company says whether they’ll pay is up to them, fielding comments about my office temperature, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. Company says “the amount and availability of pay” is up to them

I’m job-hunting (thanks, DOGE!) and came across this in a job listing: “Note: Pay is not considered compensation until it is earned, vested and determinable. The amount and availability of any compensation remains in Company’s sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified in its discretion consistent with the law.”

Is this at all legal? It sounds like they’re reserving the right to not pay an employee or to pay them less than agreed upon, at literally any point. This seems crazy!

This is not legal! Not at all. They have to pay at least minimum wage for all work performed, and it needs to be paid in a timely manner (which is governed by state law and is usually two to four weeks after the work was performed). You can’t legally volunteer for a for-profit company, even if you want to (and most people don’t want to). And employers can’t leave your wages up to their discretion after the fact or lower them after the work has been performed, so I particularly love “the amount and availability of any compensation remains in Company’s sole discretion” — i.e., “we might not pay you at all, suckers!”

2. How do I respond to comments about my office temperature?

This is awfully low stakes, but it comes up all the time and I’m curious about what advice you’d give. I work in a small private office in a historic building that is calm, collected, but most of all: cool. My job is a computer type job, and I get cold sitting at my desk. The hitch is that the in-wall heating unit in my office is one of those mid-century workhorses that has “off” and “tropical” as its only two settings. So to have the heat on at all means that the room becomes quite warm. It’s fine for me because I’m not moving around, and there’s really no other option for a more moderate temperature.

At least once a week, someone will come by and say something like, “Wow, it’s warm in here!” and I never know what to say! Giving them the full explanation about the heater each time seems like too much, but I also don’t want to give people the impression that I’m wasting energy purposelessly.

The answer is informative signage, right?

The answer is almost definitely not informative signage! One, it would likely be overkill (and you’d probably end up talking more about it because people would comment on the sign). And two, signs seem to be overlooked by half the people they’re intended for anyway so it’s unlikely to solve the problem. Instead, you’ll have the people who comment on the heat plus the people who comment on the sign.

It’ll be easier to just have a quick response when people comment on the heat — “Yeah, the heater in here runs warm” or “Yeah, it’s that or freezing” or “It is!” or any other short acknowledgement. People generally won’t be looking for a detailed explanation. The exception is if someone is your office for a longer meeting, not just popping in for a minute or two; in that case it would be polite to ask if they’re uncomfortable and if they would prefer you turn the heat down. You’ll know that “down” will mean “off” in this case — or at least “off until you leave my office” — but you don’t need to give them the whole explanation (unless you sense they would enjoy commiserating with you about it, in which case have at it.)

3. Should I tell a job I love that I’m upset enough to consider leaving?

I’ve been at my job for four years. It’s a small agency (20 employees) and I’ve been very happy here: I enjoy the work, the workload is manageable, the people are nice, my boss treats me well, and the pay is decent. I’ve been able to get a pretty sizable promotion, and I’ve seen new higher-level positions created to keep other strong employees happy as they’ve grown more seasoned.

A few months ago, a major decision in my area of expertise was made without my input. My initial reaction was to try and argue why I felt the decision was wrong. I talked extensively about it with my boss, and even had a sit-down with my grandboss about it, during which she made it clear that she would hear out my concerns, but the decision had already been made (it honestly felt kind of patronizing, but I don’t know how else she could have handled it at that point).

I finally recognized that, even if I had been in the room when the decision was made, the outcome probably would have been the same. What bothered me about it was not the final decision, but the fact that my input was not seen as important enough to be included in the discussion. I explained this to my boss, who agreed and said she would have included me in that meeting if she’d known the decision was going to be made then (it was made somewhat spontaneously during an informational update). I believe her, but I’m pretty unconvinced that the other directors and GM agree. It’s relevant to note here that my previous boss left, in part, because she felt that her input wasn’t being taken seriously enough (she referred to it as the “Ross and Rachel show,” Ross and Rachel being the other two directors). Ross was her boss at the time. There has since been a restructuring so my boss is now at the same level as Ross and Rachel, but I’m not sure how much that really changed.

This experience has left me feeling demoralized, and I’ve started looking at other positions. I’m certainly not running for the hills, but I no longer feel like my input is valued, and I question how much I’ll be able to grow here. Maybe I’m overreacting to the situation (please tell me if you think I am!), but it’s been a couple months at this point and it still bothers me.

