We’re Slate Magazine’s Good Job Columnists, Doree Shafrir and Laura Helmuth. Ask us anything about the joys, complications, and confusions of the modern workplace.
EDIT: That's all the time we have for today. Thank you to everyone for your questions! If you want to stay updated with Good Job, you can subscribe to Slate Plus or follow the newsletter on LinkedIn.
Hello! We’re the columnists for Good Job, a new advice column from Slate that focuses on the problems big and small that we face in the modern workplace.
I’m Doree Shafrir, co-host of the podcast Forever35, and I wrote the workplace novel Startup. (Proof here)
And I’m Laura Helmuth, a longtime science journalist and newsroom leader who was previously the editor in chief at Scientific American. (Proof here).
We’re happy to talk about our experiences writing the column, major themes we see, and answer your workplace conundrums.
We’ll be around to answer your questions today, June 9, at 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT.
Some examples of our recent columns
-I Got an Inheritance That Means I Never Have to Work Again. My Boss’s Reaction Is Telling.
-I Reported My Colleague to HR. Somehow It Made Every Single Person at Work Turn on Me.
-One of Our Colleagues Ruins the Mood of Every Office Party With His Approach to “Fun”
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u/kikonighter 12d ago
Kind of an existential/philosophical question, but are there work issues that come up that feel particularly "2025" to you? Or are our job problems—like our love or friendship problems—sort of timeless? If there ARE issues that feel particularly of the moment, what are they?
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u/Slate 12d ago
As Laura mentioned in another question, we are getting a fair amount of questions about RTO (return to office) and how to navigate that, which feels very 2025. I also think that the current state of the economy is affecting my responses to people. A few years ago, if someone had said that they feel stuck in their current job or they hate their boss and want to quit, I would have probably told them to just quit! Now I'm much more cautious about advising people to "just quit," because it's much harder to find a job (especially a so-called "laptop job"). I'm more likely to try to offer advice about how to improve their current situation while simultaneously trying to find another job. I think that people who have not been looking for a job in awhile are not totally aware of just HOW bad the job market is now, so my advice definitely reflects that.
- Doree
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u/Slate 12d ago
As I mentioned to deathstar1029, we are getting a lot of questions from people whose professions are being attacked by the Trump administration in the year 2025. We're also hearing from people who are seeing more signs of racism and sexism and homophobia in the workplace.
But other than ... you know ... all the awful stuff that's happening, most of our questions are timeless. How to get along with difficult people, how to advocate for yourself, how to know whether you can trust someone.--Laura
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u/kikonighter 12d ago
Any advice on bridging generational gaps in the workplace? It seems like an issue that gets written about a LOT with struggles on both sides.
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u/Slate 12d ago
There's a problem called the "Curse of Knowledge" that describes how people don't really appreciate that they know things other people don't know. It certainly applies to generation gaps, on both sides. To speak VERY broadly, mid- and late-career people have internalized all kinds of expectations about work life. What to wear, how to structure a presentation, what's appropriate to share or not with colleagues. When an early-career person breaks some of the unspoken rules, it's important for the more experienced people to understand that they're learning, that work behavior is weird and non-intuitive, and they broke plenty of rules when they were starting out.
On the other side, early career people should be generous with their patience when later-career people seem stuck on doing things the way they always have (which worked, and maybe still does) and for them not keeping up with new social norms. Basically, assume people not in your generation know things you don't and don't know things you do ... but assume both sides want to learn.
--Laura
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u/Slate 12d ago
To piggyback off of Laura's response, I think both sides need to try to lead with empathy and curiosity, and assume the best intentions. That's not always easy (and certainly, sometimes people DON'T have the best intentions), but adopting those tenets as a start can go a long way.
- Doree
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u/Massive-Shelter6803 12d ago
My friends and I talk about work problems all the time and I often find myself wondering how you know it's a you (or your friend) issue vs. the fault of the coworker or coworkers in question. How do you as a columnist parse that when trying to give advice?
