, I can quite understand your problem.
Let's face it. In our country, when a man earns, people think that is because he needs to feed his family, he is ambitious/...
- 837
164
votes
Accepted
Thought interview went well but contacted by recruiter saying HR found me rude
I'm going to take a different approach from the consensus here. I think this is a bullet dodged.
I don't know about the country / culture you're speaking of, and that carries a lot of weight in these ...
- 908
159
votes
Does diversity provide anything that meritocracy does not?
I work in a big IT company (100.000+ employee). Here is what I was told from an HR representative when I was promoted as a manager:
We need to hire smart and talented people. Smart and talented ...
- 1,584
157
votes
Accepted
Senior engineer suddenly unwilling to do extra work they used to do after being denied promotion
The bridge is burned. He will likely leave the company once he finds another job. Your company can be happy he is not in a financial position to walk out - I WOULD. The moment I am f**** over, I walk ...
- 8,584
140
votes
Accepted
How much can I judge a company based on a phone screening?
I've done a lot of interviews in the relatively short time (around 7 years) in the industry.
One thing I learnt is that if you sense something not quite right, trust your instinct and don't progress ...
- 2,557
134
votes
How to work a regular job as a former celebrity
My main problem is this: I have no idea how to navigate the corporate
world
My life as a minor celebrity is over and I want to move on and work as
a regular person, but this is proving to be ...
- 387k
132
votes
Should a manager participate in Casual Friday dress code?
I think that not participating might cause your reports to wonder: if (boss) is still in business dress, does that mean I should too?
Dressing in jeans will definitely make them more comfortable in ...
- 3,100
130
votes
Accepted
How to deal with boss asking employees to wear specific clothes when it is uncomfortable?
I'm not skinny, and I still dislike a lot short-sleeves tee-shirts, and I can easily understand what you feel.
I don't like people staring at my arms, and some tattoo from shoulder to elbow. I love ...
- 5,774
130
votes
Accepted
Will not wearing makeup affect my career?
The previous answers are very optimistic. However, the truth is the answer to your question depends a lot on:
the country you are in,
the state of your skin,
the industry and your role.
Normally, ...
- 22.9k
125
votes
How do I explain that I am in the office to work, not to have fun?
You can just tell your coworkers what you said here.
Of course, most people don't like feeling like as people they don't matter, so there's significant risk associated with this that cannot really be ...
- 111k
122
votes
My manager notoriously lies
I reported this to the HR, but nothing has been done so far. They asked me to make a formal statement, which I still don't know how to formulate.
Take what you've written here, remove as much emotion ...
- 115k
121
votes
Cultural fit interview went pretty badly. They want me to re-do it for another team, worth it?
Large companies have many teams that function in different ways and have different cultures. The function of a team influences the culture. You yourself explained the culture of the team you ...
- 86.6k
118
votes
How representative of a company is a bad interview process?
How representative of internal chaos and lack of organization can I
assume this process is?
You shouldn't assume anything.
I've worked for wonderful companies that had terrible interview processes....
- 387k
116
votes
How to handle "company strategy trip" that is actually a vacation trip?
As you describe it, it sounds like this trip is part of your current company culture. You need to take into account that a cultural change will also bring personal change with it.
Personnel ...
- 22.3k
115
votes
Do I need to be arrogant to get ahead?
This is a great question, and last time I checked (which was admittedly a long time ago), the psychological literature doesn't have a definitive answer. So I checked again.
The Industrial/...
- 1,699
114
votes
Is it poor workplace etiquette to display signs of relative "wealth" at work when others are struggling financially?
is it poor office etiquette to display/mention signs of "relative" wealth when I know others are struggling?
Given that you are not doing it with the intention to brag or boast (it comes up ...
- 83.5k
112
votes
Accepted
As a new employee of a large corporation, what can I do about some disagreements with the company's code of conduct?
It's likely binding in the sense that violation can lead to disciplinary action, potentially up to firing, essentially the purpose of having you sign such a code is really a means to streamline the ...
- 110k
109
votes
Accepted
Would I be wrong to leave the start-up I’m working for with one month’s notice?
Did I do something wrong if I decide to leave the company?
Of course not.
You are a C-level executive in this company, not an indentured servant. You have every right to try and find a company that ...
- 387k
109
votes
Does diversity provide anything that meritocracy does not?
The general problem here is that the "merit" in meritocracy needs to be measured in some quantitative way. It's not an objective or absolute quantity. Organizations or teams that have a blind spot are ...
- 128k
105
votes
How can I argue against the idea of working overtime to fix bugs (constantly)?
I think there are already answers covering many aspects, but if you're looking for a good response to this emotional manipulation, you could maybe say something like that:
If I am not rested, I ...
- 839
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible