Arduinna

Posted by Ask a Manager

https://www.askamanager.org/2025/10/our-office-is-filthy-i-dont-want-my-team-to-offer-solutions-to-another-department-and-more.html

https://www.askamanager.org/?p=33470

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. I don’t want my team to offer solutions to a department that’s been messing up

I work in compliance. Right now I’m in a situation where an aspect of our programs isn’t being followed because the area is being under-resourced. This was noticed by an outside authority. My team communicates the requirements and sets up the tools to be used to follow them, but it’s not my responsibility and it’s outside my chain of command to force the responsible department to comply. I also try not to bring my frustrations with the responsible department to my team so they can continue to work on good terms with this department.

We’ll have a meeting to go over how to bring ourselves into compliance for this outside authority and I know my team is going to jump in with all the backstops we can use to maintain compliance. I don’t want them to do this, I want the other department to take responsibility and design their own program. If I weren’t wearing my manager hat, I would tell my team, “Hey, don’t try to rescue these guys in this meeting, they haven’t bothered to care in a year, they can either belay off our rope or tie it into a noose.” How do I convey that without my team losing respect for the other department?

Well, first, is that the right goal? Maybe the other department should come up with solutions themselves, just on principle, but as far the company is concerned, isn’t the ultimate goal that the compliance issues get fixed, even if that means that your team has to do the work of telling them how? Another way of looking at it: if your own boss knew that you held your team back from presenting solutions because the other team should be coming up with solutions themselves, would she feel like your focus was on the right thing? (It’s also possible your team is simply better equipped to devise solutions, because they’re more familiar with what is and isn’t compliant!)

But if you’re sure your stance is reasonable and defensible — and, crucially, one that would be supported all the way up your chain of command — then you just need to say to your team, “I know we probably have a lot of ideas about how they can fix it, but please hold back in the meeting — it’s important that they be the ones to come up with a program to fix this because ____.” (Maybe you can legitimately fill in the blank with “they know what will make the most sense for the context and constraints” or similar. But if the only thing you can fill in the blank with is “because they haven’t cared for a year,” that’s a sign that you’re letting your frustration dictate how you deal with them, rather than what’s in your company’s best interests.)

2. Our office is dirty, so I end up cleaning it

I have an MBA but work part-time in a very small office where it is just me and the owner. I am alone 90+% of the time. The office is old and cluttered, which surprisingly doesn’t bother me. However, there is no professional cleaning done, ever.

The work overall is a good situation for me, but I do not like a dirty workplace. I reluctantly dust and vacuum periodically, but it grates on me. The owner has never said anything to me like he expects it, nor does he comment when I do clean, which is fine. Yet it mentally galls me a bit that we would be working in filth (dust) if I, a woman, didn’t take care of things. I tell myself that I am very grateful for this job and have quite a bit of free time so I shouldn’t mind cleaning, but on the other hand … well, you know. Please set my thoughts straight.

Why not ask him to hire a cleaner? For a small office it probably could just be weekly. You could say, “I’ve occasionally vacuumed and dusted when it’s become too much, but that’s not something I’d like to continue doing. Could we bring in a cleaner to keep the space under control?” If it’s not wildly of sync with your role, you could offer to do the legwork to locate one, which might make it more likely to happen.

If he’s not willing to do that but he’s not asking you to clean either, then you have to decide whether you’re more irked to work in filth or to periodically clean. That’s not ideal, but it’s also sometimes the sort of thing that happens in two-person businesses.

3. Employee is injured but won’t stop working

I hope you can help me not be an ogre.

I manage a small crew that is one piece of a larger organization, something along the lines of a service shop as we are customer-facing at times. One of the employees is over 70 but is still very high energy, sharp, and always wants to do everything. His hobbies include fairly strenuous outdoor activities, and a while ago something happened over a weekend and he was slightly injured. He doesn’t ever share that sort of thing, but when other people commented on his seeming sore, he was clear that it wasn’t a big deal and brushed it off. But as time has gone on, it’s clear that something pretty serious is going on because his mobility is getting very poor, to the point that clients have noticed and mentioned it. He continues to essentially ignore the problems and is continuing to do the job. He is slower, but he is totally fulfilling the requirements of his position.