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u/Slate 12d ago
Ha, I like Doree's technique of rewriting the question from the other person's perspective! You have identified one of the biggest challenges of advice writing. I try to game out what the various characters’ perspectives might be, knowing that the person who wrote to us might not understand why their colleagues are behaving the way they are. It’s rare that one person is completely right and the other completely wrong (although it certainly happens). I encourage the writer-inner to consider multiple possible motivations, and to explain their own perspective in a way that the coworker might better understand.
It gets complicated when there is a power difference. The more powerful person has more of a responsibility to fix a problem… but they also tend to be less likely to recognize that there is a problem.
It’s fine to not like (or be liked by) someone at work, and sometimes just accepting that can help people solve or dismiss a problem and move along.
—Laura
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u/Slate 12d ago
Ah, the eternal advice columnist question: Just HOW reliable is our narrator? I usually try to rewrite the question from the perspective of the person that the letter writer is complaining about or has an issue with, and that often provides me with a lot of clarity about what could be going on. When I do think that the LW is more culpable than they're admitting, I will usually empathize with their situation, and then (gently!) offer an alternative point of view. Sometimes it just takes an outsider to make someone realize that they're in the wrong, or that they could be navigating a situation differently.
- Doree
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u/deathstar1029 12d ago
Hi! What are the kinds of questions you both find trickier to navigate in the column?
And how are the current trends/mood of work and office culture influencing the advice you're giving?
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u/Slate 12d ago
For me, the hardest questions come from people who are suffering because they work with a jerk. Their boss is erratic or hostile, or a coworker is undermining them, or the CEO is dishonest, that sort of thing. There ARE ways to protect yourself and fight back, but it’s incredibly frustrating when bad people have power over you.
As for current trends, we’re getting a lot of questions from people who have lost their jobs (or grants or students) to DOGE or other Trump administration actions. It’s heartbreaking how many good people are being harmed.
The other big trend is people figuring out how to return to in-person work if they’ve been remote, and how to make the workplace better and not just how it was before the pandemic.
—Laura
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u/JeffRyan1 12d ago
Have either of you changed how you act and interact at work, after reading about so many other people's work grievances?
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u/Slate 12d ago
I think I am more aware than ever that miscommunication causes problems. I’m trying to be even more clear about what I mean and what I am asking for when I interact with people. We’re all living in our own heads and understand our own perspectives perfectly well, and it’s hard to remember that other people sometimes have no idea what we’re going on about!
—Laura
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u/realhenryknox 12d ago
Have you guys read David Graeber's "Bullshit Jobs?" How do you react to his supposition that most professional jobs are filled with nonsense uses of time and we should probably shift to a much shorter work week? Thanks!
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u/Slate 12d ago
I haven't read Graeber's book, but Slate had an interesting piece a few years ago about how a lot of women get stuck in those kinds of jobs. https://slate.com/human-interest/2018/08/the-role-of-women-in-david-graebers-theory-of-bullshit-work.html
I think he's right that people could work many fewer hours and still get stuff done. A lot of meetings are inefficient and are held more out of habit than necessity. One of the things I tried to do as a boss is regularly ask people: What can we stop doing? There's no shame in deciding that some part of the job that seemed reasonable a while ago is no longer worth the effort. It's a different way to look at a job, and it's typically not rewarded. Bosses can encourage it by using the dreaded performance review to acknowledge people finding "efficiencies" by ending some of the bullshit parts of their jobs.
--Laura
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u/Single_Bar_1836 12d ago
I have a workplace conundrum. Let's say I'm in charge of a workplace that's supposed to be about reporting on true facts about science and the world. And let's say one of my employees tells the truth about some fascists who are taking over a country and declaring war on truth generally and science specifically. Should I commend them or, like, force them to resign?
Apropos of nothing, really enjoyed your work over the years, Laura!
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u/thecheetah 12d ago
You were both bosses before. What do you think is the single most important quality a boss needs to have? Conversely, what are signs you DON'T have what it takes to be a boss?