r/WorkAdvice

i'm not sure how to interpret this anymore.

Monday 1:1: You need to take more initiative and stop waiting for direction.

Wednesday slack: Please don't start on anything new without checking with me first.

Friday catch up: "I'd love to see you be more independent."

I've been here 14 months. The feedback has been like this the entire time. Be more autonomous but also check everything. Take initiative but also don't surprise me. Lead your projects but also loop me in on every decision.

I've tried asking for clarification and I get "it's about judgment, you'll develop a feel for it." I haven't developed a feel for it. I just feel confused and like I'm constantly doing the wrong thing regardless of which direction I pick.

Is this a bad manager or am I missing something?

Im from Mumbai . I've just completed my graduation in bcom plain lol and im trying to find a job at this point any job bcz I've not done tally so most companies don't hire I want to do it but rn im broke I was thinking to find a normal job rn like any call center, data entry anything but im not able to find the only jobs I'm able to find is in sales I heard it's hectic and and in tele calling which are rotational my family is not allowing me to do job at night time I'm so confuse and anyone help me with suggestion?

My friend’s boyfriend was arrested on false accusations and won’t be released until later. How does she tell his work that he can’t come in without saying specifically he was arrested or get him fired.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the gap between “employee-first culture” and what actually happens in many workplaces.

A lot of companies promote work-life balance, mental health support, and employee engagement programs - but at the same time, employees are still expected to:

• reply after work hours
• extend shifts without proper compensation
• skip breaks during busy periods
• stay “flexible” even when boundaries aren’t respected

From a labor law and employee relations perspective, where should companies draw the line between operational needs and employee rights?

Do you think:

• unpaid overtime is becoming too normalized?
• employees are afraid to speak up because of retaliation or job security?
• HR departments truly protect employees, or mainly protect the company?

Curious to hear perspectives from:

• HR professionals
• managers
• labor law experts
• employees who’ve experienced burnout or workplace disputes

What policies actually work in creating fair employee relations?

so I am 19 years old and today was my first day at work ever, I have never worked before. The problem is that it’s a really demanding job because I have been employed at a bakery.
I don’t even know if the worst thing is the fact that my manager said that my colleagues didn’t want to work with me because they didn’t want to work with someone that is inexperienced or if it is the clients that were making fun of me for being new or even being extremely rude knowing that I was new.
I have done so many mistakes, but I feel like I won’t be able to be as efficient as my other colleagues and I feel like there are going to see me as a burden. I don’t even know if they are going to keep me in the bakery or fire me.
To be honest when I came home this evening, I called my mom for two hours and I just cried because I am not confident in myself and now it’s worse
honestly, I hope that I will be able to get better at this job. The problem is that it was my friend that recommended me to her manager because she was leaving in the summer so I basically took her place and I really don’t want to disappoint her by quitting the job or even if she hears that I’ve been bad at my job.
please give me any advice for my next day tomorrow.

last week i was brought into my CIO’s office and was terminated on the spot. no warnings, no write ups, no performance plan. the reason given was poor performance. i had only received positive feedback prior. my direct manager wasn’t even there when i was terminated. it just seems really sketchy to me. even though it was an at will employer, is there anything i can do here?

Hey Yall,

I'm normally a teacher, but things felll through last minute this year and I needed another job temporarily. I chose to work at a bank as a teller so I could study languages during the slow times. Ive been doing so since I started 6 months ago. My manager is a hyper micro manager. Everyone knows it and in my six months, already 7 people have quit or transfered due to her control issues. Just recently she realized I've been studying and has threatened to send me home from work if she catches me doing it again. I literally just practice writing and mentally saying words I wrote down in a notebook I use for work. She tells me if I'm not using my down time to memorize bank policies and products that I am actively burning company money.

