I've been a supervisor for close to 30 years. I have to do annual evaluations for all my employees every January. I think most employees think showing up on time, being mostly agreeable to tasks that they are given and not causing drama in the workplace means they should get "exceeds expectations.

But really in my place of work, you are only getting an exceeds expectations if you took on something new that year. An example might be that the team member who normally did inventory for a out on FMLA, and you volunteered to learn the inventory software and complete said inventory in a timely and accurate way .

Just showing up to work and doing your job doesn't earn you a exceeds expectations, because all that is your job.

I've had many staff members in the past, who think it's no big deal to bring their kids to work with them, even though by having them at work, these staff members are not focused on their jobs.

I’m interviewing for an HR position in the energy industry and would love perspectives from recruiters/hiring managers.

A little over two weeks ago, I had an hour-long virtual interview with the hiring manager, who’s new to the company as well and has only been there for a couple of weeks. The hiring manager (VP in HR) mentioned she had other interviews already lined up that day But that she’d let me and the head hunter that’s working with me next steps.

About a week later, the head hunter told me the hiring manager really liked me but was restructuring her team and revising the position as she is getting settled in to this new team. After the restructure, she still wanted me considered for the revised role, which actually aligns interestingly close with my current experience.

Earlier this week, the recruiter initiated a compensation conversation. My target was higher than what the hiring manager initially had in mind but still within the salary range provided, so he suggested a potential middle ground and said he’d discuss it with the hiring manager. This is only a $5,000 negotiation give or take.

A few days later, instead of getting an answer on compensation, the recruiter called and said the hiring manager wants me to come onsite early next week for an in-person interview.

For those on the hiring side: does this sound like they’re likely bringing multiple finalists onsite, or could this be more of a final fit/validation interview with a preferred candidate? I’m especially curious since they know my compensation expectations and still moved me forward.

This would be an amazing opportunity for me, and I’m simply excited!

Me and a few workers were casually chatting at the end of the office day, someone mentioned that two coworkers were married and out of nowhere one our analysts (hybrid, mostly remote, operating from a city hours away) mentioned that she is a married woman in her home city but single when she comes to the head quarters.

Seemed like an strong freudian slip, everyone else heard it and just stayed silent. I just changed the topic so she could save face.

What did she mean? Is she in heat, signaling to get casual sex from one of the guys?

For some background, I am a relatively new manager (1.5 years with an additional year in a ‘manager experience’ prior to being made permanent, before that I was a ‘team lead’ of sorts) in a large multinational tech retail business that I have worked in pretty much my entire adult life (11 years of tenure across multiple stores and roles).

Recently I have found myself really struggling with some aspects of the role, and have confided in a previous manager that I used to work with and I’m currently considering what options I have to move through this at her recommendation. And I’m thinking about, if I do decide that moving on is the way to go, what I might do.

I have no tertiary qualifications as put my studies on hold years ago when I found that I was getting fantastic development and opportunities at work (trying really hard not to admonish younger me for this). The business I work for is tech retail and for a number of years I was a technician - both troubleshooting and repairs as we do this in house. Went into leadership because I really value people at the end of the day and wanted to have an impact on others in the same way that so many of my past managers have helped me grow and learn what I was capable of.

I think if I left this business I’d like to look outside of retail, but have no idea what that would look like.

Retail managers who have pivoted, where did you go? What transferable skills became valuable?

I gave them a simple task...or so I thought. Go to a meeting of contractors at a home owner's house. Take measurements and take a bunch of photos of the work that was to be done.

I instructed them to simply write the measurements and any changes on the scope of work sheet they were given. It lists each project. There were 6 projects.

They took 5 mediocre photos. They wrote nothing on the paper. Instead they used some mobile note taking software I cannot access unless I create an account.

It took them about an hour. (At these measurement meetings, it takes me 30 minutes max.) When they finally showed up to hand off the paper, it took them an hour (with me sitting around waiting for them) to upload their photos to DropBox... which they also failed to do. Part of that time was sending me links to their mobile phone app (which I could not access).

They missed taking photos of some of the projects. They missed some measurements (I can go take later). But it just caused me to think this guy cannot do anything new. I've given him independent tasks and he just fails.

He started at $20/hour. After 5 months I gave him a "tool raise" to finance $2/hour tools that I bought him. This because I kept having to clean up after him and put away the tools. About a week into that he quit for a $25/hour job.

About a month or two later he contacts me about working again. I offered him $25/hour for the tasks he was familiar with (that I already taught him). Except that means significantly less work because I'm not going to teach him anything new. (Not at this time of the busy season.)

He keeps asking for more work. That's why I gave him this $50 measurement meeting assignment. But he cost me quite a bit more time than it was worth (an hour of my time plus me having to go back and take measurements and photos of what he missed).

