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Posted by Ask a Manager

https://www.askamanager.org/2026/01/employee-doesnt-know-i-have-access-to-her-emails-people-interrupt-me-to-fix-the-copier-and-more.html

https://www.askamanager.org/?p=34935

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

1. Employee doesn’t know I have access to her emails

I have a direct report that had to take a medical leave (two months) and during that time I needed access to her emails so I could assist customers who had pending issues, and the emails contained the information I needed. She is back now, but I am seeing some performance issues I need to address. She is not aware that I still have access to her email as IT never removed my access. I don’t want to micromanage, and I only look at it when there is an issue and I need to see what she actually said to a customer. I’m now seeing some things that are a bit concerning. At what point do I disclose the email access? When we have a corrective action meeting?

Well, first, you should not continue to have access to her emails without her knowing. If the issues are such that you’re reluctant to give up that access, you need to be up-front with her about it. That would mean saying something like, “I needed access to your email while you were on leave so that I could check history with customers when issues came up. I’m not actively using that access, but I did check it recently because of X and I am concerned about Y.” And then be up-front about whatever patterns you’re worried about in general and talk about what needs to change. You don’t need to wait for a formal corrective action meeting to do this; you can do it now so that she’s aware and doesn’t use her email for something highly personal (like medical stuff or divorce proceedings or whatever; ideally people wouldn’t do that with work email, but they do and she deserves to know you could see it if she does).

Ideally you’d also have IT remove your access (and then let her know when it’s done). But if you’re seeing the kind of issues that make it clear you need to be spot-checking what she’s sending to clients, etc., then be transparent that you’re doing that and why (and explain what needs to change before you will stop those spot checks).

2. People keep interrupting me for help with the copier

I am a high school assistant principal. I have a private office in the administrative suite, and the culture here is that administrators’ doors remain open unless there’s a sensitive meeting happening inside.

My office sits directly across from the copier. About nine billion times a day, I get teachers/staff/students asking for help with the machine. Sometimes they need help with basic functions like collating, sometimes it’s replacing the paper or toner, and sometimes it’s a legit jam that can take awhile to fix.

I’m not adverse to helping people (one of the reasons I went into school leadership is because I wanted to be the administrator who actually supports teachers), but it’s really not my job to have to drop everything for someone else’s copies, especially when it disrupts my own time-sensitive work. What is a gracious script for telling people to either figure it out for themselves or ask the administrative assistant?

“I’m sorry, I’m right in the middle of something, but Jane should be able to help.”

Or: “I’m sorry, I don’t use the copier much, but Jane should be able to help.”

My hunch is that these might not feel gracious enough to you or you’d already be saying them — because they’re pretty straightforward! — and the issue is less finding the right words and more than you feel awkward about the substance of the message, but these really are reasonable to say!

Also, though … would it make sense ask the assistant to put a sign up by the copier with solutions to the most common problems, including instructions to check with the assistant if those instructions don’t help?

3. Should I have told my boss a new hire sexually harassed me eight years ago?

20 years ago, I moved halfway across the country to start a job in a new state. We worked the second shift, so it was common for the group of coworkers and supervisors to go out for drinks and hang out after work. One night, as we were leaving the bar, a supervisor called Angus pulled me aside because he wanted my advice. He launched into his difficulties in the bedroom with his wife and asked what I thought about threesomes — did I think that would help? Shocked and confused, I gave a polite, general response and left as soon as I could.

A few days later, a colleague told when that she was out with Angus and the group for after-work drinks the night before (my night off so I wasn’t there), he recounted this embarrassing conversation, revealing that he and his wife wanted to invite me to join them in a threesome. Basically, he was saying I was flirting with them (!), so he tried inviting me but I was too oblivious to take the hint. They all had a good laugh at my expense. Though this is a clear case of sexual harassment, I didn’t report it. He had just given notice, as he had accepted a new role in a different state. And here I was, the new hire trying to make a good impression — why make waves?