Point being, can she even do that? Arent I protected since I am performing above my peers in work metrics and am fullfilling all of the jobs expectations? Whenever she asks me to do something above and beyond, I do it without complaint. She just gets mad if I finish and she sees me from across the room not actively looking at my computer screen. She also says if I'm not looking at my screen or talking to my peers for any reason then I am zoning out or working on outside work that should be done at home and not work. Again, she is a hyper micro manager.

Thanks for any input.

Edit: I see I explained things poorly. I completely understand a boss has the right to give you work to do during slow times. Thats understandable. I am refering specifically to whether they can send you home for doing something after you have completed all their required tasks, there are no further instructions to follow, no one around to ask for further instructions, and what you are doing does not distract or impede your ability to complete further tasks such as helping a customer. Also, when I say studying. I am refering to simply copying words over and over again on a notebook next to the information I wrote down for work. In no way could a customer tell I would be doing something not required by work. Its not like I have a textbook out or something. The only way the boss ever caught me after these 6 months of consistently doung it was I left it open by accident when going to help another employee with something.

It's such a long (and frankly dull) story, but I've got an unopened text from my boss regarding an ongoing disagreement around my schedule and it's my day off and I'm debating how to handle it.

This has been ongoing and far more complicated than it ever should be. I've been with the company for 5 years and have never had scheduling issues in the past. My boss is 8 months in, her boss is maybe 2 years in, and her boss is brand new, so this is the new VP's first introduction to "me" which is annoying af.

I got a surprising text from my boss flagging an "issue" that, in my experience, was not an issue at all based on the schedule I was given or anything I've seen in the past. This was time sensitive so she looped me into the email thread and I replied all with my input, which included all the bosses mentioned and HR. I explained my case, got a frustrating response back from my boss's boss, and responded one last time before putting my phone away and going on with my day.

I had a huge stress response that even my watch flagged my heart rate while I was trying to chill out after sending the last email. I did some coping strategies to calm myself down but, now there is a new text from my boss.

I can't decide if I should just read it to "get it over with" or let it sit until my day off is coming to an end or even in the morning, to "protect my peace."

Ultimately how the "issue" is handled is out of my hands. I said my piece and the stakes are honestly low, but it's been such a long winded off and on, back and forth, and I've being given conflicting information at every turn that it's so hard for me to not have a stress response due to how frustrating this all has been.

I already decided not to read it so far, but it's in the back of my mind and I'm seeking validation that it's the lesser of 2 evils. I just can't decide which is worse and am curious how others navigate situations like this?

I was asked about interviewing for a management position at my new job after only 3 1/2 months on the floor. I’m a solid server, very agreeable, on time, good work ethic, etc. I have no experience prior. Could I have some real advice to try to be the best manager I can be? Interview tips would be so appreciated as I will be talking to the district manager soon, thank you to anyone who responds!

I run a company with around 40 employees spread across multiple countries and I’ve had a pretty rough experience with global payroll providers so far.

I started with a platform that worked fine for US employees, but the international side wasn’t reliable enough once we expanded. After that, I moved to a larger enterprise provider, but the support has been frustrating and costs have steadily increased without much improvement in service.

Now I’m trying to find a global payroll setup that actually works well across multiple regions, handles compliance properly, and doesn’t become painful to deal with as the company scales. Open to any recommendations or experiences with tools that have been consistently reliable for distributed teams.

I am an events intern at a small company in Etobicoke. I was going through the sharepoint files trying to find something when I came across the internship interview files. I know I shouldn’t have, but I opened the files and went through some of the files. 3-4 files generally because I wanted to see if I’m in there but then I went through specifically 2 people’s interview files and resumes etc (only for like 5 seconds but still) till I found mine.
I only wanted to find mine but now i’m panicking because even though nobody explicitly told me not to open them I feel so stupid because those could be considered “confidential” or like a breach or whatever.

Obviously I won’t say anything but the internship is already not going super well- this is my first ever Internship and I’m super awkward talking to people and i feel like I ask too many questions, and this is the cherry on top. Will HR or my Director know? Can I get fired over this?

