The new employee has gone AWOL
The new employee has gone AWOL
By Alison Green | Published: 2025-10-28 10:15:00 | Source: Inc.com
Inc.com columnist Alison Green answers questions about workplace and management issues — everything from How to deal with a micromanaging boss How to talk to someone on your team About body odor.
Below is a summary of answers to three questions from readers.
1. The new employee has gone AWOL
My husband, Jim, is a managing attorney at a small, quite remote firm, whose attorneys are spread throughout the region. He has recently hired a mid-level lawyer, named Fergus, who is based in a different city and reports directly to him.
Fergus started 10 days ago and doesn’t seem to have done any work yet. Starting on day one, he began telling Jim and other senior attorneys that he was having a “temporary personal crisis” and needed more time to finish the tasks he was assigned. He did not specify the nature of this crisis, and no one felt comfortable investigating it, and they tried to understand it. But deadlines are now approaching and they have no idea when or if Fergus will be able to change assignments. He appears to have paid zero hours using the company’s timekeeping system, but every time they contact him, he maintains that the crisis is temporary, will be resolved soon, and says he can deliver some things the next day – meaning he’s been working on those things. But he never delivered anything.
What do you advise them to do at this stage? It’s a small company with no real human resources and none of their managers have ever dealt with a situation like this before. However, there was a potential red flag during the interview process: Fergus had left his last job of five years without another. He said he quit because he couldn’t stand working there anymore. Jim decided to overlook this because he was from a similar large legal environment to Fergus, and he thought Fergus was a good fit for the company’s needs.
Green responds:
Fergus hasn’t done any work in the ten days he’s been there and doesn’t communicate what’s going on. I’m all for accommodating people when you can, and understanding that life sometimes interferes with things in a big way, but that’s not reasonable. The part that worries me the most is that he repeatedly breaks promises about delivering work (and doesn’t deal with it when it happens, it seems?). This takes it beyond the realm of “maybe he’s had some really bad luck,” which you might want to accommodate if you can, and makes it seem more likely that he’s abusing your good faith.
If I were your husband, I would call Fergus and say, “We want to be cooperative, but without a better understanding of what’s going on, we’re at the limit of what we can do.” If there’s anything you want to share about what’s going on, maybe we can help, but otherwise we’re at a point where we need to hire someone else for the role. Another option is to tell him he needs to start work by date
2. Will my CEO accompany me in succession planning?
I work in a small organization. Seven years ago, I was wooed into my current position as Vice President by the CEO, with the plan that I would take over and run the company once she retired. It seemed like progressive succession planning on her part, and I took a pay cut from my previous job to make the leap. She was approaching traditional retirement age, and she hinted at some specific timelines (“This is the last time I will be in charge of this project”). I expected to be leading the organization within five years.
Fast forward to now, and we’re still in the same situation. Worse still, she refuses to participate in communication about the future of the organization and my role. Over the past year, I’ve tried to broach the topic, but she cut me off and insisted she wouldn’t be forced out. I realize she has to make a decision that’s right for her. But I also need information to make the right decision for me.
Everyone in the organization knows that I have been appointed as her replacement, and I often receive questions (from staff, board members, and community partners) about when I will take over. I’m tempted to share some of my frustration the next time a board member asks me, in an attempt to stimulate some conversations about succession planning at the board level, but I’m afraid that’s going too far. Am I beyond assuming that I will have a clearer picture after seven years in the organization? What should I do?
Green responds:
Seven years?! No, you’re not out of line. If she changes her mind, so be it, but she owes you to have a straight conversation about what’s going on so you can make the right decisions for yourself.
If you knew this would definitely not happen in the next few years, what decisions would you make? I’ll start by assuming that this won’t happen for at least the next several years, if at all, and plan accordingly.
But since the board seems to assume that you will take over at some point (and has presumably agreed to that) and board members are asking you about the timeline, you should also be able to talk to a board member about your concerns. Explain that the CEO has refused to discuss any timeline with you, and that you have reached the point where you are considering whether you need to leave the organization to pursue your own goals. Ask if they have any ideas or can start a conversation about the timeline. (Before you do this, you should consider what you know about the CEO – if he reacts badly to learning that you’ve raised this with a board member on your own, be sure to choose the particular board member and your statements carefully…and consider asking the board member to help protect you from that.)
3. Should I provide feedback to an intern candidate who is overly enthusiastic and unprofessional?
My company is hiring four interns. The four roles are exactly the same and one of the basic requirements is that they have excellent writing skills. The interns will end up under the supervision of me and the other three managers (one intern for each manager). Currently, candidates are undergoing screening calls and will be narrowed down to a pool for us managers to interview.
I received a rather enthusiastic message from a candidate on LinkedIn, and their tone was so inappropriate that I was deciding whether to offer them some polite feedback. What do you think? This is an edited version of what they sent me, but I kept the typos:
Hi, I’m Jane! I hope you are well! I’m interested in the position currently available at your company, in fact I just had my phone interview yesterday! I would love some advice on next steps and everything you did to get this great job 🂠I would love to chat with you x
An emoji has also been introduced. And yes, that’s a kiss at the end.
I know LinkedIn is a fairly informal place to network, but I was wondering if it’s worth telling them that if they’re going to send a message related to a job role, it’s usually best to err on the side of a more professional tone the first time you reach out?
Green responds:
Eh, I could argue either way. As a general rule, it’s not a good idea to use your time giving unsolicited feedback to job applicants (there’s only so much you can offer, you don’t know if people will want it or not, and ultimately that’s not what you should be spending your time on)…but interns are a little different because they’re generally at the beginning of their career and by definition trying to learn more about the world of work. There is more space to provide comments if you want.
This is also an incredibly weird message for a number of reasons – the typos, the kiss-off (!), the content itself – which makes me even more inclined to want to help. With a more experienced candidate, it would make me less inclined because I would have thought that if she hadn’t learned these things by this point, one email from a stranger wouldn’t change anything…but again, interns are different.
Want to ask your own question? Send it to alison@askamanager.org.
The opinions expressed by Inc.com columnists here are their own, not those of Inc.com.
(tags for translation) Absenteeism
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