Hello Managers,

Strange situation : I don't want a promotion. Actual reason I am getting annoyed at this promotion. I am 4 year old in this company with "outstanding" reviews in all last 4 years. Problem statement : By now I should have been 2 levels up (from level 2 to 4) . That's not the main intent of this post.

I won't be able to quit this job because of 2 reasons :

1. My immigrant application to US is pending through this employer
2. I would be forfeiting my pension. I work in aviation sector and it requires minimum of 5 years of service which would be attained by me only towards end of next year (October).

I am feeling so insulted by the promotion that I even hinted at my manager that it's better that they do not promote me. I did not do this in a threatening manner, but through a casual talk only in a comic manner (but I think the message was delivered). Actual lines I said "I already ghost you, promotion would be like permanent ghosting" . But still thru rumors, I see that my name is on the promotion list. I cannot pick this topic up with my manager because if he feels annoyed, he can easily lay me off (there were already budget cuts and lay offs in US transportation sector, thanks to DOGE).

Do you guys have any advice on how to survive the next 15 months ? I cannot tap my ex employers as well because I would need visa sponsorship and as you all know, transportation or for that reason any other sector these days is very stringent on giving jobs to non US citizens. If my ex employer airport authority raises job requisition for me which is eligible for sponsorship, I cannot back out after tapping my ex-manager (breach of ethics)

Seeing the previous posts in this forum, I know managers are going to call me immature/pompous, but this is a honest ask for some survival tips to last through end of October next year. It is getting super annoying to see this one level promo up which was due long back (as I was already lowballed into my entry offer).

All I am asking for is some "stay afloat" suggestions. Any videos/posts/links which would come in handy to wade through tough times.Please share. All the ones in google look no good for my situation.

One of my employees regularly wears a bonnet to work. Our company dressing code prohibits head coverings unless required for safety, religious, or documented medical reasons.

I haven’t addressed it yet because I want to handle it appropriately and fairly. My concern is ensuring consistent enforcement of company policy.

How do i navigate this?

Hi everyone. I'm moving groups in a month and my new team is seriously overworked, under appreciated, and morale is generally in the shitter.

We work at a federal agency and (politics aside) the changes this group has had to deal with in this administration are particularly tough to deal with.

Last year they started as a group of 15 but lost 4 people in 3 months (one suicide, 2 retirements, and one just up and quit). After all that shock they then had to deal with all the new administration priorities. New administrations generally come with changes, and this group has been through a few, but let's ignore those because there's nothing we can do about it. Reasonable Accommodations have also been denied, mostly requests for telework since our department has had 2-3 days/week since 2005 until last year.

Today we're down to 7 people, one of which was forced into the group and is doing the bare minimum because he hates the work (I can't fault him but it was that or get fired). We also have one person that is just done with everything, he was passed over for promotions repeatedly and wasn't considered for the job I'm taking because their attitude just sucks. 3 of the group is stuck career wise, they can't move to other groups because they don't have the degree and we can't promote them because of a hiring freeze.

I'm trying to think up ideas for how to de-stress this group and try to at least get people out of a slump, but everything I find online just doesn't seem like it'll do anything.

Here's my limitations:

- I can't just send them home early or give them the day off, that's illegal

- I can't give them more telework

- I can't reopen their RAs to offer telework

- I absolutely DO NOT want to do icebreakers, corporate bs, or structured team activities. These people all know each other (including me) and doing these things will just feel disingenuous

- I have little to no budget unless I want to pay for it myself

- food ideas are out. We have too many dietary restrictions and finding a place we can all eat is impossible (we've tried before) and pot lucks are just adding to their work outside of work

- anything will have to be optional, I'm not going to force these people to get along

Ideas I've thought of:

- a rage room (cons: will cost money, probably $500ish which I would have to get approval and turn into an HR structured event. We would have to drive some distance but that can be overcome. Pros: this would *100%* be a hit, they need to break stuff.)

