Question: I am interested in learning what policies and procedures companies have in place (specifically not for profit, child welfare organizations) for record retention. — Patti Pieszk

Question: We have two supervisors in our location.  Neither will take action on anything unless they "witness" it.  Recently, two of us helped a third employee get ready for a presentation on the day of the event.  The work could have been completed earlier in the week.
I told my boss that she may want to ask how the presentation went, giving us the opportunity to explain that we did all the work for the other employee. She told me that she could not ask those types of questions, because she hadn't witnessed it.
Shouldn’t she, as a supervisor, have the right to ask how the presentation went and were there any problems, etc.?  So, how do issues get resolved?  Our supervisors rarely venture into our office, so they hardly ever witness what goes on. — Anonymous

Question: After 16 years at the same job, an employee was replaced because of lack of experience by a new hire who only knew how to do half the job. The new hire was fired and the person now holding the job has no experience and moved into the job by request within the company. The job opening was not posted. Is this correct procedure? — Pay

Question: "I'm sympathetic with employees who have to juggle work and child care. But it becomes a distraction when employees bring in their kids for a couple hours (or longer on school holidays or summer). And it doesn’t set a professional tone. Does your company have any policies or procedures to handle kids in the office?” – Kristin, New Jersey

Question: “Our administrative employees – fiscal, HR, data, support – are grouped together in a separate unit and we have contact with the public as well as potential employees. My question: I feel I’m the only person in an administrative role who projects any level of professionalism. Some people wear skin-tight denim capris, tank tops and flip-flops. Others apparently wear whatever happened to be lying on the chair beside their bed. How do you recommend – besides being an example (which hasn’t worked thus far) – improving the professional image of this unit?  (FYI, we don’t have a dress code.)” – Lisa

Question: We have probably covered this ground before, but I will ask again.  Does anyone have a source that provides current salary ranges for admins and exec admins? - Marie Heaton

Question: We post all of our open staff positions on our web site. Is there a law or at least guidelines that require a job to be posted for a certain amount of time? We post jobs for five days but if they are underutilized for minorities, we leave them posted for 10 days. No one knows why. -  Dreyfus.

Question: I am looking at setting up a record-retention policy, and I’m wondering how many companies have one in place.  Also, do you know a good, reliable source where I could find such a policy? I did some research and found different retention years for the same document. We are private non-profit agency located in Minnesota. - Jasmine

Question: Are “step-siblings” considered “siblings" when independence or personal conflict is being considered in a workplace environment? -- Anonymous

Question: We have a manager who recently decided to look for a less-stressful career path. She is young, early 30's, and suffers from depression (she lives alone, no children, very overweight and no friends/boyfriend or outside work activities). She treated her depression up until about a year ago.

I am not alone in thinking that she is making a mistake by leaving the position and taking a large pay cut when the job is not that stressful. She may not realize how depressed she is and that more than just work is making her unhappy.

I know that I can't change her decision. But I care about her personally and want to make sure she is OK and getting help for her depression. Am I stepping over boundaries? -- Anonymous

Question: I am the HR Director for a nursing home. I have had several complaints against one of my supervisors from his staff. I have reported a more serious incident to the Administrator and also presented a few other complaints to him. The Administrator confronted the supervisor. The staff has since reported back to me that the supervisor’s attitude has changed toward them, and it makes them uncomfortable and creates an unpleasant working environment.

They do not want me to report him again because of his behavior toward them after the last complaint. And they do not want me to confront their supervisor.

How can I help this department if they do not want me to report him?

I feel that it’s my obligation to these employees to make them feel safe in the workplace and enjoy coming to work each day.  -- Anonymous

Question: Our company has job descriptions for several levels of administrative assistants, but it doesn’t have one specifically for executive assistants. Typically, the executive assistant position requires a level of support beyond what the average admin provides. Does anyone have a really strong job description for an executive admin position?  -- Carol

Question: I would like to learn about other companies' employee pension plans. We employee 29 people, have about $1.2 million annual payroll, and want to set up a pension plan program. Also, I'd like info on life insurance, e.g., amount per employee, cost per thousand, etc. Any info would be appreciated.  -- Jean

Question: We interviewed a job candidate for a position with our company. We did not select the individual, but I sent a letter thanking her for taking the time to interview with us and that we had been successful in our search. I stated that we would keep her resume on file for 30 days in case a similar position opened up.

This person has written back asking for "constructive criticism" (feedback) on how she can better present herself in an interview. She is also asking if her business references gave negative recommendations, and if so, she wants to know their names so that she does not use them in the future.

How would you handle this situation? I worry about possible lawsuits. For the record, I did not receive any negative comments from her references; we simply chose another candidate.  -- Anonymous

Question: The HR director has placed someone in my office on a 90-day probation. During this period, she cannot miss a single day of work, even after she got approval to take a personal day to visit her doctor. Her doctor’s office is located 45 minutes from the office, and then she worked from home for the remainder of the workday.

