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

Tolley’s Managing Fixed-Term and Part-Time Workers is an essential tool for HR directors and managers, and their advisers. This timely handbook contains comprehensive coverage of the legal and practical implications of the new Fixed-Term Employees (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2002 and the EC Directive on Fixed-Term Work. With almost a quarter of the total UK working population engaged on part-time contracts, there has never been a greater need for employers to understand the latest rights and duties owed to those who work on a part-time, intermittent or job-share basis. This invaluable resource will show you how to deal fairly with agency temps, contractors, freelancers, casual workers, seasonal workers, students working during vacations, part-time employees and temporary workers engaged to cover short-term absence. Combining coverage of the legal background with practical advice on how to ensure your policies and procedures comply with the law, this handbook will enable you to: - understand the laws that impact upon successive fixed-term contracts - treat part-time staff fairly and avoid claims of unlawful discrimination from women who form the majority of the UK’s part-time workforce - draft your own documents using key sample documents – letters of employment, contract clauses and employment policies - save time by giving you access to comprehensive legal and tactical information in one unique handbook, featuring questions and answers, checklists and case studies for ease of use - ensure you are complying with the laws governing equality of treatment for fixed-term and part-time workers This accessible guide explains the latest legislation and case law and offers an array of practical tips and tools to help ensure fairness of treatment for fixed-term and part-time employees.

In Breaking the Mold, Lotte Bailyn argues that society's separation of work and family is no longer a tenable model for employees or the organizations that employ them. Unless American business is willing to radically rethink some of its basic assumptions about work, career paths, and time, both employee and employer will suffer in today's intensely competitive business environment. Bailyn's message was bold when this book was originally published in 1993. Now thoroughly updated to reflect the latest developments in the organization of work, the demography of the workforce, and attitudes toward the integration of work and personal life, this second edition is even more compelling.Bailyn finds that implementation of policies designed to allow "flexibility" is rarely smooth and often results in gender inequity. Using real-life cases to illustrate the problems employees encounter in coordinating work and private life, she details how corporations generally handle these problems and suggests models for innovation. Throughout, she shows how the structure and culture of corporate life could be changed to integrate employees' other obligations and interests, and in the process help organizations become more effective. Drawing on international comparisons as well as many years of working with organizations of various kinds, Bailyn emphasizes the need to redesign work itself.Breaking the Mold allows us to rethink the connections between organizational processes and personal concerns. Implementation of Bailyn's suggestions could help employees to become more effective in all realms of their complicated lives and allow employing organizations to engage their full productive potential.

Today, most Americans are working in the gig economy--mixing together short-term jobs, contract work, and freelance assignments. Learn how to embrace the independent and self-sufficient world of freelance! The Gig Economy is your guide to this uncertain but ultimately rewarding world. Packed with research, exercises, and anecdotes, this eye-opening book supplies strategies--ranging from the professional to the personal--to help you leverage your skills, knowledge, and network to create your own career trajectory. In this book, you will learn how to: Construct a life based on your priorities and vision of success Cultivate connections without networking Create your own security Build flexibility into your financial life Face your fears by reducing risk Corporate jobs are not only unstable--they’re increasingly scarce. It’s time to take charge of your own career and lead the life you want, one immune to the impulsive whims of an employer looking only at today’s bottom line. Start mapping out your place in the gig economy today!