FYI I work in marketing, I'm the marketing manager and my boss is the head of our department.

We've started using ai agent's which I'm not a fan of anyway but it's what the big boss wants and I write all my content there yet somehow my boss still does rewrites.

A lot of the time it's not true rewrites just changing wording or structure which makes me feel like he's doing it for the sake of control and I often feel like they read worse after because he's not a writer. Often abrupt ends and no connectives.

How can I have a conversation about this.

I'm well over six months in now and redefined their entire marketing which is having a massive impact commercially.

I'm speaking at big meetings and in charge of comms but can't get him to stop.

How can I get him to relinquish control?

Tl;dr: My male colleague keeps asking to hang out, go to events together, and expressing wanting to come to, and even stay at, my house. I think he might be interested in me romantically but I don’t carry the same sentiments in any sense, even platonically. I don’t even particularly like working with him. I find him to be rude, demanding to the point of needy, obnoxious, entitled, nasty, and quite frankly, creepy. When we’ve met in person at work functions he hugs me for too long, won’t let go, and sniffs my hair. At work he talks to me like a pet which I find incredibly disrespectful. He shouts at me and others, including the boss, if they don’t do what he wants, even if what he wants is unreasonable or wrong for the task. I’m in a high level position and shut it down as I should, professionally of course, but he starts arguments, throws tantrums, and becomes extremely difficult to work with. Have made a formal complaint, as have others, he was sent for therapy but that’s it. He still conducts himself in the same manner. He lived far away but has recently moved close to me. I don’t know how to shut down his invites without it negatively affecting work, and I’m scared he finds out where I live.

We work remotely but have met twice in person through in person work functions. Both times he insisted on hugging me, grabbing me and pulling me into it even though I made it obvious and expressed verbally that I’m not a hugger and tried to shake his hand, held on for FAR too long and wouldn’t let go, and *sniffed my hair*. *Both times*.

He lived in a city about a 16 hour drive away so I’ve only seen him at work functions. He would come close to my city for work every few months, to a city about an hour away, and a couple of times he asked if he could come over and even stay at my house. I always politely said no, using the reasoning that firstly, I don’t have space, and second, I’m an hour away from the city he’d be working in and with traffic it would be two, and I wouldn’t be waking up that early to let him out. I love my sleep and wake up early enough. Most of the time it fortunately didn’t align as I was busy or had a friend staying over.

He recently moved to the city an hour away and has already started asking me if I want to go to events with him. While the events sound like something I’d enjoy, I *do not* want to be alone with him, spend time with him, or encourage an outside of work relationship with him in any way. I don’t feel safe around him, when in person he floats around me, is always staring at me (sometimes I’m sure he’s watching me while our cameras are on too in remote meetings) and seems to try to get me alone with him a lot. He looks at me like I’m a piece of meat.

At work he’s constantly making these quips at me, negging me, and talking to me like I’m a pet. I hold a high level position, managing a lot of projects that he’s on which he frequently tries to take charge of. I find it highly disrespectful. He shouts at me, others and even the boss when he doesn’t get his way, even if what he wants is unreasonable or wrong for the task. When I shut down this behaviour, which I always do and professionally, he tries to talk down to and degrade me, sometimes starting full blown arguments. It doesn’t matter to me. He’s a colleague and I act with professionalism, I only care about getting the work done properly, but when that happens he becomes near impossible to work with and can derail work and timelines. I’ve made a formal complaint about him in the past, as have other colleagues, but they just sent him for therapy which clearly isn’t working. He has the same conduct as prior to therapy. We’ve worked together for a few years at this point and I have tried to get along with him, always professionally, remember his good points and give him the benefit of the doubt. He really is incredible at what he does and admire him for that, we do have things in common and has been nice to me regarding my pet which he shows a lot of interest in (even recently stating he *has* to meet him now that he’s so close). We work well together for the most part with a lot of wrangling and working very hard to keep it exclusively professional from my side. But try as I might, in my heart he gives me a very bad vibe and I just can’t bring myself to feel comfortable around him. I just don’t like him at all.