The HR director has stated that one of the sacrifices when taking a corporate job is that you “must” switch doctors so your doctors’ offices are near the office.

Can a corporate office dictate where its employees can go for health care? If she received pre-approval to take a personal day, is it the company’s business where her doctor is located? How can HR tell her that she “must” switch to a doctor near the office? Is there any law that says a company can do this? There have been many similar incidents.  -- Concerned About Legality

Question: I work in an office of about 25 people. I am in charge of HR responsibilities and other duties. A question came to me regarding paid time for people to smoke. Right now, we have 4 or 5 smokers in our office and they have normally taken two smoking breaks during the course of the day. Each break is for 15 minutes. While our policy manual does not specifically state that employees are allowed to smoke, it refers to brief coffee breaks. Are we required to pay our employees while they are outside smoking? I am afraid our non-smoking employees will say they are being discriminated against because they work a full 8 hours and the smokers are only working 7.5. Can we change this situation in the middle of the year or do we have to revise our policy manual and wait until the beginning of a new year? Can anyone give me some suggestions on how they handle this in their office or how their policies read regarding smoking?  -- Anonymous

Question: The company I work for needs to freeze their defined benefit plan due to underfunding and expense of the plan. As the HR person I would like some insight from others who may have experience with such a matter. Also I would like suggestions on other retirement plans to consider that would supplement the frozen accrued benefits of defined benefit plans, etc. ( I work for a small bank with about 30 employees.)  --  Blue Eyes

Question: I have an employee who called in and indicated she wasn't going to be able to come to work today because her daughter is sick.

Other employees in our department have let me know that she'd been telling them that she was going to ask if she could book the day off, as she was moving this weekend.

This is our busiest time of year and everyone is working extra hours to keep on top of the workload. If she had asked for the time off, it would have been granted, providing she was willing to make up the required hours.

This is very frustrating to the other employees and to me. Any ideas on how to handle this? Should it be addressed with the employee?  -- Frustrated in Windsor, Ont.

Question: We have hourly employees who submit a request for days off and, when the days are not approved, they call in sick. Does anyone have a policy in place that would help with this problem?  -- Wendy

Question: I work in an office where I am the senior administrative assistant to the senior vice president of our company. Five other administrative assistants in the office report to various directors and managers.

The senior vice president would like for me to mentor the five other administrative assistants. The other directors and managers see mentoring as my overseeing their work, which ultimately means that I am responsible for their work.

How do other offices handle this type of reporting structure? Does a 50/50 supervisory role over these admins really work? Or should the directors and managers take over seeing there admins and I am really only there to guide in general administrative questions?

I also see value in having the six of us meet on a monthly basis to go over what is happening in the office and what role they play (such as general administrative tasks). Will that just confuse them on whom they report to?  -- Jackie Smith

Question: We have a couple of new managers who have their laundry & dry cleaning delivered to the office. While their assistants (who are much younger than I) don't seem to mind schlepping laundry around for these gentlemen, to me, it reeks of "back to the '50s."   

I just have a real problem with personal deliveries of ANY kind, particularly since our company will not let employees receive or send PERSONAL deliveries from UPS, FedEx, etc., on premises. 

I'm curious to know if other companies have policies that cover laundry, and any suggestions for how to handle this matter in a tactful way.  -- Anonymous

Question: I have worked for my employer -- a large company with more than 1,400 employees -- for eight years now. When I started working here, the amount of contracts we processed yearly was manageable. More recently, the number of contracts processed annually has tripled, and keeping track of them has become a task that isn't really assigned to one person.

Getting a contract through the process and returned signed and completed takes constant reminders to the individual responsible for that particular contract. On average, we have to send four reminders to an individual for each contract to be reviewed or completed.

The executive assistant to the CEO has been undertaking much of the responsibility, and I have been pitching in when I have spare time, which is hardly ever.

Does anyone have an easy process to track contracts when routing for various signatures or reminding different managers/directors/VPs when a contract is due for renewal or review and then following up with them to make sure it was completed? Do you have one person who over sees this task? What is his or her title? Does he or she have any other job duties?  -- Lindsay Anderson

Question: How is everyone preparing for the flu season? Do you provide flu shots to all employees at your company, bringing in a nurse to do it onsite? Do you reimburse those who get flu shots out of the office? Do you take any other preventative measures within the company?

We hand out alcohol and disinfectant wipes to employees to use in their areas throughout the winter season. We are considering providing flu shots.  -- D.L., Philadelphia

Question: I work for a nonprofit agency and we are revising our job descriptions. Currently, my job responsibilities fall under several categories: Department Secretary, Office Manager and Steno Supervisor.

I like the "Senior Executive Assistant" title. Does anyone have a job description for this that includes: job summary, essential functions, accountabilities and minimum requirements (education, special requirements, experience)? Thanks.  -- Debb, Buffalo, N.Y.

Question: Does your company have any policies or guidelines (implied or not) regarding employees who solicit purchases for their children’s school fundraisers?  -- Anonymous, California