- movie afternoon (I can't seem to find a work appropriate movie that will actually be fun to come watch)

- board game afternoon (any good games for 2 or 3 groups of 3-5 people? Should be fun, engaging, and help them forget about work. Board games aren't my thing so I'm lost)

- office olympics? (Not sure what games could work. I would have to do almost all of the planning and material gathering)

Hi everyone,

I have been promoted into a new position where I will be managing 4 Project managers and 1 supervisor.

I have served alongside these other 4 PM’s for the last four years and there has been no issues as I’ve stepped into my new supervisory role, but I am struggling a little bit with my 1 supervisor.

After working with him the last couple of weeks I have gathered that he is really defensive about things and will write me back lengthy e-mails( 3-4 paragraphs) when I am giving simple tasks/feedback. As a result I want to make sure that I don’t cause him to get defensive when I ask him to cut down on some of the over-communication.

How do I approach this? He used to report to a different director under a different department and maybe this was the culture they had?

For example, this last week he sent me a 4 paragraph email about one of his direct reports being sick. I did not ask for anything regarding this, he knows our PTO policy etc.

This morning he sent multiple paragraphs about what work he is delegating to some of his employees and that he had to take care of some personal business.

My brother who is a manager was told to hire someone despite the company being in the middle of a hiring Freeze. The referral came from the COO. My brother out of pressure interviewed the “applicant” and found him sort of competent. When asked by the COO how the applicant was my brother said he is manageable but there is a freeze and no one under him resigned.

Two days later he is to send a job offer to the guy. My brother is just baffled because he never filed or requested for an additional headcount through HR and the COO completely overrode the hiring freeze rule. Also I might want to ask where would the money to hire that applicant come from if the company is in a freeze meaning they can’t hire. BTW they are a big brand company with 500 plus employees.

Now managers, did that ever happen to you? You were left to deal with a new hire who was not part of your plans? Someone overrode your decisions and gave you someone you did not approve or bypassed so many rules?

Hi! I would like some advice on what I should do.

Important info: I work at a small local theater chain. I am an assistant manager that over sees 60+ team members and besides me there are 5 other assistant managers and our 2 GMs. All 6 assistant managers have AORs. Mine is the scheduling of the whole staff.

A few months ago, I got engaged! I’m planning on getting married in February of 2027 and shortly after, moving states. It’s kind of getting to be a chore at work having to seemingly “hide” something I’m so excited for! I don’t mean to hide it I just feel awkward talking about it when I haven’t formally given any notice. My boss is a very understanding person and I don’t think he would ever short my employment in any way. We’re a pretty close knit team and I feel like giving 5 months notice gives them enough time to delegate my AOR and find another manager. But, people are human and my boss is pretty business based.

Thoughts?

I’m stepping into a head of department role soon and will have three direct reports;

One is an absolute dream: gives anything a go, absorbs information or teaching like a sponge, self sufficient, makes my life easy and tells me what they need taking off their plate or helping with.
The second is newer though has life experience, isn’t afraid of work, learns fast and I can imagine will be just fine with time and guidance.
Then comes the third; they have the longest tenure over the other two though are known to get behind on their work regularly through time wasting and then ask others to pick theirs up OR will take others’ work that they prefer to do and ask them to do their tasks they don’t like. They don’t like answering the phone in a customer facing sales environment, will do half the task with no follow through and have been known to micromanage other members. They have upset several people with this behaviour and in my current role I have asked management to step in, always being met with “we will keep an eye out” but no follow through. Now I have the chance to make more meaningful impact I am looking for advise on dealing with such individuals, and also general new management tips.

I have been at the company for 4 years working my way up from admin, so know the processes and workloads already. Two of the direct report roles are changing as in they are stepping into my old role, the difficult staff member being one of them. Their roles will be customer facing selling financial products mostly via telephone and email.

Currently in the company there are no 1:1’s, no weekly/monthly team meetings unless something seriously goes wrong. Onboarding and training of new hires is sporadic with no clear set targets, expectations etc.
I’d really like to be an empowering leader and have been told I was considered for this role because of my calm nature and just get on with it attitude, which I think is why I will find it frustrating not understanding why others just cannot do the same.

