Career Center | Q&A: Time to break cycle of abuse at work

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: The verbal abuse that I receive from my boss has been escalating for several years. About once a week, he begins shouting, cursing and banging on my desk. He starts criticizing

Career Center | Q&A: My co-workers are complaining about me

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: I was recently told by both my boss and human resources that people have been complaining about me. My co-workers say I act superior and try to oversee their work. Apparently,

Career Center | Pushing back on workplace bullying

By Sam Hananel / The Associated Press Margaret Fiester is no shrinking violet, but she says working for her former boss was a nightmare. “One day I didn’t do something right, and she actually laid her hands on me and

Career Center | Q&A: Territorial co-workers shun working mom

By Karla L. Miller / Special to The Washington Post Q: After a restructuring, I was given a new position that is less work but requires me to assist my colleagues. They have refused my help, started excluding me from

Career Center | Q&A: How can I control my temper at work?

By Liz Reyer / Minneapolis Star-Tribune Q: I’ve realized that I lose my temper at work once in a while, and people seem to be nervous around me. I don’t want to have that effect on people; what can I

Career Center | To curb workplace violence, employers should plan

By Gabrielle Banks / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Schaun D. Henry was leading an onsite training session on violence prevention in the workplace when a stranger barged into the room, headed straight for him and threatened: "I have a gun." The participants

Career Center | Q&A: Office feud leaves both parties tainted

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: For a long time, one of my co-workers was very rude and snippy to me. Our new manager recently decided that we should be separated, so she transferred both of us

Career Center | Q&A: How to deal with helicopter parent at work

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: The mother of one of my employees recently called my boss to complain that her daughter, "Angie," was being overworked. Angie was upset because some required training made it difficult for

Career Center | How to stick up for yourself at work

By Allison Ellis / Special to NWjobs Last-minute projects, insane deadlines, backstabbing … you’ve had enough of being the team player with the heaviest workload who just wants to stay out of trouble. But how do you tackle the issue?

Career Center | Stuck with a bad boss? Time to try 'managing up'

By Diane Stafford / McClatchy Newspapers Management consultant John Beeson has written extensively about how to deal with a bad boss. He says it's vital to career success for you to take responsibility for improving the relationship. At least for

Career Center | Q&A: New employee wants to suggest changes

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: Since joining this company a few weeks ago, I have noticed a lot of areas that need improvement. However, I'm not sure how honest I should be in sharing my views

Career Center | Boss's lousy people skills leave workers in tears

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: I supervise three technicians in a busy medical clinic. These employees recently complained to management that I belittle them, show them no respect and occasionally cause them to leave work in

Career Center | Let it go: Office grudges can hurt you more than co-worker

By Andrea Kay / Gannett Rick was … well, to put it politely, ticked off. Someone he had worked with and trusted for years had betrayed him. And he wasn’t in the mood to forgive and forget for eight years.

Career Center | Vacation schedule causes workplace drama

By Marie G. McIntyre /McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: I am angry with one of my co-workers because she stole my vacation slot. In our office, employees select vacation dates based on seniority. A calendar is circulated, and everyone marks off

Career Center | Co-worker's perfume a headache of a problem

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: A woman in my office wears so much perfume that you can still smell it after she passes by. Unfortunately, her cubicle is next to mine, and the constant odor gives

Career Center | Tips for improving your negotiating skills

By Claudia Buck / Sacramento Bee Good negotiating isn't a skill reserved just for CEOs and United Nations diplomats. It's useful for all of us, whether we're asking for a raise, interviewing for a job, buying a car, deciding on

Career Center | For crying out loud, don't shed tears at work

By Tim Grant / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The conventional wisdom for both male and female employees when it comes to shedding tears in front of co-workers in the workplace: Don't do it. Things can go wrong and difficult issues can come

Career Center | Manager baffled by employee's about-face

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: One of my star employees has developed a very negative attitude. During the past three years, I have assigned “Kevin” to desirable projects, given him special bonuses and made him a

Career Center | Mend fences with co-worker to avert career disaster

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: My boss recently moved my desk so that I would be farther away from my co-worker, "Tamara." Tamara's annoying behavior causes me to react, and our conflicts have been getting progressively