I joke to my friend that I feel like if I’m alone with him in person he’ll try kidnap me and keep me in a cupboard. Only a part of me is joking. He gives me that feeling. A couple of colleagues have noticed this too when we meet at in person events, with one of my close colleagues expressing making a point of her own accord to get in the way when she saw he was trying to corner me alone. I hadn’t expressed the weird feeling I got to her yet at that point. He recently invited me to an event again over private messaging channels and I’ve ignored it. I’m not on my phone a lot anyway because I’m working most of the time and busy outside of that. Work messages come through dedicated work channels and not on my phone, and I only use my phone to message family outside of that, and live with my closest friends. He recently sent me something for a project through work channels and tacked on at the end “it seems personal channels aren’t a good way to keep in touch”. I know he was talking about the invite because we don’t use personal channels for work related things. I completely ignored that addition and only responded to the work part.

I don’t know what to do now that he’s living so close. I’m frankly scared he finds out where I live. He was a nepo hire through my boss’s relationship with his uncle and lived down the road from her (that’s not to say he’s not incredibly skilled with his work but that’s how he got the job). She has this weird soft spot for him and a belief that he’s troubled but harmless. My boss knows where I live and has been to my house, she’s all for employees spending time together outside of work as we work remotely, and has a tendency to tell people things she shouldn’t, so I’m concerned she lets it slip. I also perform music as a hobby and those events are publicly advertised with the venue and I’m concerned he shows up at one.

I don’t know what to do. A perk is I’ve resigned but will still be consulting for the company and working with him on the projects I’ll be consulting on. I’ve experienced this before at past jobs and my standard reaction is to shut it down totally and blatantly say I have no desire to have any kind relationship outside of work, but none of those men were nearly this difficult or creepy, and from past experience with him I’m sure he’ll make working with him *extremely* difficult and implicate the projects, and if he does, that nothing will happen should I formally report it.

Any advice?

Hi guys,

I’m working in hospitality in Australia - at a sports club

I put in my leave about a 8 weeks ago however my new boss didn’t approve it or look at it, so I resubmitted the leave a week ago and sent him an email regarding the issue.

Saying that I had to resubmit it if he can look at it and see if it can get approved. 1 day later he approved my leave for 3 weeks from end of July to mid august almost.

However I’m in management and it’s a medium sized sports club, our team has 4 managers that can close the venue including me, an extra duty manager that can open on weekends due to her family commitments and kids, and then we have our new venue manager that atm is currently jumping between 2 Venues, but he will be full time from June.

So then he called me 2 days ago saying how we need to discuss my leave as me and another coworker of mine are on leave at the same time for 2 weeks saying it’s not good for business. My coworker did put in his leave before mine aswell.

My boss said that we either have to shift my leave or take it later in August but I go back to uni in August so I wanna take my trip in July.

He said he will speak to me in person about it

I’m just wondering if he has any authority to say I need to cancel my leave even though he already approved it, he didn’t look at who else on his team is on leave so idk what to say / do I have already booked my flights for this holiday.

But he said to my other coworker that we both can leave that the person so put the leave in first has preference

My coworker who is going on leave at the same time sent an email saying that they can manage the rosters with us gone, because we have done this before. We go on leave the same time every year as our birthdays are in July / early August

Please tell me your thoughts or give any advice on this situation please
Much appreciated

I am furious.

My job (blue collar) recently got a new janitor who is female. She has been taking roughly 20-30min cleaning the men’s restrooms and some of them have been getting upset that she takes so long. Our old janitor who was male used to clean it in 5ish mins.

Today, a male coworker walked into the men’s restroom while she was cleaning it and WHIPPED HIS DICK OUT in FRONT OF HER at the urinal and said “if I have to go I’m gonna go, I don’t give a fuck if you’re in here”. And basically pushed her (not physically, but behaviorally) out of the restroom.

