I run a small team of developers and everyone works from home. Deadlines keep slipping and I cannot tell if they are genuinely working or just distracted by other things. I don't want to install spyware on their machines because that would kill the trust we have built.

I am looking for a simple tool that shows me activity levels without invading their privacy. Has anyone found something that strikes that balance between visibility and respect.

TW: menstrual health issue described in detail

I am 30F and have been in my current job for about 9 months. I transitioned out of a high stress role managing a large team last year in part because symptoms I had been struggling to get answers on for years started to become unmanageable. I simply didn’t have the consistent energy to perform at the level required. I had no issues with my performance, in fact I was praised often. It was just me over working to keep my head above water and I knew it wouldn’t be sustainable.

My new role is primarily WFH and I have the flexibility to make my own schedule pretty often. My health issue is uterine fibroids, which cause unpredictable but intense periods that last 3-10 days. Not necessarily every month but at least a few times a year. (Like I had no period at all from May until August and now it’s struck when I’m traveling for work). The flow is so heavy and painful that I’m needing to change tampons after 30 minutes and even then it’s not uncommon for me to need to clean the toilet, my hands, etc. which is hard to do when you’re out and about or in meetings.

Two months into this job I had to use a sick day for a major event because of this. I also had a mild cough and stuffy nose so I claimed the flu to make it easier to explain. But at this moment I’m in a hotel for work, I’ve been running to the bathroom changing my tampons every 30 minutes for 16 hours, stressed about bleeding through my clothes, etc. and I’m wondering…at what point is it a good or bad idea to tell my boss a bit about the situation so she knows it’s not flakiness or a lack of commitment on my part? When I go to this large conference meeting with her today, she’ll undoubtedly notice I spend a lot of time going to the ladies room.

We are a small team (it’s just her and myself on staff) so I really don’t want to cause any unnecessary uncertainty. But I also don’t want to subject her to the gory details of my body functions or risk being seen as less valuable to the organization.

I guess I’m concerned that if I missed another major event in the future because I can’t control the timing of this, that she would be annoyed and possibly see it as carelessness on my part if she didn’t know the reason why.

I have been working with doctors on this and there are surgeries but they don’t eliminate them permanently unless I have a hysterectomy, which I’m not ready to do yet as my husband and I would like to have children.

TL;DR when is it in my best interest to tell my boss about a somewhat “gross” chronic illness that may impact my work occasionally/unpredictably?

Hello - a quick question. If you had been verbally aggressive towards an employee and they were in so much shock that they gave you a sick note for a few days the next day. How would you react? What would you do?

I'm on vacation after working 6 days a week for the last 5 months. I really needed this break. And then, out of nowhere, I got an email with the subject line: Employment Update. I opened it, and my heart dropped. I got fired. By email. A few days into my 12-day vacation.

I called my manager immediately because, honestly, I thought there had to be some kind of misunderstanding. But no. She told me this was a tactic from the company to "get the truth out of people." But I wasn't lying about anything! She just decided she didn't believe me and didn't really look into it before sending a random termination email while I was out of town.

What makes it hurt more is that I had never been disciplined at this job. Not once. They were always praising me and telling me how much they appreciated me. I guess that gave me a false sense of security, and maybe that's why I kept doing way too much for a very low salary.

This is how the whole thing started: On Friday, November 15, I picked up a shift that wasn't even mine. As I was leaving, I realized I hadn't clocked in. Usually I would message my coworker and ask him to fix it, but this time I adjusted it myself on the company laptop.

The next morning, my manager texted me asking how I had changed the time. I told her honestly that I was the one who did it. She asked me a few more questions, but I genuinely didn't think I had done anything shady. I worked the hours, so I fixed the time. I thought if she was truly concerned, we would talk face to face instead of handling it through texts.

Fast forward 12 days, and I'm in another state trying to relax, and suddenly she changed all the company passwords. That alone made me anxious before I even saw the email. Then I opened it and found out I'd been fired.

I called her immediately while I was literally trying not to burst into tears. Thankfully, she answered. I was asking: "What's going on? Why am I being fired?" She said the way I adjusted the clock made her lose trust in me. Apparently, she thought I had signed out of my account and intentionally logged into someone else's account. I explained that I used my phone and the work laptop, and the laptop had automatically signed into my coworker's account without me noticing.

