Return to ForumsAdd thread
Workplace Issues
Thread TitleThread QuestionPosted ByPost DateReplies
Hired for the Wrong Reasons Has anyone ever been hired under false pretenses? My job title is Administrative Assistant to the President, however, all management wants me to do is answer the phones and monitor security. I have over 35+ years of experience in the field and have never held a position that was so under-utilized. The company conducted performance reviews back in November and I'm the only one who has not had a review. I spoke with my direct report, Vice President of Administration and Development, and she stated that "we need to change your job description". Any comments? Suggestions? I really don't want to look for another job since I've only been here 9 months. Carolyn Santora 1/25/2018 10:32:03 AM2
Board Meeting Minutes Template? Good Morning, does anyone have a board meeting minutes template they can share with me? For the first time, our Chairman is asking to have ACTION ITEMS and MOTIONS noted in the minutes. It's been so long I forget the format. Can someone email me what they have? My work email address is: frontdesk@brothersbrother.org. Thanks in advance for your help. Carolyn Santora 4/27/2017 6:33:16 AM3
Mother's Day flowers for team members I work for a non-profit organization. I support the SVP, we have a team of 45 people in our division. In our team we have 18 who are mothers. He wants to send a bouquet of flowers to each of the moms in the group. He asked me for my opinion on this. I informed him that other team members may feel slighted since they do not have kids and do you anticipate doing something similar for the men for Father?s Day. He is rethinking the flowers idea. Any ideas on doing something that is inclusive of the entire group, but focus on the mother? Anonymous 4/4/2017 3:01:57 PM7
Unanet Software Do any of you use Unanet software for planning work, timesheets, and expense reports. How do you like it? Also, does your organization use the Financial part of Unanet software. How is it working for you? What types of issues did you have in making the switch from your current system to Unanet (especially interested in the financial switch - what you were using before). thanks so much Anonymous 4/4/2017 1:20:37 PM0
Terminated Employees Does anyone have any policies on how to handle an employee who has been notified of their dismissal in 2 to 4 weeks due to cutbacks? It is very difficult for coworkers to find ways to ease the transition and not feel guilty that you are not being let go. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Anonymous 4/3/2017 9:58:32 AM2
Sleeping co-worker I have a co-worker who has some physical problems and takes a nap everyday behind her cubicle for at least an hour or more each afternoon and sometimes even in the mornings as well. She used to worry that she would be caught; but now, she can't help it. Her direct supervisor probably knows. I love her dearly as I've worked with her for almost 13 years straight. I am concerned for her but she has to work as she's a sole provider for her family and she's way past retirement age. I can't dish out much work to her because the illness is causing her memory to slip a little. Thus, during busy season I'm working extra hard. She gets frustrated about learning new things and my not giving her some of my work when I get busy; but honestly, she would forget a lot or it's not done correctly. There are times when she does something great and I compliment over and beyond so that she can feel needed. But there are other times when I'm over whelmed at work that it bothers me to see her sleep... Alias 8/8/2016 2:26:34 PM2
Offensive language in the work office Has anyone ever come across an 'angry' person at work that uses vulgar language when they are upset that others perhaps are not doing their job or angry when they are frustrated. In this case, this person is over me. Well, I suppose everyone is when we are Admin. :) I find myself surprised when this person periodically dumps their complaints to me and their face becomes red. I actually become quite concerned for their health and blood pressure. I don't understand why they come to me other than I'm an Admin person and won't repeat anything. I'm not perfect - but I find it offensive to hear it said to me. It is not an everyday word in a professional setting. I try to get him to settle down and I talk calmly. I elicit my help in solving anything I can as an Admin person. But I don't like to listen to the "f" word in sentences over and over. Alias 8/8/2016 2:15:41 PM6
Uber Does anyone use Uber for travel service for their boss? I am not that familiar with their use and wonder if it is a safe reliable service for my boss to get to and from the airport or even to meetings. It would save the company money in most cases I think. Thanks for any responses or suggestions that you can give regarding this. AEAP 8/8/2016 1:36:17 PM9
Advice I work for a manager who procrastinates and micro-manages and would like to know how to be deal with this in a professional manner. Thanks very much. Anonymous 4/28/2016 9:22:34 PM6
Vacation Schedules Need to know what vacation allowance other companies are using now. With the job market and the cutbacks, we offer 2 weeks of vacation per year accrued a certain amount per month. After 15 years with the company we get an extra week. Also what is the best strategy to use to get the time off I want and not when the company wants me to take off. Thanks for any input you can provide. Anonymous 5/12/2015 2:26:04 PM10
