It’s 5 solutions to 5 questions. Here we go…
1. An abusive volunteer is holding our website hostage
I’m the primary vice chairman of a nonprofit. We’re all volunteers, together with our webmaster, Fergus. Fergus constructed our website some variety of years again, in a pc language he invented and hasn’t completed growing. Because of this, he’s the one individual that understands totally how the website features, which incorporates the database for our treasurer. The safety and continuity of this database is, clearly, crucial, and there are lots of different components to our website that might make our members very sad to not have entry to.
Fergus is additionally an abusive bully. Straight up. From the best way he’s handled the assorted individuals who have volunteered to assist with the website through the years, to the best way he interacts with individuals needing the website up to date, the one factor we are able to determine is that he views the website as his private fiefdom and anybody who desires to perceive the way it works is handled as a private menace to his cherished standing as webmaster. We have misplaced members due to his conduct. We have had conversations with him that, admittedly, might need been too mild, however actually, I don’t assume he’s genuinely listening, nor does he care to pay attention. It’s like he’s already made up his thoughts – from his viewpoint, everybody else is mendacity about his conduct and he’s not the one which’s the issue. He’s principally untouchable and he is aware of it.
Fergus is a identified downside, however we really feel caught between a rock and a arduous place. No one will work with him and he retains operating off any volunteers. We can’t get anybody to volunteer to assist us create a new website on a sustainable platform. (Even if Fergus was probably the most sainted saint to ever saint, he’s a single level of failure due to the language the website is in and his gatekeeping data of sure components of the website.) We might “fire” him from the place with no website or internet staff to substitute him, however then our potential to operate will revert again to pre-Internet days, which suggests our treasurer gained’t have the opportunity to do her job. How do you handle a volunteer who is essential however unmanageable?
You want to transition the website to a more accessible, out-of-the field platform ASAP (out-of-the-box in order that anybody can study to use it, somewhat than being depending on the data and whims of a single individual).
If you’re pondering “but we can’t”: What would you do if Fergus was hit by a automotive/dropped off the grid/disappeared in a match of pique tomorrow? You’ve satisfied your self the org is held hostage to him, but when he was out of the blue now not working with you for no matter motive, you’d presumably rally and discover a answer. Whatever you’d do then, do it now. It is perhaps an monumental ache, however you’re going to have to do it sooner or later anyway … and because you’ll have to put up with sad members throughout that transition at that time, simply get it executed now and put an finish to your Fergus nightmare.
You’ll be higher off shifting to a easier platform that you may truly use, even one with fewer options, than being topic to his tyrannical whims; have somebody replicate your content material on WordPress or one other easy platform any of you possibly can study and be executed with him (really, WordPress and comparable platforms require nearly no technical expertise in any respect for those who simply want primary options). If it means you lose some options you really want, you possibly can nearly actually rent somebody to replicate these in the event that they’re important; the worth of doing that is a essential price of doing enterprise in a state of affairs like this. The value of letting all this stay with Fergus as the only real gatekeeper is method too excessive.
And if Fergus stands in the best way of this transition, you merely inform him you’re doing it and do it with out him (simply as you’d have to do if he disappeared tomorrow). If he’s prepared to provide some help within the transition, nice — but when he doesn’t, then you definitely do it with out him (once more, simply as you’d have to do if he disappeared tomorrow). And ensure that whoever creates the brand new web site is aware of the state of affairs so that they don’t inadvertently find yourself repeating it with the brand new one (like by letting Fergus “help” in a method that allows him to once more hoard data).
2. My boss mentioned it’s unprofessional not to start an email with a greeting
I work at home. I opened my work email a few weeks in the past to a notice from my boss, who instructed me that the tone of “some” of my emails is not skilled. She gave me an instance of an email I had lately despatched to a colleague and cc’d my boss for visibility. The physique of the email began with “One more thing!” and then went into the small print of what I wanted. I had been conversing with the colleague on our inside messenger system and had taken the tone to my email with them. My boss mentioned all emails want a correct intro greeting.
