I'm a boss at work AMA

amother

Fri, Jan 19 2024, 4:39 am

I'm a boss at my workplace. I don't own the company, but I am the boss for about a quarter of my department. AMA.

08701mom

Fri, Jan 19 2024, 8:01 am

Oooohhhh Choshuv

amother

NeonGreen

Fri, Jan 19 2024, 8:24 am

08701mom wrote:

Oooohhhh Choshuv

Why the sarcasm?

amother

Burntblack

Fri, Jan 19 2024, 8:25 am

are a dept. manager? Lat I know a boss actually owns the company and is not on payroll

amf

Fri, Jan 19 2024, 8:25 am

Do you need to deal with hr issues/firing?

amother

Sat, Jan 20 2024, 1:04 pm

amother Burntblack wrote:

are a dept. manager? Lat I know a boss actually owns the company and is not on payroll

Yes, dept manager. I don't own the company and I am on payroll. I am involved in company policy making, but don't have any final say. I decide on the work for my employees, on their vacations, and can give them bonuses. If that's more of a manager than a boss, we can call it that instead.

amother

Sat, Jan 20 2024, 1:05 pm

08701mom wrote:

Oooohhhh Choshuv

Hardly

amother

Sat, Jan 20 2024, 1:07 pm

amf wrote:

Do you need to deal with hr issues/firing?

Yes I do. Firing people is the worst part of my job (thankfully very rare). All the HR stuff is tricky. We do have an HR dept and of course I work with them when these things come up, but I am usually the one who has to deal directly with an employee on firing and other HR issues.

amother

Cornsilk

Sat, Jan 20 2024, 1:11 pm

amother Burntblack wrote:

are a dept. manager? Lat I know a boss actually owns the company and is not on payroll

Boss is the person in charge so could definitely refer to a manager.
A lot of companies don't have a singular owner who is the boss.
Where I work I refer to my department director as my boss. I sometimes refer to the CEO as the big boss.
The CEO doesn't own our company and she is also on payroll, the company is run by a board and owned by the shareholders.
The boss of the CEO are the board members.

amother

Babyblue

Sat, Jan 20 2024, 7:26 pm

Do frum workers work under you? Men? Women?

Unigala

Sat, Jan 20 2024, 7:30 pm

What are some qualities you admire in an employee

amother

Cyan

Sat, Jan 20 2024, 7:34 pm

Me too
I have a team of 15 women and girls
All frum bh

amother

Mulberry

Sat, Jan 20 2024, 8:03 pm

What do you get paid to be a boss?

amother

Crocus

Sat, Jan 20 2024, 10:37 pm

What are your hours? Are you being bothered off hours - if yes is it possible to put a limit?

How do you deal with employee that just irks you (if it ever happened)?

How often do you report to your boss? How many bosses?

amother

Coral

Sat, Jan 20 2024, 10:43 pm

amother OP wrote:

I'm a boss at my workplace. I don't own the company, but I am the boss for about a quarter of my department. AMA.

I want to cut back on my work hours now to twice a week.
From a bosses perspective how would you accept such a request from an employee?

amother

Sun, Jan 21 2024, 3:34 am

amother Babyblue wrote:

Do frum workers work under you? Men? Women?

Yes, some of my employees are frum. And I have both men and women.

amother

Sun, Jan 21 2024, 3:37 am

Unigala wrote:

What are some qualities you admire in an employee

Good work ethic. This doesn't mean that necessarily work more or harder than the others, but that they believe in doing a good job.

Also strong morals in general. It really does make a better employee.

Other things:
- attention to detail
- ability to work independently
- problem solver
- good critical thinking
- pleasant to be around is so important

amother

Sun, Jan 21 2024, 3:37 am

amother Cyan wrote:

Me too
I have a team of 15 women and girls
All frum bh

Sounds so nice!

amother

Sun, Jan 21 2024, 3:39 am

amother Mulberry wrote:

What do you get paid to be a boss?

I don't mind that you asked, but I do prefer not to answer this question, sorry Hiding

amother

Sun, Jan 21 2024, 3:51 am

amother Crocus wrote:

My hours are a bit all over the place. I have pretty regular office hours during the day, but I leave mid-afternoon to pick up my kids, and then also work from home in the evenings to fill in missing hours. Many employees do this, but some do full days at the office instead. Therefore I am contacted at all hours. I do have some limits. If they call or text while I am busy for a few hours, I have other people to refer them to. They also know that 4-8 pm is when I am with my kids and I rarely answer phone calls but I am more responsive by text if needed. If I know in advance that there is a big project deadline or something time sensitive, then I plan in advance to be more available.

I have 1 boss who I report to, we have meetings once a week to review things. He is available in between if things come up. The company owner is above him, but I don't report to him, management (including me) meets with him as a group maybe one or twice a year.

It is very rare to have an employee that irks me, but it has happened. I kind of view it the same as having a child who irks me, just take a lot of deep breaths, focus on what I like about them, try to have a good relationship, and ignore harmless bothersome behavior. If it is behavior that affects their work or their working relationships, I discuss it with them privately and/or I raise it in their semi-annual reviews for what needs to be improved in the upcoming quarters.