The Catering Battle An on-going topic on contention between my boss and I is catering for meetings. Our company employs a catering service to staff and our on-site cafeteria. Administrators within the company are encouraged to use our on-site catering service whenever possible to meet sales volumes, making the on-site café profitable and therefore a service we can continue to offer to our employees. Occasionally, to change things up I will have meals brought in from an off-site vendor. The key here is that I will only order from a restaurant that will deliver. However, my boss often requests meals from restaurants that do not provide delivery service. When I refuse to order from establishments that will not deliver he gets extremely irritated with me. He has gone so far as to inquire with other administrators within the company about their catering practices. When he is invited to a meeting where a meal is provided and he notices the meal was not provided by our on-site catering... Anonymous 11/21/2014 6:30:08 PM1
New Employee- Could you please give me some advice on what to say to an employee who you have ask to do some simple work such as typing lables for mailbox and putting them on the boxes. Now this is the second time this sort of issue has come up. Thank you Anonymous 11/17/2014 2:01:07 PM3
Manager gives same task to multiple people My executive has an awful habit of asking several different people in his department to do the same thing....this causes lots of confusion, re-work, double duty, etc. How can I get him to stop doing this without being too confrontational. He's a C-Level Executive. Nikki 9/18/2014 2:21:17 PM5
Do I tell my boss or not I know that a coworker is looking for another job. I feel that sufficient notice should be given if that coworker finds a new job but I am not certain that will happen. I am concerned about the lapse in time and extra work that will be added to myself and others until a replacement is found and trained. I feel that a warning to my boss might allow a head start in looking for a potential replacement but not actually do any interviewing until the employee has given notice. I think my boss would appreciate my concerns and the opportunity to start thinking and searching now for a new person. Any thoughts on whether to discuss or not? AEAP 6/5/2014 3:14:16 PM14
writing a proposal for creation of a new position Does anyone have experience with writing job proposals? I'm toying with the idea of asking my boss if we could create a contract position (no way would she go for permanent) for the duties I have in mind. They are currently being done on a rotating basis with higher positioned (and higher paid) people. I feel this is a waste of resources. The duties are low scale: mailing out documents, collecting and sorting incoming mail, and scanning. Rose 8/22/2013 7:40:46 AM1
Job responsibilities I need your assistance. I have an employee who has been talking about retiring for about 2 years now. She is constantly asking another employee how to do some of her job responsibilities that she has been doing for more than twelve years. After she has been shown repeatedly how to do things - she still can't seem to get it! I have told her to write the steps down if she can't remember them. The other employee who she keeps asking in finding it her to do her job with all of the questions and interruptions and has complained to me. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I could handle this issue? Thank you so much. Anonymous 8/21/2013 8:26:03 AM1
too much stimuli for one person? When my coworker is out (and she is a dedicated, hardworking professional who deserves vacation etc), I am left alone to work at a very busy front desk of a hospital operating room. Phones are ringing off the hook from operating rooms, patients, patient families, other staff etc. People are coming to the front desk: patients, family members of patients, staff with a request. I find this too overwhelming to handle on my own. For example, a nurse called to get an appt time for a surgical patient and I had to ask her to call back in 15 minutes. There was just too much activity. I was prioritizing in my mind: getting patients checked in for surgery and addressing family concerns about their loved ones in the OR take precedence. My boss refuses to help me. If I were to approach another coworker for help, they would refuse, saying that they are not able to leave their post. When I worked there the other day I was very flustered with everything that was coming at me at once. While I was ple... Judith Probber 6/15/2013 8:01:36 PM7
Cubicle Etiquette, Respect, & Awareness I work for a fairly small company (40-50 people) where most of the staff have their own office. There are a handful of us, though, who work in cubicles and life in an open work space can become quite noisy as people are walking and talking throughout the office (I'm sure some of you have probably experienced this). That doesn't bother me so much; I chalk it up as being a part of the everyday office environment. What drives me insane are my fellow cubicle dwellers who don't know the difference between a business and personal environment. They sit on the phone and talk to their family and friends ALL DAY. Not only that, but they're EXTREMELY LOUD. I've seen some who shop online ALL DAY LONG. There's even a person here who clips their fingernails and toenails in their cubicle. It's truly unbelievable. I'm wondering what I should do about this or IF I should do anything at all. All of the noise from the personal phone calls and the constant need to dodge flying toenails have become v... Anonymous 2/25/2013 12:31:15 PM10