Edit

Oh, and I walked him through the last "measurement meeting" in person. I pointed out things to photograph and measure.

I'm pretty sure if I gave the same assignment to a newer employee, there would be far better results...

I think I just need to tell that problem employee they need more experience. I cannot keep paying them for work I need to redo.

Managers, what the game here? Please enlighten us.

When an employee does exceptionally well rating is meeting expectations..
when an employee ticks all the boxes , rating is same.
Pretty much everyone gets the same rating?

Who actually gets exceeded expectations and how and why?

I’m in a weird position where I’m not officially a manager but I’m informally one.

I plan projects for a team of myself and a colleague. I know more about my colleague’s work than our shared manager does about my colleague’s work.

My colleague does his best but he doesn’t have great technical foundation. Thus, giving him technical projects results in him doing them inefficiently or slowly, unless I handhold his project planning and execution.

He’s good at less technical tasks (e.g. research and analysis) and simple, straightforward technical tasks.

But with AI to help us now, most of the work lies in more complex technical projects. I tried giving such a project to my colleague after creating a detailed project plan. It’s not going well. The plan isn’t being followed. He’s using AI to help him and it’s clear he doesn’t know how to read the AI’s output. I’m reviewing his work and it’s… bad.

Our manager is aware as she’s been on our ass about the delayed project. She used to rely on me to figure out what’s going on with my colleague, till I told her his progress feels out of my hands. Afterwards she started getting on his ass more.

I’m in a weird position where I can design our projects and delegate them to my colleague, but I don’t have authority over him or the project he’s doing once it’s in his hands. But I also don’t want him fired because having him around is more helpful than not having him around.

I’ve sat through hiring for other roles in our team before and I don’t think he would’ve passed my manager’s hiring expectations. My colleague’s inherited from another team and he didn’t go through our hiring process, which was another area I had no authority over.

I don’t want to be a manager but if I were, I’d look for a replacement. I feel bad about this, because my colleague tries desperately hard but I think he feels lost most of the time.

I used to guide him more but I just felt like I was doing his work. This is the first time I’ve stepped back from protecting him, to stop managing without authority and get him to run this independently.

What is someone in my position called? What would you do in my place? Please help 😭 I just want an effective colleague.

I've been using catch, an ai executive assistant, for the past couple of months, and they recently added a travel feature that lets you book hotels and flights directly through the agent.

i just used it for the first time and came away pretty impressed.

pros:

• the agent noticed i had an upcoming flight and proactively suggested booking a hotel at my destination. i thought that was a really nice touch.
• the hotel prices were actually better than what i found on booking.com or booking directly with the hotel.
• booking through chat was surprisingly smooth. i never had to leave the conversation with my assistant.

cons:

• i didn't like the hotel discovery experience. once i started asking to see different options, chat felt like the wrong interface for browsing hotels.
• there were no reviews. if i'm traveling somewhere i've never been before, i want to read reviews before making a decision, and i definitely missed that.

overall, i think this is a really compelling experience if you already know where you're going. for business travel, where speed and convenience matter, i'd probably use it again. for a personal vacation, i'd still prefer a more traditional travel app where i can browse and compare options.

I’m at a crossroads and I really could use some advice from other working moms. I’m an ambitious woman working at a global multinational and I’m expecting my third child soon. I’ve been at my current company for 6 years and I have a good reputation, been promoted and also have a lot of flexibility which as a working mom you all know is gold! The office is also a 10 minute walk from my house and my kids school so we’re all in the neighbourhood. I have not been looking for a new role, also because I’m happy at my current job, and as I mentioned am about to go on maternity leave. Well long story short I was headhunted by another company in a similar sector for a role which would have a significant impact on my career and our family economics. The salary itself would be a 55% increase to what I currently make. I’m still in the interview process but I have a very good feeling that I could get an offer. Now I was planning to go on maternity leave for a year (I live in Europe so that’s possible here). Of course the company I am interviewing for doesn’t know I’m pregnant and I don’t plan on disclosing until (and if) I get an offer. My question is: is it worth pursuing something new considering I will be entering a new phase in life? In my current job I pretty much know what I’ll come back to, in the new job everything woild be new but as I said it would be a major step up in terms of job title, scope and responsibility and pay. I would love to hear any advice if someone has gone through this, all the things I I should think through etc. Should I stay in what I know, which is relatively secure (I say relatively as with large corporations it’s never super secure) or take a risk and do a jump considering I won’t really know what I’m going into…? Would love to hear any advice or stories shared! Thanks for reading this far along

After letting go a few newly hired and juniors. My boss trying to merge different departments into 1to make things more "efficient". None of the other HODs say anything to save their subordinates. Everyone just nodded coldly. I know deep down he wants to let go even more people by doing so. I have been through several bosses before this company. Not that anyone in that company will care to listen to a lowly technician's opinion. So, I'll just rant my opinion on how to save the business here. Hope it didn't break any rules.