She was found sobbing and she filed an HR report about him. My company is now launching an investigation.

This is NOT the first time he’s doing something this disgusting and disrespectful. This man is in HIS 40s, and has TWO daughters, divorced from his wife.
- We recently got a new female team lead (now his direct boss) and he REFUSES to listen, speak or interact with her. He refuses to do his job if she asks him to do anything, but will do his job if our male team lead supervisor asks him.
- he is a RAGING alcoholic and has come to work severely hung over where he has numerous times needed to be sent home bc he couldn’t drive a fork lift (sometimes seemed to be drunk still)
- he throws huge fits when people take his stuff or move his tools… to the point where he will walk out and not come back until next morning.
- due to him being an alcoholic, he has sent MY female boss (our PLANT MANAGER) disgusting horrible texts to her while drunk about how she (and women in general) don’t belong in the work place, calling her vulgar names, saying things about her ass, telling her how horrible of a person she is and no one respects her bc woman can’t do anything but cook… he’s done this to her several times to the point where she’s had to block him on multiple occasions..etc… you get the point.

HR is well aware of his behavior and have all of these things (and more but not listed) in his file and some how HE STILL WONT GET FIRED.

He had coworker friends for over 10 years that now do not speak with him because of his view, attitude and how he speaks toward and about women. It’s gross. Not even the men at my job enjoy being around him or speaking with him.

I am disgusted with my company, my boss, everyone in “power” because this guy is basically untouchable. He gets away with it all. My boss “feels bad” bc he’s an alcoholic and she wants him to get better. She’s given him so many alcoholic resources but he refuses. And she believes that if he loses his job, he’ll prob die from alcoholism, so she tries to defend him at HR meetings.

Fucking pissed for everyone at my job. And I’m pissed at my FEMALE boss for allowing this for so long.

Idk if it’s a big deal but I applied to an airline and on my resume I put that I was a “Lead Barista” for Starbucks even tho i was just a regular barista 🫥 my background check was already cleared by First Advantage tho. I’m just worried that they will find out once I go to the interview next week.

Hi guys so slightly at a loss here. I absolutely love my job, but over the past year I’ve noticed my colleague is getting bullied by management. this includes being excluded from conversations and even gets told off for participating in office chats, this could be work related conversations btw. when they do something wrong they almost get told off in a way no one else does. Theyre feeling completely excluded now and have voiced to me several times now they feel isolated and it’s absolutely devastating to see because it’s genuinely really affecting them. Its come to a point now I have been a witness to this behaviour and feel a bit like a bystander I can’t cope with it, not sure what to do now without losing my own role or getting in trouble myself?

Work has been getting harder demanding more and more since 4 people have quit in the same department as me and no help has come we are running on half... 4-5 people instead of 8-9.. I'm beyond exhausted and cannot recover.. i can't suddenly quit my job because of bills and such but i can not handle this anymore.. what should I do? Any suggestions?

For context I am the only white guy on a team, the rest are black women except the manager who is a white woman. Yesterday my manager was yelling at my coworker for not doing enough work. (Which is silly as she had just been helping me moments before). Then today she saw me working and told me to relax and slow down. She has never yelled at me or even used a negative tone.

I want to stress that while I do a little extra heavy lifting, the workload is fairly even and we all end up with some amount of time where we goof off or sweep slowly etc.

I am writing it down with the date in case this becomes a pattern.

Is there anything else I can or should do? I don't know if it's a racist thing or a personal issue between the two.

I currently have an ADA accommodation to allow for me to work remotely 3 days a week. During the time of me having this accommodation, my job has changed the in office attendance requirements to 4 days a week (previously was 3). Now, they are saying when the accommodation expires in June they will not allow me to extend it as "the period we let you work remote for is what the company considers reasonable." This seems to be a misunderstanding of the accommodation laws, is there any way they can deny the renewal just because they don't want to? I've had it for several months with no problems.