Fast forward eight years. I get promoted and — surprise! — Angus was coming back to town to take his old role. Basically, we would each lead a department and we would be equals on the organizational chart. I considered telling our mutual boss about the sexual harassment years ago when I was a new employee. But I didn’t. I felt it was too long ago to be relevant, plus there was a chance it would backfire. (How would have my boss reacted? Flip a coin.) I kept quiet. But I was on Angus-watch, paying close attention to how he interacted with his staff.

For the next four years, we were coworkers. Nothing happened with his staff that I’m aware of that made me regret my choice. He seemed to have clearer professional boundaries, wasn’t socializing or going out for drinks with staff, etc. Eventually, I felt reasonably comfortable working with him, though I kept a polite distance. Still, I wonder if I had let down the women in my workplace, especially since I had moved into a leadership role. I’d appreciate your thoughts on how I handled this. As a manager, was I obligated to report the past harassment to my boss when that supervisor was rehired?

Managers are legally obligated to report harassment that they’re aware of — but that generally means things are currently happening in your workplace now, not something that happened to you eight years earlier. That said, it’s also true that as a manager, if you’re aware that someone may be a creep with a track record colleagues, ideally you’d share that. But were you obligated to share it, considering that it was eight years ago, you’re the one it happened to, and you were worried about repercussions for yourself? I don’t think so. This stuff is really hard to navigate though — it shouldn’t be! you should be able to be confident that if you share info like this, you won’t be the one who’s harmed by it, but that’s not the world we live in — and you shouldn’t beat yourself up second-guessing how you handled it.

4. My job is planning around me because they don’t know I’ll be leaving soon

I recently accepted a job offer that I’m extremely excited about. It is pending final HR approval, so I haven’t put in my notice or anything, but I have been given a start date almost two months ago. I was told that my new job was hoping to have the approval in place sooner, but, it sounds like there’s a batch of positions that HR is going to approve around the same time.

My concern is that I have a leadership role in my current job, and my office is going through some changes. My direct supervisor is very much planning on me taking an active role in training new people who are going to be brought on. I can’t give notice yet, but I’m feeling guilty about not being able to give any kind of heads up to him. Is there anything I can do, or do I just need to hope I’m able to let him know soon about my future plans?

You need to proceed as if you’re not leaving until the other job is completely finalized. While it probably won’t fall through, sometimes that does happen (or the start date gets pushed back further than you were anticipating). You don’t want to give notice until you’re actually ready to give notice, and while that can make things less convenient for your employer, it’s just the way this stuff goes because you can’t be expected to jeopardize your own financial security to mitigate that for them.

But that stuff happens! People leave jobs all the time when those jobs were planning around them for all sorts of things, and people figure it out. Your current job will too.

5. How can I ask why I need to attend these training exercises?

I’m new in a job, a sort of step back for me, removing all emergency response and 24/7 on-call status. It should help me have a better work life balance.

My boss knows me from my previous job where we were equals. Same job, different organizations. She knows why I needed to leave my job.

She has invited me to two intense, all-day table top emergency exercises. I thought I wasn’t going to have anything to do with emergencies anymore, so I’m confused on why I need to attend these, and as the only person representing our team.

It’s triggering some trauma for me; I’ve been involved in real-life, high-level emergencies, and I burned out. The table tops I used to attend always triggered me — always lots of talk about supposed death and destruction. They’re awful. How can I professionally ask my boss why I need to attend these exercises? I’m afraid I’m too emotional to come up with the words on my own.

“Is it necessary that I be the one to attend these? My understanding was that I wouldn’t be working on emergencies in this role, which was part of the appeal of the position to me. I have a strong preference for avoiding them if that’s feasible.”

The post employee doesn’t know I have access to her emails, people interrupt me to fix the copier, and more appeared first on Ask a Manager.

https://www.askamanager.org/2026/01/employee-doesnt-know-i-have-access-to-her-emails-people-interrupt-me-to-fix-the-copier-and-more.html

https://www.askamanager.org/?p=34935