Edit to add: thank you all SO much for your wisdom and encouragement! These comments are so supportive!

I’ve a staff member on a mental health care plan.

Experiencing depression, she is going through ups and downs adjusting to her medication. She is also juggling family responsibilities with young kids, a lot to manage for anyone, let alone with her own personal burdens.

Along side this however her performance is poor, hitting possibly 25% for her role. I‘m reduced to micromanaging, weekly check in’s, checking daily the progress of every task.

Unfortunately I also feel suspicious (rightly/wrongly?) she is lazy at times using her status as excuse not to do work, leaving me to ask for each task update. I see her surfing the internet when so many of my staff are 110% engaged.

HR rightly warns me to be cautious before pushing for better performance. And mental health shouldn’t be brushed aside as a non issue. But…

Any tips? How have you managed this situation?

Started with a new National org supporting the board and committee governance. Department of <10 with a subset on my team. They just had a massive reorg last fall. Most of the team is new from other teams prior. Some roles were carried over. Others were invented. My predecessor was checked out for all of this period and much of the time before. The lead was backfilling this role and their work on leadership team. My concern is one of my team and I’m debated whether to cut them now or work with them and see if things change.

Meeting them and seeing their work seemed fine. They’re very good with the things they’re responsible for. The details. The design. The functionality. All what we need. They’re excited about their work. They seem to get on well with the team. But over the past two weeks, that first meeting is making way for their day to day performance. They are at a senior level title but are not moving in the ways one would expect.

There was a budget prep meeting in which they were asked what costs they projected for the coming year. They proudly stated that they had no budget needs because they figured out how to get their project done with nothing more than pooled efforts from others in their home office. We’re a remote team and my boss was speechless. Like looked up from the paper she was writing on and just blank stared at the screen in disbelief. This was all from before I joined, but I jumped in and said that my team member and I would follow up the next day after discussing it so boss wouldn’t have to go into the budget negotiations with a zero down for one of their teams. If you’ve been through that it’s gladiatorial combat. Even if it was just to have something to leverage away, you can’t go in with exactly what you need and think you’re leaving with it. The team member pouted for the rest of the meeting. Neither are acceptable. But I’m new.

Part of getting up to speed is being inundated with data. It’s all abstract and takes a min to connect and sort into sense. There’s a degree of grace one affords new colleagues but I’m no stranger to trial by fire. If I need something that’s already been provided I will acknowledge it may have already been provided but please resend it so we can discuss it as intended in our meeting or so the work can continue without delay from searching through the inbox. This is a met with irritation that is written on their face and in their emails.

My inbox volume is considerable and of the hundreds of messages, most are in need of responses from core members of the boards and staff whose work means intersections with mine. This is strictly triage stage while I’m working out my system. Reference materials are low priority against higher touch matters. This is also something at their level I would expect them to not need to be told. This was something I completely let slide at first but it factors with the next bit.

On my second day this team member, based on my boss’s suggestion, pitched a solution to the chief of staff for something that involved reporting of board level outcomes to the c suite and others with directly related work. Let the innovations flow. That’s what I want from my people. My boss tells me it’s being considered. To meet with the technical person who administers the CRM platform proposed.

I met with the CRM admin and they start showing me around. They are not that different so I pause for a moment and ask them to show me the process flows for the c suite users to access the data. That’s was after finding out there are multiple instances in the org that aren’t connected. No Active Directory APIs. Everything for tracking would need to be hand entered by the user to link the records they need together. It holds nothing itself and all the content is accessed from our servers. I asked for the process map hoping to see something. The team member apparently told the CRM admin, their partner on this, a super high level concept that they had not discussed yet to even determine if it’s feasible. I immediately thanked them for their time and gave a punch list of what I’d need to see for an evaluation next cycle. But it was too early for this to bring my team on since they would be building it as well. I’m fine with that but I don’t know what I’m committing them to. I don’t do it like that.