Improper/Unprofessional Office Grammar I am an Executive Assistant working for a male dominated company/field. A young man was recently hired as an assistant to the Marketing Manager. My office is next to that of the Marketing Manager and the new hire sits in a cube just outside of my office door. He is in the process of taking over the marketing duties that I was once responsible for so I have been training him. My complaint is his use of the word Hey rather than Hello when sending emails to vendors and managers at our other locations. The word "hey" seems very casual/slang to me. He also routinely uses the phrase "what's up" when answering the phone or answering requests made by anyone in the office including his manager and owners of the company. Just wondering...is this now the new way of communicating in an office environment? I would like to say something to the Marketing Manager but this doesn't seem to bother him and he has really taking this person under his wing and seems overly sensitive and p... Debra 1/7/2013 3:46:29 PM22
Privacy Policies Recently a member submitted a question regarding privacy policies pertaining to health records in the workplace. The issue was whether or not an employee is obligated to disclose their health information if the employee chooses not to obtain health insurance through their company. After receiving valuable input from fellow members, the member decided not to disclose the information. After the decision was made not to disclose health information, it was discovered that the member?s boss had already provided written information regarding the employee?s health history to an insurance broker. This information was obtained from casual conversation between the employer and employee. Our member feels that this was a violation of privacy, but the member?s spouse believes that any information provided to an employer by an employee, regardless of how the information is obtained, is fair game and the employer can use it as he/she sees fit. As a follow-up to the original question, we would l... Anonymous 6/12/2012 8:20:00 AM8
Personal Relationship Problem My boss' live-in girlfirend works here, and questions everything I do constantly - from meeting times, locations and attendees to content of presentations, travel arrangements etc. Now I'm getting second-hand instructions ("we spoke last night and he said he wants blah blah blah"). I don't feel I can say anything to either one without jeopardizing my job. He's created the monster by giving her an all-access pass to what happens in his office. I make really good money but I'm irritated and insulted every single day. It's not just me - many others have this complaint and are also too afraid to speak up. Time to just call it a day and move on? 6/4/2012 2:25:28 PM2
Lunch at your workarea or lunch in the breakroom? When I first started my current job I was part time so I only got a 15 min. paid break. I also worked another job so depending on my schedule for the day I would have to eat my lunch on my 15 min. break. I ate lunch at my desk one day and my boss informed me that we shouldn?t eat at our desks because we are on the front lines. We work on the 1st floor of our building and have visitors and coworkers down our hall all the time. But my boss will eat in their office at their conference table (hiding behind a wall so no one sees them). Their other thoughts on lunch are that we all shouldn?t go at the same time if possible (someone should be there just in case). We had a new person start in our department a year and half ago and I told them this. So they eat at their conference table almost everyday (I think so that someone will be in the office in case needed and so they are proving to our boss they can be that person. I also think because they don?t like to socialize with others). I'm... Annoymous 5/18/2012 9:57:27 AM0
Continue to ?Grin and Bear It? or time to move on? I received a promotion about a year ago at work and I now work for one of our Vice Presidents. Most of the time, I absolutely LOVE my job. However, in the last few months I?ve noticed that my boss isn?t the person I thought he was. He is sneaky and just flat out disgusting. Just to give an example he cussed me out one day when I wouldn?t come into his office when I was on a phone call with our CEO. (who also works in our office) I have had a few other issues with him and he makes me very uneasy to the point that I have gone to HR about him. He doesn?t give me a lot of work to do ? and the things that he does give me I can have finished in about an hour or so. I?ve been helping our CEO?s Executive Assistant with her workload and that has kept me pretty busy. I think he has noticed and he doesn?t like it. Now, if I?m helping her and he asks me for something ? I go right away and do the thing that he has asked me to complete and then I will go back and help her. The other people that I w... Anonymous 5/10/2012 10:44:07 AM8
Common Courtesy Does no one have common courtesy anymore? Or respect for your fellow team in your department? I have a team member that can?t tell me (I?m an executive admin.) until there is only one form left that they need some. Yes I?m suppose to check it every once and awhile but if you are in the folder all the time can?t you tell me when there are like five left. Granted it?s going to effect them more then me if they actually need one. Then they asked me to take care of something (that they generated) and I said sure. Then went and took care of it but never told me. I went to go take care of it and it was gone. REALLY? They listen to their voicemails on speaker phone. They dial on speaker phone. Which another employee in our building asked me about because they past by our offices. So this other employee took it upon themselves to say something to them (it didn?t help). They also worry about things that are none of their concern. Like I make the IDs for our business, more then once they?ve wo... Annoymous 4/20/2012 2:22:46 PM1
