—chelynwei “My older boss would make rude and discouraging comments anytime someone would go on vacation, like ‘Must be nice,’ or, ‘Wish I could take some time off.’ Definitely a generational thing that made us all feel like we were doing something wrong. As a manager now myself, I encourage my team to take time off regularly, travel, and work remotely from anywhere in the world.” —Raya, 35 “One of the most important things to me is to give people the opportunity to fail as a part of growth. I had so many managers who basically expected perfection on the first try. I don’t want to create that culture in my department.” —Erika, 30 We’re all part of the same team, and we’re all human beings. I may be your supervisor, but I’ve been where you are, and I get it! I totally get it! I will never treat my staff the way I have been treated under some supervisors." —kishbish —andreaj16 The heart of the advice is always this: No job is worth being treated that way, so do whatever you need to do to feel safe. Document everything, lean into whisper networks, and don’t put up with anyone who excuses or justifies that behavior. If anyone tries to pin blame on you, I’ll help you find work elsewhere by assisting with the job search, writing a letter of recommendation, using my professional network, etc." Jenn, 35 Fiona, 34 —Renee, 31 To this day whenever an issue arises I think of my first mistake, remind myself how scary it can be, and how much worse it is when you have a bad boss. This keeps me level-headed when I’m working with my team." —khelmondollar —sophien1986 Now, sometimes they come to be with some petty stuff, but that’s okay. It means they will come to me with the important stuff and aren’t going to be stewing over things and feeling like no one cares if they’re happy with the way things are going or not." —yellowblueforever —cazm4593ce787 “I had a boss previously who was very unpredictable with her expectations of us. For instance, one day it would take my team two hours to accomplish a task, and that was totally okay — like a ‘Great job, guys’ kind of response from her. Two days later, similar task, and at 45 minutes we’re getting screamed at for not being done already. Hour to hour you never knew what response you were going to get from her. Made for a very stressful environment, like we were always walking on eggshells because of her. As a manager now, I try to be very clear and consistent about what my expectations for staff are, so both myself and my employees are on the same page.” —Dana, 32 —pmusumeci85