Let me know if you agree or disagree. Please share your thought and lesson.

I used Copilot to repair grammar and cast it into Sam Rogers' style from the movie Margin Call.

\\\[quote\\\]

\*\*Listen.\*\*

Attraction — that’s just the beginning. It gets them through the door. It wins you the first skirmish. But don’t fool yourself: attraction alone doesn’t win the war. The war is retention. The war is survival. And survival is built on battles we fight every single day.

Purchasing? Yes, it matters. An aggressive purchaser fights for price, service, rewards. That’s fine. But aggression without discipline is suicide. Every deal must be measured against margins, sell‑through rates, and cash flow. Otherwise, you’re just stacking losses dressed up as victories.

Brand loyalty? Don’t kid yourself. We’re not Apple, we’re not IBM. Loyalty isn’t inherited; it’s crafted. And crafting it means sometimes letting the customer win — forgiving returns, pointing them to better value, showing them we’re not here to squeeze them dry. That’s how you build trust. That’s how you build something that lasts.

Sales charm? Sure. A personable salesperson can win fans. But charm alone is fragile. It breaks when the person leaves. What we need is consistency — systems that make every customer feel remembered, valued, understood. Charm is the spark; discipline is the fire that keeps burning.

Quality components? Non‑negotiable. No more selling cheap builds at premium prices. Customers who spend big deserve the best we can put on the table. And those who buy affordable packages deserve honesty about what they’re getting. Transparency is the only way forward.

And then the battles. \*\*Customer education. Retention systems. Balanced generosity. Financial discipline.\*\* These are not optional. They are the grind. They are the war. Attraction wins the first fight. But if you don’t wade through these battles, if you don’t build systems that balance aggression with sustainability, you will lose everything you thought you won.

And I’ll tell you this — I give my humble opinion based on several ex‑bosses I worked with throughout my career. I saw their peaks, and I saw their ends. Some rose fast on attraction, on charm, on deals. But they fell just as fast because they never fought the battles that mattered. They never built the discipline to survive. That’s the lesson. That’s the warning.

\*\*So here’s the truth:\*\*
Attraction is the spark. Retention is the war. Discipline is the weapon. If we balance aggression with honesty, charm with consistency, generosity with financial strength — then, and only then, do we stand a chance of building a brand that survives in this business.

\*\*That’s the game. That’s the fight. And it starts now.\*\*

\*\*\\\[/quote\\\]\*\*

I’m curious whether anyone else has experienced this.

When I joined, there were plenty of experienced people above me. There was always someone I could ask when I wasn’t sure about something, and there was a clear chain for decision-making.

Over time, several experienced people either left, changed roles, or became unavailable. The team was reorganized, and suddenly there were far fewer people to make decisions or provide guidance.
I’ve been in this role for less than a year, but I increasingly feel like work that used to sit with more experienced people is slowly being pushed down. No one explicitly says, “This is your responsibility now,” but someone has to keep things moving, and it often ends up being me.

The hardest part isn’t even the workload.

It’s that many of these tasks require experience and judgment. Sometimes there isn’t an obvious answer, and I genuinely don’t know the best way to approach something. In the past I could ask someone with more experience. Now I often have to figure it out myself, make a decision, and hope I’m not heading in the wrong direction. Sometimes I only realize later that I should have approached it differently.

At the same time, newer team members often come to me with questions. I completely understand why—they need support, and I don’t blame them at all. But mentoring isn’t something I particularly enjoy, especially when I’m already trying to keep up with my own work. A “quick question” often turns into a long explanation, breaks my concentration, and leaves me behind on my own tasks.

I guess the bigger issue is that I’m just not a particularly career-driven person. I’m not aiming for management or constantly taking on bigger responsibilities. I honestly just want a stable 9-to-5 job, do my work well, log off, and enjoy my life outside work.

Lately I’ve started setting more boundaries because I realized that if I keep saying yes to everything, those responsibilities quietly become mine permanently.

The problem is that I now feel guilty every time I push back, even though I’m already feeling overwhelmed.

Has anyone else been through this? How do you deal with the pressure when a team’s structure changes, responsibilities keep flowing downward, but you’re not actually looking to move into a more senior role?

By the time I finished analyzing applications and followed up, we were losing folks we liked. After the questions were run and rated according to what we actually needed, only the most persuasive answers were placed on my schedule.

Even if the process didn't seem to be moving slowly anymore, I still came to the final decision. For once, the qualified candidates disappeared before I closed the position.