Personal health information required for third party? I work for a small nonprofit, which has never been able to get healthcare benefits for employees. The director is now looking into it. All FTE employees (two, soon to be three) have just been given a form we're required to fill out completely to be mailed to a person whose title is "consultant" at an insurance brokerage firm (not an insurance company) that doesn't list their employees on their website. The form requests confidential information usually provided only to a doctor or other healthcare professional. We are to fill out and mail this information regardless of whether we will take advantage of the plan or not, AND regardless of even whether the director and board decide to purchase health insurance for employees! I don't feel comfortable **at all** providing my sensitive health information to a total stranger at a company I don't know and who is not even a representative of an insurance company. I didn't request this benefit, and I won't use it as my wife's in... Patrick McKenna 3/26/2012 9:42:40 AM9
This is totally off the wall -- but I have to ask this question Are the 'professionals' in your office as incapable of learning how to use the phone system or computers and other equipment as the ones I've experienced lately? These people ask for all the bells and whistles and latest and greatest additions for everything from the phone system to the postage meter and then can't seem to learn how to use them - e or their retention is zilch because they have been shown repeatedly how to do things - and still they can't seem to get it! And how I pity the guys in IT - they have to deal with this DUMBNESS on an hourly basis! It totally amazes me - yes, admins are supposed to be the 'eyes and ears, the helping hands' for their bosses -- but are you supposed to be their BRAIN as well!? Sorry -- I just had to vent a bit -- but there are days when I feel like I've discovered the Land of Dumb and Dumber! Office Person 1/27/2012 11:16:05 AM12
Advice Workplace Issue I have an employee who is a senior and has been with the company for over 10 years. She does not have the ability to pay attention to detail. Alot of small errors. We recently had an upgrade and changed the way we process our paying our invoices. She has been trained and has to be told over and over how to get around in the system. She will not right anything down. She has questioned me on how to do a procedure that she has been doing the same way for years. I do not know if she is having trouble with her memory. Should I ask her to provide us with a "Fit for Duty" report from her doctor. Thank you Serena Anonymous 1/21/2012 5:50:47 PM2
New Employee - The Honeymoon is OVER! A new person started in my department. They were very nice & worked well with others for about the first 5 months. Then while questioning me about something that was already in place stormed out of my office & said I won that one. It has continued if they ask me anything & don't like my answer they storm or give me the evil eye look. I have found they are rude to other employees (even sort of snotty). They seem to carry over my head that they have more experice in our line of work always telling me they know how to do this & how to do that. But yet has stopped asking questions about our department & how we do things & I feel has had too many iffy areas. They also seem to not complete a project until they have to. And things that are common sense for our department they miss. They help employees in my "area" even when I'm sitting at my desk & could help. I finally mentioned to my boss about the helping employees stating that I think you should se... Annoymous 12/27/2011 3:31:46 PM6
Office social 'events' or contests being turned into beer fests Why do your office functions have to be contests . . . and with beer? Can't you just have a potluck during the lunch hour? At our office, we have several functions throughout the year, none of which have beer. (Definitely not allowed in the workplace due to the liability.) One of our staff members even organized a swap where folks brought kitchenware they did not use and everyone had a chance to take something home. We have even done this with children's clothing, cookies during the holidays, etc. Our office is relatively small (40) but we always have tremendous participation be it for a baby shower, Halloween, or a scrapbooking session. Carole Loeb 10/10/2011 1:58:37 PM0
Office social 'events' or contests being turned into beer fests HR has been attempting to do some group social things during working hours -- many people are interested - and we had a cookie bake off - which lead to other 'challenges' such as a chili contest. That event got hijacked by a director of the company - who changed the time of the contest from lunch to later in the afternoon so that they could all drink beer - NOT what the majority wanted, but what can you say to a 'person in a leadership position'? Now they want some more contests - but some (women) in the office are not likely to be participating because the timing of these contests are not for lunch but for 'late afternoon' which means - you guessed it - beer. I'm NOT against alcohol - but this is NOT enjoyable - and if you want another reason to keep out of these 'events' - this director also appoints himself chief judge - and rigs the results to benefit HIS people. What to do???? Office Person 10/5/2011 3:00:49 PM9
1 2
Return to ForumsAdd thread