I know I cannot say anything to him about his health, but my concern is that in attempting (and succeeding) to do his job he may fall and injure himself. I really don’t want that for him but it’s absolutely not my place to intervene. I am concerned, though, about the HR aspect. I’m worried about him stumbling and not be able to catch himself, or moving one of the heavy objects we handle and the injured part of his body gives way, or slipping coming off the ladders we use — these are scenarios that worry me both for his well-being and as potential HR headaches. It is also concerning to me that several clients have commented on how poorly he is moving. I don’t want them to see us as a cruel employer when it’s exactly the opposite: he is not willing to have this looked into or accept help from anyone at all. He gets testy when offered help and insists he’s fine and doesn’t need it. And again, he is doing the job, it’s now just kind of heart-rending to watch. Do I have any options here, other than to wait for the excrement to truly hit the fan?

This might be a situation where it would make sense to require a fitness for duty exam. That’s not something an employer should do lightly, but when an employer “has a reasonable belief, based on objective evidence, that: (1) an employee’s ability to perform essential job functions will be impaired by a medical condition; or (2) an employee will pose a direct threat due to a medical condition,” they can require a medical exam. Talk to your HR rep, but it sounds like that might be a reasonable call to make, out of concern for both him and the business.

Related:
my employee keeps groaning in pain — and won’t get medical treatment

4. How do I get my client to accept that I’m not working for him anymore?

I have to close my business after a year of being open. It’s been a heart-breaking time as not only have I had to close my dream but I lost my freelance marketing client that was paying my bills until I can get something better. Well, with a catch. My marketing client wants me to stay on as a retainer for peanuts pay that we can “negotiate.” The amount doesn’t cover any major bills at all.

I still have all the passwords to everything; I tried handing them back over to him, and he wasn’t motivated to take control of them. He’s been asking me to do work still, and it’s frustrating because before I had a set date to pick up a check, and now it’s all up in the air on what he’s going to pay me and when.

Do you have any advice for how to tactfully decline staying on a retainer? I don’t want to burn a bridge. The work is pretty simple, so I can understand why he wants to pay me less. However, when there are problems, it takes a ton of time and energy, which is why I don’t want to do the work for less. I feel like the answer is to just communicate better, but I’m sad and stressed about money, closing the business, and finding a new job that works with my school schedule and pays the bills.

If you definitely don’t want to keep working for him, you just need to say that! “I’m sorry, but I’m closing down my business and won’t be able to continue doing the work at all. Can I pick up the final check on Friday?”

If you’d be willing to continue working for him if he offered more pay, you can say that instead: “I’m sorry, but it wouldn’t make sense for me to do the work at that rate. I can continue on at $X, but if that won’t work for you, I of course understand. Can I plan to pick up the outstanding check on Friday?”

It’s not burning a bridge to decide that a particular job or client no longer makes sense for you. It does risk burning bridges if you’re not straightforward about that and instead drag things out! So just tell him clearly what your decision is.

5. How do you job hunt before becoming disgruntled?

Do you have any advice for how to job hunt before you become frustrated or disgruntled with your current job?

I feel like I always initiate a job search after I’ve reached a breaking point with my role, and then am stuck in a role that I have soured on while the process to get a new job takes several months. Do you have any thoughts or advice on this?

I think that’s pretty normal, actually. It makes sense that you start to job hunt once you’re frustrated and not before. And yes, that means you’re stuck in a role you’re fed up with while you’re looking for something else, but the alternative would be leaving jobs while you’re still happy with them, just in case you later won’t be.

Of course, there are degrees of frustration. If you’re always waiting to job search until you’re so frustrated that you can’t stand coming to work every day and fantasize about biting your coworkers or punching your colleague in the parking lot, then that’s a sign to start paying attention to your frustrations earlier on, before they’ve gotten to that point, and also to be proactive about seeing if there are things you can to do resolve them once they start creeping in.

The post our office is filthy, I don’t want my team to offer solutions to another department, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager.

https://www.askamanager.org/2025/10/our-office-is-filthy-i-dont-want-my-team-to-offer-solutions-to-another-department-and-more.html

https://www.askamanager.org/?p=33470