When I mentioned to a close friend that I’m looking at other jobs, he was shocked (he knows how much I like this job and how unhappy I was at my last one), and when I explained the above to him, he felt that I need to make it clear, not just to my boss but also to my grandboss and other directors, how bothered I am by this. He’s been self-employed for 20 years so I’m not sure I trust his advice, but I’ll ask you: is there a way I can communicate this to my employer? Even if there is, I’m honestly not sure what I’d be asking for — verbal assurances that I’m valued would fall short, and I don’t know what else they could do.

Well, I can’t say for sure that you’re overreacting without knowing what the decision was that upset you, but … yeah, it sounds like you might be overreacting, given that this is a job you were otherwise happy with (in fact, you used the words “a job I love” in the subject line of your email). Now, if this incident has made you realize that there’s a pattern of them not giving you enough input when they should, that’s different — but I’m not necessarily seeing that in your letter. Your previous boss felt that was the case for her, but you don’t say that you feel that way. In light of that, this does feel like a pretty intense response. But again, context could change that.

As for your friend’s suggestion that you make it clear to people how bothered you are: I don’t think there’s much point in doing that until you figure out exactly what outcomes you’d want from that — because if you don’t know, they’re unlikely to work it out themselves! It also sounds like they already know you were upset, since you had that sit-down with your grandboss. If there’s more you want them to do, first you’ve got to figure out specifically what that is. Do you want a chance to have input before decisions on X or Y are made in the future? Something else? If there’s no specific outcome you want, it won’t be particularly constructive to just say “I’m still upset about this” months later.

4. Is it OK to do in-person meetings with only some of my reports?

I am a manager at an organization with a remote and distributed workforce, although some of the people in my department are located in the Big City Area where the organization is headquartered. We all work from home, but some of the Big City Area people voluntarily go into the office one day a week, which is incentivized with a catered lunch and other perks.

The organization is going to begin enforcing an in-office policy that mandates all the Big City Area people go into the office one day a week. This includes me and most (but not all) of my direct reports. Right now I’m doing video 1:1s with everyone, but soon I’ll have the opportunity to do in-person 1:1s with some of them. Part of me would like to do that, because some of my reports have mentioned it and I’d also like to make the most of my day in the office by doing things that I wouldn’t be able to do while working from home.

But part of me thinks I shouldn’t do it since I can’t do in-person 1:1s with all of them, and it could lead to unconscious bias or the appearance of favoritism. My spouse thinks I’m thinking about this too hard and I should just do the in-person 1:1s when I can. My boss has told me to do what I want, and that they don’t feel strongly one way or another. If I continue doing video 1:1s with everyone, I wonder if the Big City Area people are going to feel rejected because I’m not taking advantage of the opportunity. What’s your take?

Do in-person 1:1’s when you can. It’s likely to be highly irritating to people to be ordered back to the office and then have their manager not even take advantage of their presence there, and being able to talk face-to-face is part of the point of having people in the office.

You’re right to consider that it could lead to different advantages (better access and better rapport) for the people who are in-person, but that’s not a foregone conclusion. Since it’s something that’s already on your radar, make a point of watching for it — and if you feel like it’s starting to happen, look for ways to strengthen your relationships and rapport with the remote people, rather than building in artificial distance with the on-site people.

5. Informing clients about an upcoming medical leave

In a few months, I will be undergoing major surgery that will require six to eight weeks recovery, during which I will be unable to work. I am self-employed and, once I have the date for my surgery, I would like to give my clients a heads-up so they might be able to plan around it.

I am a bit at a loss as to how to phrase it, though. I don’t want to give the impression I am just going on holidays for two months or something, but also I don’t want to burden/worry clients unnecessarily. It’s major surgery, sure, but I’ll most likely be fine after it. What is a good way to phrase this?

“I want to let you know that I’ll be out on medical leave from (date) to (date). It’s nothing to worry about, and I expect to be back to normal work by September 15.”

If you’re comfortable sharing that it’s surgery, that’s fine too! You can say “medical leave for surgery and recovery.” If anyone asks nosy questions you don’t want to answer, it’s fine to repeat, “Nothing to worry about! Just something I need to take care of.”

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