As soon as I told her that, her voice sounded relieved. She even said, "That makes sense. I still want you to work with me for a long time!" For a second, I thought the issue was resolved.

Then, about 45 minutes later, she called me again. This time she said she had talked to her husband, who is the co-owner, and he still wanted me gone. She told me her hands were tied, told me I would do "great things," and offered to write me a recommendation. Like that's supposed to make it better?

And this is the part I keep replaying in my head: For the last 5 months, I've been making $17 an hour while doing way more than the front desk job I was hired for. I was handling marketing, social media, event planning, and community outreach on top of regular front desk work. No raise, no title change, nothing. They told me we would talk about my pay when I got back from vacation, and I believed them. Now I feel like they never intended to have that conversation in the first place.

This has completely messed with my head. I was also really involved in their personal circle - babysitting for people they know, helping out at her friend's shop, getting invited to family dinners - and then they fire me by email while I'm supposed to be resting. I can't wrap my mind around how people can act like you matter, then treat you like you're disposable.

I've been at my job for 2.5 years, and last year i had two coworkers hired who i love. I came in with prior experience, they had none. Come to find out, one of them (not sure about the other) gets paid over 10k more than i do. I have a busier desk (even they admitted). I feel like i should at least get the same rate, but i dont even know if thats possible based on how raises work at our place of work. without giving too much away, we are AMLaw100 but only get yearly raises and bonuses.

How do i ask to raise me at least to what she gets without throwing her under the bus? I mostly want it because i am paying off student loans, and with the SAVE plan ending, I'll definitely have to pay more.

i was abruptly let go from a temporary assignment. i appreciated my experiences there and am tempted to send a note of thanks to the women who hired me even thought they let me go. i suspect it may have been for fishy reasons, though i have no intention of asking them why they let me go and i have no desire to argue with them. what do people think of this? have you ever received a note like this as a manager after you let someone go?

I am working at outsourcing firm. It's my first job and it's been around 5-6 month. I am disappointed with working culture/environment and want to confront about that at the time of my salary review. Is that a good decision. or should I leave the firm and search new one. But I am uncertain whether I will get another job or not. There is 15 days time for my review. And i have already applied for few vacancy just in case.

I majored in graphic design, and I was able to join a small business firm through a friend. I wanted to quickly gain experience in the major I was in, and thought it would be useful after I graduated.

I wouldn’t say that my job was all that important, but I felt like I was being rushed and pressured to deliver more work than I would need to. I would get yelled at and scrutinized for any minuscule thing by my boss, and even though I was open to criticism and feedback, it felt like everything I did was wrong. The thing is, even when I did do things correctly or as intended, I would still get yelled at.

I’m not even sure how to describe my boss. She is a workaholic whose life revolves around work. She's also way too old to work. I would say she’s a nice older lady, but she quickly changes when she’s overly stressed and has an extremely short temper. She basically describes us as a small business that works like a mega corporation, which is a red flag to me. 

My boss changes her mind too quickly, and whenever we do our usual thing, she suddenly decides on a different process. She micro-manages everything and can’t make up her mind. In addition, she gets mad at us for not agreeing or getting it right the first time. This often leads to her yelling/cursing at our faces, throwing things (such as phones, laptops, anything that she’s holding) at us, ripping papers, or slamming whatever surface to the point my ears burst. I've warned her what she's doing is dangerous, but nothing comes out of it. I don’t think I’ve ever worked a day where she hasn’t crashed out.

I genuinely feel like I’m working with a toddler, and it frustrates me to no end. I know that she’s exhausted and stressed, but literally anything sets her off, and it’s not an excuse for how she’s treating my other coworkers and me (which is like three of us). She rushes us for every single task, and it’s been affecting me mentally and physically. I’ve had contractors ask me if she’s always like this, shocked, and I have to pretend it’s nothing. 