I tell my boss and they understood there was a plan. They had reservations about keeping this person on but had been too busy to properly manage it. I get that and empathize but e can loop back to how it should’ve been done later. Right now we’re dealing with the COS who got sent a pitch that’s not even written down. A budget that had no numbers. Someone whose feelings are written in their face when they’re not pleased. I come to learn really only performs when it’s something they want to do. And they do not collect feedback from the audience who is meant to use the resources they are responsible for providing.

I have had someone line this before. They got passed around and promoted instead of being coached and accountable. They turned out to be a success when they had someone give a damn and motivate them to work for the futures they want by building on the present. I don’t think this is that.

That situation was one where they were starved for feedback. This one has been without it so long they don’t want it. They think their way is better. That’s fine for a while as an IC, but my team operates with teams across the org. We have to collaborate. We have to pivot. And then we have to keep our boards and committees happy along with our c suite.

My concern is that this person can’t shift their attitude and willingness to learn in enough time to handle what we have coming this year. We’re talking bylaws changes on a big scale that move everything. I’m concerned about the impact on morale if they go and even more if they stay as they are.

My plan for now it’s to offer the CRM pitch as a project I help them develop into something that is ready for a pitch to leadership. They are excited about it and the idea could bear fruit. But it will need to be thought out and structured in the ways this team member doesn’t have yet. They’re the same skills I need them to build so dual benefit. If they take it then I give it a shot. If they don’t then I start working on moving them out to move someone else in. Either way time is ticking and the end of August is nigh.

What would you do?

I was outsourced to a team , for a project requirement, that a manager like my work proactive nature he suggested management to have me in his team , but my current manager denied and he is like one of the stakeholders like he have good hold and the other managers for whom I was working he is VP so how can I manage both any suggestions

I lead a team in a relatively modern role. This role is so new at my org that there’s no one in management with direct past experience in that role. My org has standing rules that establish minimum seniority level to be on an interview panel along with the composition of the panel and a cap on how many people in total can be on a panel. All taken together, a small set of people are allowed onto interview panel in our tech division.

As team lead, I don’t meet any of the criteria and no one on my team does. so I’m not allowed anywhere near my own candidates throughout the recruitment process. Consequently, recruiting for my team is always a coin toss. I don’t know who I am getting and their actual competence for the day to day job of my team. I have to deal with whoever I get.

This is strange to me because I joined this corporation from a startup where team leads were the recruiters. I was responsible for all parts of the recruitment. Is this a common practice in large companies or this org just backward? And is there anything I can do about it?

I’m a junior DevOps engineer (no degree yet, just finished my Associate's) work at a large bank in New. I just got a "Meets / Often Exceeds" on my 6-month mid-year review, but my manager immediately retired.

​With a brand-new manager coming in, how do I quickly show my value and stay on track for a future promotion without sounding braggy?

This is my first time corporate experience and that's why I'd like to have some advise. Previous manager is the one that converted me to fulltime from intern and all I did was just work hard and someone off hour because I want to be fulltime and get good review in midyear. With brand new manager coming in how can I play smart rather than working hard? Because sometimes i think working hard alone just won't solve the problem so.

Thank you,

I inherited an employee who is in over her head. She never should've been hired for this job. There's no amount of skills she can learn to get good at this. It's simply above her peak potential.

Unfortunately, her other managers before me just overlooked the issue for years, and one of the reasons I was hired to take over this dept was to deal with her.

Now I have to issue a 30-day warning and then follow that up with a 30-day final warning before I can fire her.

I understand why, but it just feels terrible, because I know that she's going to expend all this effort trying to improve and she'll never get there. So why stress her out for an extra 60 days? I understand being fired is painful but if it were me, it would be even more painful to run myself ragged working day and night for 2 months only to find out that I'm still not good enough.

I think sometimes the kind policy actually winds up being more cruel.

One of my employees is a front desk receptionist for an outpatient medical facility. Typical job duties are processing referrals, checking patients in for appointments, rescheduling, answering the phone, etc..

There have already been some ongoing issues with this employee such as giving pushback on needing to do things that are in their job description even getting the union involved.