Career Center | How to interrupt a chatterbox at work

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: Can you suggest a nice way to interrupt during a business conversation? For the past week, I have been meeting with vendors who hope to sell their products to our

Career Center | How to deal with backstabbers at work

By Joyce E.A. Russell / The Washington Post Let's face it: Backstabbing happens at work all the time. Backstabbers engage in underhanded tactics that make you look bad. Their actions-- such as turning the boss against someone -- can be

Career Center | Software contractor struggling with full-timer's attitude

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: Six months ago, I started a contract job with a small software group. The lead developer is a control freak who has taken over some of the tasks listed in my

Career Center | If you can't truly recommend someone for a job, then don't

By Rex Huppke / Chicago Tribune Q: A person I worked with at my last job was let go, and he just requested I write him a recommendation. This co-worker was not the best employee, and I do not want

Career Center | How to resolve work conflicts before they get ugly

By Steve Twedt / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette A consultant who specializes in resolving workplace conflicts says the No. 1 reason people leave jobs is because of a poor relationship with their immediate supervisor. Another consultant reports that workplace conflicts can consume

Career Center | Boss must not play favorites

By Marie G. McIntyre / McClatchy-Tribune News Service Q: On a recent employee opinion survey, my staff gave me a terrible rating on favoritism. I have no idea why they feel that I'm biased, since I try to be very

Career Center | Office drama causing trauma? Nip it in the bud

By Brian Hyslop / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Whether it’s back-stabbing gossip, whining or bullying, drama in the office saps energy and wastes time. If you don’t address it, then you are counting on “the four-letter word ‘hope’ that it will

Career Center | How to handle co-worker who plays the experience card

By Rex Huppke Chicago Tribune Q: How do you deal with a co-worker who thinks that because they have been there longer and are older, they know more than you about how best to do the job? A: I imagine

Career Center | How to steer clear of messy office politics

By Rex Huppke / Chicago Tribune Q: What’s the best way for a newbie to avoid office politics and still fit in with the rest of the crowd? -- Dave in Chicago, via Facebook A: You may want to sit

Career Center | Take the first step to repair rift with co-worker

Q: I'm having a communication problem with a co-worker, "Angie," whose father owns our company. Angie repeatedly oversteps her bounds and tries to do my job. I had a direct talk with her in a kind and gentle tone, but

Career Center | How to deal with toxic co-workers, managers

By Rex Huppke The Chicago Tribune Q: How do you deal with a toxic co-worker or manager? -- Anonymous, via email A: Because you can’t “unfriend,” “unfollow,” or “delete” a person you cross paths with each day -- and because

Career Center | In charge: How to be a good manager

By L.M. SixelHouston Chronicle Houston management consultant Craig Wasserman has been counseling rising executives since 1975 on how they can become better managers. Wasserman and his business partner recently wrote “The Invisible Spotlight: Why Managers Can’t Hide.” He calls it

Career Center | Red-faced at work: Embarrassing office moments and how to avoid them

By Laura Laemmle Frongillo Salary.com Cringing through another awkward-moment-filled episode of “The Office,” you might think, “These things could never happen.” Well, according to a recent Salary.com survey of embarrassing moments at work, they do. Out of hundreds of great

Career Center | How to quit: Jump ship professionally without going overboard

By Lora Shinn Special to NWjobs Tonia Smalley wishes she had resigned differently. One day, she dropped off her daughter at day care and then called her boss to quit. After 11 years in pharmaceutical sales, Smalley wanted to spend

Career Center | Why we stay: Unhappy in your job? Focus on what would happen if you changed

By Andrea Kay / The Associated Press Bob was 50 and miserable, working as a doctor in his own practice but unwilling to call it quits. He just couldn’t get his mother out of his head. “She told me I

Nine to Thrive | Online do-overs: Do we need a law to erase our internet mistakes?

Unless you've been living under a rock the past few years you're probably well aware that any improprieties you make online can come back to haunt you professionally. One suggestive tweet or drunken YouTube video can be all it

Career Center | Underdressed? Dress codes can help prevent sticky situations

By Joyce M. Rosenberg The Associated Press It’s an uncomfortable summertime moment: A female co-worker shows up for work in the shortest of shorts. Or a male staffer arrives wearing a tank top. Dress-code problems aren’t confined to the summer

Nine to Thrive | Why we need horrible bosses

We've all worked for them. The tyrant who enjoys belittling others in public. The snake who pawns off her work on you and takes credit for it. The workaholic who expects everyone else to give up their personal life just

Career Center | I was fired from my last job. How and when do I disclose this in interviews?