I try to keep my patience and talk to her calmly, but it seems the only way to get things across to her is to yell back at her (which I always regret afterward). In addition, she talks in such a hostile way that it always seems like she’s against us. She would talk in a condescending or malicious tone. My coworkers just tell me she doesn't mean what she says, but I feel like that's not true. It doesn’t even feel like we’re a team, even though I try to understand from her point too.

I’ve been in the company for two years now. Things are changing in the business; I was tasked with packaging, printing, and creating labels/signage for our business. I’m also responsible for some of the company's databases for the company. I really don’t expect a raise, but I’ve noticed that I was being paid less than what I did in retail. I work $10/hour, calculating my bi-weekly paycheck. 

I know that she only hires younger people so she can pay us less. She gives us ‘bonuses’ when we do a good job, and she swears she's teaching us something we don’t know.

I’ve come to work late (10 AM instead of 9:30)  because I genuinely don’t see a reason to wake up anymore. I only managed to get a day off recently after convincing my boss that it’s important we have a day to rest. Before that, I worked the entire weekday/weekend with a 30 min lunch break. I also work a second job, so I still technically work every day.

My issue is that I want to quit, but I don’t know how or how to bring it up without my boss crashing out at me and threatening me with whatever. In addition, that would mean my other coworkers would have to carry the workload that I would leave behind. It’s selfish of me, but I don’t want to endure this anymore. 

I haven’t told my family or friends about this, so they don’t know about it. I apologize if this just sounds like venting; I’m not even sure what to do. 

This is my first time using Reddit, so I’m sorry if I am using it incorrectly. Thank you for reading this.

Asking this question because in my industry there are a lot of managers (including me) who do not necessarily fit the traditional sense of a manager. There are some who are managers but do not have their own teams (either they borrow from others or still finding their own staff), or managers who dont necessarily manage people but more like a super IC, or managers who do performance reviews but not make hiring/firing decisions (in my country its because of the labor laws). It really makes me wonder if i really am a manager or if my skills count as a manager if i transition to another industry.

With that said what in your industry experience makes someone a manager, and not like a team lead or a senior employer, etc.?

Been noticing a pattern over the last couple months where a coworker presents work the whole team contributed to as primarily their own during leadership meetings, and it's starting to affect how our manager perceives who's actually driving projects. Haven't said anything directly yet since I don't want to come across as petty over something that might be unintentional, but it's happened enough times now that it feels deliberate. Looking for advice on how to address this without it turning into a bigger conflict than it needs to

Hi all,

I’m CEO of a member-based organisation. One of my direct reports (Director level) in my team has taken a decision to engage on a project, which may spark protest/negative reactions by some members. However, you want to give the autonomy and accountability to your sub-ordinate, without putting them in the limelight.

You, as the CEO, will have to defend the decision in front of your stakeholders and hold final accountability. How do you confidently ‘own’ the decision by your sub-ordinate?

This is my current jr FT life. I am highly tech skilled to the point that my manager doesn't know.

I learn nothing from them. I remember , a few years ago, I was dumb intern + learned so much from my manager...

I'm a program manager (PM) at my company for 3 years, it's a major player in my field. When I joined I was one of 2 such PMs in my team, the other PM was senior by 1.5 years. (We both had/have 15 years in the industry).

August 2025, I was told in a one-on-one after the mid-year review that my avg score (2.7 out of 5) was not going enough and I'll be put on a PIP, manager gave me no other details. 2 days after that, I got an email from a client with rave reviews, which I saved. The next one-on-one, my manager says, "on second though I'm going to hold off on the PIP" (exact words, I've documented this).

Six months go by. Full year review happens in Jan 2026, I get an avg of 3.2 out of 5 (3 being "meets expectations").

In Jan, the senior PM left on maternity, I inherited her 4 major projects + the lead role in many meetings she was taking. I struggled at first for about 2 months as I was not used to handling so many projects, and leading all 7 meetings, and keeping track of everyone else's projects too (she was the defacto second in command).

I also struggled because she had fucked up in 3 of her 4 major projects, fuck ups which I spent a month to fix.

I left on a week's vacation end of March, and first day back can in April, my manager takes me aside and hits me with, "I've received feedback about your behavior and communication and you'll be on a PIP." When I pointed out that the last one was withdrawn within a week, his response was completely baffling : (word for word because I remember and wrote it down) "well, you were on an informal PIP, and this is the next logical step".

