What’s the best way to recover if you get off to a bad start in a new job? Is it even possible? I seem to have pissed off my co-workers.
Empty suits and lazy people who don’t pull their weight will quickly develop a reputation and draw the ire of colleagues. People who act like jerks will engender the same reaction — if not worse.
If your transgression was performance-related, the only thing you can do is demonstrate a new, proactive and productive work ethic that is equal to that of your peers. People will notice, and you’ll shed that first impression.
If you’ve just been a jerk, well, offer a sincere mea culpa, either one on one or to the group. Own and apologize for all of your mistakes, and chalk them up to a newbie’s anxiety — say that what they’ve seen is not the real you and tell them you’d like a fresh start.
Even the most cynical people will give you a chance to redeem yourself. But if that jerk gene is in your DNA and resurfaces, you’re done.
I’ve been out on disability for six months, and now my employer wants to send me for an independent medical exam before they will approve my long-term disability. My doctor has confirmed my inability to work, so after 10 years with the company, I find this offensive, as if they don’t trust me. Do I have to comply?
Before you get all self-righteous, consider that it could be their insurance provider who is requiring the exam. Perhaps the company has had a number of disability fraud cases and now requires testing of everyone because, you know, it happens sometimes that someone is medically “documented” as being too ill to even answer phones — then is found through investigation to be running a call center business out of his home . . . Shocking, I know!
Listen, your employer and their insurance carrier have a right to require that you submit to an independent medical exam — and if you refuse, they have the right to decline your long-term coverage.