Q: I've worked for mid- to large-sized banks for almost 20 years. What do I say to potential employers about being fired unfairly and my fight to have that overturned? (I have retained an attorney.) Now I am considering applying

Career Center | Get buy-in on your good ideas: tips to overcome objections

By Anita Bruzzese The Associated Press If you’ve ever had an idea shot down at work, you know it’s not a great feeling. You may feel frustrated or angry. You think about how short-sighted the people in charge must be

Career Center | Surviving a bad boss: tips on dealing with a difficult manager

By Joyce E.A. Russell The Associated Press Most everyone can say they’ve worked for a bad boss. You know — those supervisors who dictate what you’ll work on and how you’ll do it, and then find fault if it doesn’t

Nine to Thrive | How to fess up to your workplace foul-ups

You may have heard about the surgeon who's gone public with the details of how he managed to perform the wrong surgery on a patient's hand two years ago. Breaking from the time-honored medical tradition of sweeping operating room

Nine to Thrive | Is it ever okay to talk politics at work?

Between President Obama's recent pit stop at Top Pot Doughnuts, the bevy of hot-button initiatives on the November 2 ballot, and the incessant churn of Beltway gossip this election season (paging Ginni Thomas), it's becoming increasingly difficult to not talk

Career Center | Respectfully decline a promotion you don’t want without committing career suicide

By Anita Bruzzese The Associated Press Most of us look forward to receiving a promotion at work. After all, it’s usually the culmination of a lot of hard work and personal sacrifice that has finally netted us more money and

Career Center | Anger management: Strategies to resolve conflicts with co-workers

By Cindy Krischer Goodman The Associated Press (Thinkstock) Kadie Black, an outreach coordinator for a Miami kids agency, felt as if her co-worker didn’t carry her weight on a team project. Rather than confront the co-worker, Black mentioned it

Nine to Thrive | Is it ever okay to diss the boss in public?

We were just talking about giving your boss a bad review when this week it came to light that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the country's top military dog in Afghanistan, gave his own boss, President Barack Obama, a scathing review

Nine to Thrive | How would you feel if you worked at BP?

To say that energy company BP has an image problem on its hands is likely the understatement of the year. [Photo by hill.josh] As if it weren't bad enough that 11 oil rig workers died in last month's offshore

Nine to Thrive | The biggest office peeves -- and what to do about them

Ah, the office nuisance. We hate to work with them but love to regale our friends and family with stories about how horrid they are. [Photo: Editor B] A new survey sponsored by staffing firm Randstad looks at what

Nine to Thrive | Calls to Employee Assistance Programs increasing

Stress stemming from the monster recession we just lived through has been a hot topic on NWjobs during the past couple of years. (Here's an example. And another. And yet another.) [Photo courtesy of macinate] Yes, experts say the

Nine to Thrive | Rocking the boat at work: When (and how) to do it

Every week, we read about bigwigs standing up for their beliefs at work, consequences be damned. [Photo: Wikimedia Commons] Take the president of local bank Frontier Financial who was reportedly fired last month when he refused to change his

Career Center | Ex-worker: Genetic test led employer to fire her

By Steven Greenhouse The New York Times Pamela Fink, seen during a media interview at her home, says she was targeted after telling bosses of test results. (Douglas Healey / AP) After one of her two sisters was found

Career Center | Overworked? Tell the boss -- tactfully

By Marcia Heroux Pounds Associated Press Photo by Jupiterimages Suzy Meyer, 25, once worked as a hotel manager. “We were very short-staffed,” she says. “I worked 10 days on with none off.” Then her boss approached her to work

Nine to Thrive | Who wants to be a white collar criminal?

Apparently enough people to prompt Wake Forest University's Schools of Business to host a panel called "Finding the Way Back: Impacts of White Collar Crime" last week. Designed to warn students against the temptations of corporate theft, the panel featured