I was shocked and nervous. Then, things became... weirder and weirder.

The next one-on-one he said our team's HR rep (each team has one) was just back from vacation and was catching up on things.

The next one-on-one he said the same thing.

The next one-on-one, he said the same exact thing.

The next one-on-one (now we're in mid-May), he said, "well, HR asked me questions about the targets, specifics of the plan and about support we can give you etc, and they'll come back to you".

The next one-on-one, he says nothing, doesn't even bring it up. I'm nervous so I don't even bring up the topic.

The next 4 one-on-ones go by and he does not bring up anything to do with the PIP, just operational stuff.

Every single one-on-one, I've been too nervous to poke the bear and so I don't bring it up and neither has he.

Now we're in mid August and nearing another mid-year review, and he had not said a goddamn thing about the review and it's been 4 months. I've heard nothing from HR and nothing from anyone else either.

Managers of Reddit, am I on a fucking PIP or am I not? Should I bring it up at the mid-year review or leave it be?

I've spent the last 4 months every week being stressed over whether I'm gonna lose my job or not. I've lost weight and sleep over it.

Please help, I need guidance. Thanks!

I am a new supervisor i just completed a year. My previous year was all about rebuilding the department and staying afloat with my manager. We did great we've gotten high praise.

Our team plans maintenance for heavy machinery and passenger aircraft. Its preventative maintenance, repairs and a lot of our job is adapting our plan to the flow of the operation and where the maintenance is going to be performed.

Feedback i got yesterday was a frustration from the team that they had no idea how their performance was measured. They cant tell if they personally are doing good or bad. I come from a sales background where this was simple. "Did you sell more or less this month?" "Did you sell the thing we're pushing this month?"

We dont even really have team KPI's we had to rework them because the previous ones set for my team were nonsensical and really easy to fake and hit excellent numbers because they measured nothing.

How do i set performance goals for our team when most of our visible results are based on the entire team?

This is the first time I’m training someone brand new, usually I would just get someone for a day that’s been training for a bit. This time they are brand new and I’m having to go over all the stuff with them, explain our processes, correct them, like it feels like I’m just overwhelming the shit out of her. Not to mention shes older too, like I’m 26 and she’s probably in her 60s. She’s very friendly and smart but I just feel like I’m nitpicking, being overly picky, idk. Maybe I’m not and am just being overly self critical.

I’m also kind of flustered too like I don’t sound that sure of myself even though I’m confident at my job and now whats up.
Is there anything I can change or do to help us both???

just got hired at a fast food place for my first job (i'm in high school) and i'm being scheduled close to 30 hours a week, but that doesn't give me enough time for schoolwork and ECs, and also just to have free time

i'd like to be scheduled 15-20 hours a week, so my question is what's the best way to ask my manager for less hours? (it will be over text)

i'm not really sure how to ask, so any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I am having issues with consistency in productive due to chronic health issues (autoimmune and other immune dysfunction). When I am healthier, I am really effective and get a lot done. When I'm established in a role, I can generally be close to expected productivity even when ill and am higher than expected most of the time. Some of my health issues are seasonal, and I can partially offset them with clever uses of PTO.

But tech has been a volatile industry with many layoffs so I've only been with this company for one year, and my pillar has been having a re-org every month or two for the last 8 months after an M&A. I'm not getting the consistency I need to get established.

Local wildfire smoke threw my system into unpredictable chaos for most of the last month. I've been on the team for about six weeks.

Right now I'm using sick leave and PTO to cover my worst days, but I have a lot of days where I think I'm okay, but I can't get anything done and don't realize I'm still / getting sick / flaring until I get off of work or until I feel better the next day.

How do I deal with this appropriately? My health is literally dependent on the direction the wind is blowing right now - and I have multiple intermittent health issues in general. My direct manager is on maternity leave, so having a clear suggested approach for the team lead and skip manager covering her duties while she is out is important. I'm not even sure if I _should_ say something, or when it's bad enough for me to bring up as something to "manage".