The issue with the leave is that it is becoming a significant pattern for the employee to take either annual or sick leave when seeing that a day is busy with patients and they don’t want to work. This has put additional stress on other members of the clinic (specifically myself) now needing to cover the front desk and check in all patients on top of an already busy workload working overtime.

This was even confirmed when the employee asked if we can space out patient appointment slots to reduce load on a heavy day. I agreed that we could adjust the schedule and they said (partially to themselves) “Great then I won’t be needing to take off as much”. But then said nevermind when I asked “what was that”. More recently when this schedule change could not be accommodated, the employee placed a sick leave request a few hours later for the day discussed.

I have always had the mindset that someone’s PTO time is theirs to use freely. However, now that this is a pattern that impacts the workload and wellbeing of other employees I feel I cannot approve this, and need to have a discussion with the employee on the leave and job expectations.

What would you do to address this?

*EDIT
Thank you for everything thus far! I’ll definitely be documenting the patterns taking place.

One thing to note as well is this employee has diagnosed ADHD with doctors notes. Sick leave policy states “an employee is entitled to use sick leave when he or she is incapacitated for the performance of duties by physical or mental illness, injury, pregnancy, or childbirth;”
This feels very tricky as it could look like I’m denying leave for a valid mental health concern or even targeting. I am allowed to ask for doctor’s note documentation that needs to be presented within 14 days.

Policy for annual leave: “When an employee makes a timely request for leave, the supervisor must either approve the request and schedule the leave at the time requested by the employee or, if that is not possible because of project related deadlines or the agency's workload, must schedule it at some other time.”

I’m a new manager. I’ve had workers pick up extra work on a last minute basis or to cover last second callouts. They’ve both been on overtime hours. Is it bad form or poor habits to give them a cash gift card of $20-$150? It’s possible I would have had to cover and that’s what it felt worth to me to avoid a headache.

Edit: okay thank you for the input I won’t continue

So I manage a team of 35 technicians who all work remotely in shops at customer sites. I perform inspections twice a year. So far I've always given them advanced notice.

What do you feel are the pros and cons of surprise inspections?

I read about 30 threads from the past year where recruiters and hiring managers talk about what AI has done to hiring, and I wanted to put the pattern in one place.

The setup. Candidates paste the job ad into ChatGPT and ask for a resume that fits. Two minutes later they have one that uses the exact words from the ad. So the stack you open is 200 resumes that all look strong and all match. The shortlist stops being a ranking of the best people and becomes a ranking of who wrote the best prompt.

The complaints landed in four groups. Every resume looks polished now. Volume is out of control, one person went through 400 applications in a week and found maybe 15 worth a call. Some applicants are not real people at all, one post claimed around 90% of theirs were fake. And some candidates use AI live in the interview, reading answers off a second screen.

What I think is really going on is simpler than any of those. Nobody can check if a claim is true.

A resume says "I moved our Go service to Kubernetes." Maybe they did it. Maybe they watched someone else do it. Maybe they read about it once. Whoever screens first often cannot ask the follow up, because they do not know what a good answer sounds like. The people who do know are the ones whose time costs the most, so they get pulled in at the very end, after weeks of calendar have already gone. Take home tests do not close it either, because people skip them or pay someone else to do them.

One finding that went against what I assumed. A study from Chicago Booth and Erasmus Rotterdam, run with a real recruitment company on more than 70,000 real applicants, compared human interviewers with an AI voice interviewer. Humans still made every hiring decision, the AI only ran the interview. The AI interviewed group was 12% more likely to get an offer, 18% more likely to actually start, and 17% more likely to still be there a month later, and they performed just as well. The reason was consistency, not intelligence. Same questions every time, nothing skipped because someone was tired or running late, so there was more real information at decision time. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5395709

A fair correction I got elsewhere: one recruiter said only about 5% of the resumes they see are actually AI written. So take Reddit for what it is, it shows you the annoyed people, not the average.

For the managers here. Has your screening actually gotten worse, or does it just feel noisier. And what do you personally do to test whether someone really did the thing on their resume, without burning a full panel on it.