I used to be shocked. While my communication model is pleasant and open, in my 25 years of labor, I’ve by no means been accused of being unprofessional in my emails, particularly over the shortage of a “proper” intro. In basic, I at all times start my emails with “hello” or “good morning” and that individual’s title.
While I’ll guarantee I at all times embody a greeting any further, I’m now paranoid about each email I ship, for concern of changing into “unprofessional” in my boss’s eyes. If not saying “hi” in an email as soon as is unprofessional, what else is not acceptable? A single emoji? An exclamation level? (You know ladies are sometimes judged in emails to be “cold” or “terse” in emails, more so than males, which is a entire different downside in itself.) I might use your recommendation, and please inform me if I’m within the incorrect right here.
You’re not within the incorrect. Your boss is being ridiculous. There are many, many circumstances the place skilled emails don’t want to open with a particular greeting. Sometimes that’s based mostly on the connection you have got with the individual, and typically it’s based mostly on context (and on this case, it was based mostly on each).
You’re proper that now that your boss has decreed this, it’s best to adhere to her preferences … however she’s not proper about it, and it will be fascinating to discover out if she’s given comparable suggestions to your coworkers (particularly the male ones).
3. How can I get out of rides from my boss?
I’d like your recommendation on how to get out being carpooled by my supervisor. We stay in the identical metropolis and the workplace is nearly an hour and a half away, in one other metropolis. The work contract is 100% distant with month-to-month staff conferences. I’ve been carpooling with her since 2022 however now I’m altering departments, and she is nonetheless providing me carpooling with her for these month-to-month conferences. I’ve at all times gotten the sensation that in a method she doesn’t like me and I’ve by no means felt completely comfy with her, awkward feeling there, at all times. So I would love to cease doing these rides. What ought to I do? What ought to I say when she affords me a journey?
“I’m going to drive myself from now on since I sometimes have stops to make on the way back. I’ll see you there!”
Alternately: “I’ve found I really enjoy using long drives to catch up on audiobooks so I’m going to drive myself from now on, but thank you for driving me in the past and I’ll look forward to seeing you there!”
Or: “I’ve found I can really use car time for thinking and planning, so I’ll drive myself going forward — but I really appreciate all the times you drove me.”
4. Could I be fired for giving my boss a nickname?
If I had been to give my boss a nickname, nothing derogatory or hurtful, like calling somebody named Bill “Billy the kid” or simply “Billy,” can that get me fired?
Sure, in case your supervisor tells you to cease and you don’t, they might hearth you over that. Whether they really would or not is a totally different query — however calling somebody by a nickname they’ve requested you not to use is disrespectful and impolite and you shouldn’t do it whether or not they have any energy over you or not … and when it’s your boss, it’s insubordinate as nicely.
5. Am I legally entitled to severance pay?
I work for a small enterprise that was bought by a a lot bigger firm. We had been simply knowledgeable that the bigger company can be dissolving our small firm by the tip of the month; they’re encouraging us to apply for different jobs throughout the bigger firm, but when we’re not eligible or , we can be unemployed inside three weeks. All of those job openings would require relocation, which is not possible for many people. We are required to work on-site by the tip of the month, and they’re contemplating this our severance interval; that is, we are going to not obtain extra cost past our required working interval.
Is this authorized? I’ve been laid off beforehand, and I no less than acquired two weeks of severance pay after my final day at work. It simply appears like we’re being screwed over, and I’m questioning in case you have any recommendation on dealing with this example.
If you’re within the U.S., your employer has 100 or more staff, and the layoff impacts 50 staff or more, the WARN Act requires that you simply be given 60 days of discover or, in lieu of that, 60 days of pay. If the layoff impacts fewer individuals than that, then no regulation requires them to provide severance — though corporations normally do it throughout layoffs, partly as a result of in the event that they don’t, they’re far more seemingly to see extra staff soar ship whereas they’ll nonetheless do it on their very own timeline and partly as a result of it’s typical to have laid-off staff signal a basic launch of authorized claims so as to obtain the severance.
Related:
severance pay: who will get it and the way it works
