“This book will challenge you to rethink what it takes to make remote work work—not just for companies, but for people.” —Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast WorkLife The future isn’t about where we will work, but how. For years we have struggled to balance work and life, with most of us feeling overwhelmed and burned out because our relationship to work is broken. This “isn't just a book about remote work. It's a book that helps us imagine a future where our lives—at the office and home—are happier, more productive, and genuinely meaningful” (Charles Duhigg, best-selling author of The Power of Habit). Out of Office is a book for every office worker – from employees to managers – currently facing the decision about whether, and how, to return to the office. The past two years have shown us that there may be a new path forward, one that doesn’t involve hellish daily commutes and the demands of jam-packed work schedules that no longer make sense. But how can we realize that future in a way that benefits workers and companies alike? Based on groundbreaking reporting and interviews with workers and managers around the world, Out of Office illuminates the key values and questions that should be driving this conversation: trust, fairness, flexibility, inclusive workplaces, equity, and work-life balance. Above all, they argue that companies need to listen to their employees – and that this will promote, rather than impede, productivity and profitability. As a society, we have talked for decades about flexible work arrangements; this book makes clear that we are at an inflection point where this is actually possible for many employees and their companies. Out of Office is about so much more than zoom meetings and hybrid schedules: it aims to reshape our entire relationship to the office.

From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all” • you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager “A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review) “The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide “Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together

Single mom Rachel Gibson seriously needs a break. Between an absent ex-husband, rowdy twin boys, and running her own work-from-home business, her candle isn't just burning at both ends, it's a full-blown puddle of wax. She's the go-to girl for other entrepreneurs, handling all the tasks they dread. Social media posts? She's got it. Website updates? She's on it. Light bookkeeping? She loves it. Thank goodness Rachel’s about to get a reprieve, as her former in-laws plan to whisk her boys away for a summer of fun at the family lake house. But when her ex backs out at the last minute, she finds herself in a pickle. Even though she's drowning in to-dos, she's horrible at saying no—especially when it comes to providing some stability for her kids. Once Rachel arrives at the lake house, she struggles to keep up with work and balance the demands of family, all the while fending off pesky new feelings for her ex-brother-in-law. It’s just another messy complication added to the dumpster fire of her life. Then again, anything is possible when she's out of office... Don't miss these other laugh-out-loud rom-coms from Christina Hovland: * There's Something About Molly * April May Fall

Conquer Microsoft Office—from the inside out! Dive into the Microsoft Office application suite—and really put its productivity tools and services to work for you! This supremely well-organized reference packs hundreds of timesaving solutions, tips, and workarounds—all you need to make the most of Office's most powerful tools for productivity and decision-making. Renowned Office expert Joe Habraken offers a complete tour of Microsoft Office, with cutting-edge techniques and shortcuts for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher, the 365 Online apps, and more. Discover how experts tackle today's key tasks—and challenge yourself to new levels of mastery. Create amazing content faster with Office's new features, tools, and shortcuts. Share, collaborate with, and secure Office files in the cloud. Organize, edit, and format complex documents with Microsoft Word. Build tables of contents, captions, indexes, and footnotes that automatically update. Efficiently enter and manage data in Excel workbooks, and format it for easy understanding. Build flexible, reliable Excel workbooks with formulas and functions—including XLOOKUP and other enhancements. Integrate data from external sources, including stock and currency data, and Wolfram curated knowledge. Transform data into insight with Pivot Tables and Excel charts — including new recommended charts and the Quick Analysis gallery. Quickly create presentations with PowerPoint themes, Reuse Slides, and Libraries. Build more impactful slides with advanced formatting, SmartArt, animation, transitions, media, and free stock images. Use PowerPoint tools to present more effectively—in person or online via Microsoft Teams. Systematically improve email productivity and security with Outlook. Manage appointments and tasks and quickly plan meetings.

"Get Out of My Office" explores the true nature of what executives want from the people who fill up their calendars each day. Written for individuals and companies who seek to elevate their exposure and value to their client's, the book addresses fundamental issues all face when dealing with business to business selling and relationship building. Managing expectations becomes one of the first orders of business. You will consider what perceptions your client's executives have of you and discover ways to begin to work within those expectations and eventually craft new expectations of the value you can bring. Clearly and accurately identifying the correct targets for your selling or delivery relationship efforts is critical. Suggestions are given to help develop a working definition of executive that will enable you to sift through the layers of titles, positions and responsibilities present in any organization and clearly identify by function those who are acting and serving as executives. Consideration is also given to why executives would want to have any kind of business relationship with you that moves beyond the normal transactional interests they have with your company. Several key inputs from senior executives are given that will answer the question: If there is a relationship with an individual supplier or vendor, what would you want out of it? Taking these insights, the author knits together a solid foundation of understanding that enables you to safely and effectively accomplish the task of building executive relationships. Having an unclear or many times unrealistic view of your value causes challenges when entertaining the idea of building executive relationships. Perhaps this might explain why salespeople who go into a meeting with an executive to "pitch their wares", addressing the impact they can bring to the functional department silo, lose the executive's interest. While this "stuff", (which is how the executives usually describe it), is important to the salesperson and possibly the functional silo, it does not capture the executive's attention, or address the value they most care about or are looking for. The response that usually follows sounds something like, "This is very interesting. I would like you to continue this discussion with my Director of Manufacturing", thus effectively ending the opportunity to build any kind of relationship with this executive. In essence, they have received the proverbial, "Get Out of My Office!" Executives are NOT managers. They have people to take care of the tactical efforts of a function or project. The executive will LEAD and determine the direction of the silo and team up with their colleagues to lead the company. Yes the executive can and will talk the talk, look the look and walk the walk, with technical, functional silo language, but at the end of the day the value that they are looking for as an executive has not been addressed in this type of exchange. This book unlocks the value that executives are looking for but will not ask for. Relationships are then built on the validity of the unexpected value you bring to them. Get Out of My Office gives you the basics for laying that foundation to build executive relationships.

If you love Sophie Kinsella or Lindsey Kelk, you'll adore this gorgeous, romantic Italian getaway. From London to Italy with love... Alice Roberts is having a rubbish summer. She's terrified of her boss, her career is stalling, and she's just been dumped - by text message. But things are about to change... When her boss Olivia is taken ill, Alice is sent on the work trip of a lifetime: to a villa in Sicily, to edit the autobiography of Hollywood bad boy Luther Carson. But it's not all yachts, nightclubs and Camparis. Luther's arrogant agent Sam wants him to ditch the book. Luther himself is gorgeous, charming and impossible to read. There only seems to be one way to get his attention, and it's not one her boss would approve of. Alice is out of the office, and into deep trouble...

Middle school meets the Dark Side in this grimly hilarious survival story of a sci-fi-obsessed eighth grader. Clark Sherman's situation is desperate. He's just crash-landed on an inhospitable planet--also known as Festus Middle School--where the natives don't take kindly to newcomers . . . particularly ones who love sci-fi and memorizing episodes of the hit TV show Star Survivors. Hostile natives include violent bullies, uncaring teachers, and the fiendishly evil Principal Denton, and Clark realizes he'll be lucky enough to survive eighth grade, let alone thrive. But then, three kindred life forms make themselves known . . . and suddenly, Clark finds he not only has the will to survive, but the strength to fight back. Sharp, painfully funny, and deeply moving, Revenge of the Star Survivors is a story for sci-fi fans-- and for anyone who's ever felt alone in this world. Michael Merschel's witty writing, by turns hilarious and heartbreaking, brings Clark's inner strength into the light. Winner of the Texas Institute of Letters Jean Flynn Award for Best Children's Book