Category: Comstock

The owner wants everyone back in the office at least a couple of times a week. This is a small business with only two managers: Jane and me. One of us needs to be in the office every day. This is fine. We worked out a schedule. The

I’m tired of having people get unemployment benefits when I fired them for being bad employees. Stealing, lying and coming in late — it doesn’t seem to matter. What can I do to make sure people don’t get unemployment payments? Can I document better? To read my answer,

I’m running into a weird problem with employees working from home: power and internet outages. California will undoubtedly have rolling blackouts again, plus unexpected outages. My employees do customer service over the phone. They cannot work without power and the internet. Do I have to pay them when

I’ve noticed one of my employees, “Julia,” eating lunch frequently with another manager in a different department, “Greg.” There are no rules against dating across departments, but I know this manager. He’s been through multiple women, and it all ends badly, and she quits. I don’t know if

I manage a laboratory, which requires staff to be on-site around the clock. Our analysts and other on-site workers were classified as essential workers early in the pandemic, and they diligently came into the lab even when the rest of the world was sheltering in place. Today, many

I manage employees that earn $17 an hour to start. We used to be an employer of choice for entry-level candidates as we paid more than our competitors and our jobs require minimal training — a couple of hours, and you’re ready to go! California’s minimum wage is

I have one very difficult, challenging and toxic direct report. He goes behind my back and attempts to undermine me — and it appears to be working. My manager and director seem to be supporting my toxic employee. After a meeting where my employee took center stage and

We’ve been working remotely since March 2020, and lots of my staff have moved away. Even though we want to stay largely remote, we want employees to come into the office at least a few times per month. But some of our employees are living in other states.

I’m a human resources director for a large department in a big, people-oriented corporation. I’ve recently taken this role, and I’m still building my credibility. The problem is, senior managers in this department think most people-related work should be executed by HR. As much as I agree that

My employees say they are underpaid, and the thing is, they are right. Salaries are rising, and I cannot keep up. (I’m not one of those CEOs making millions — my take-home pay is less than my vice president’s pay.) Pre-pandemic, their salaries were at market rate, and the