Manager owes receptionist an apology over mail issue

A letter recently came for one of the managers. The receptionist followed the same procedure. When she realized the contents were personal, she routed the envelope directly to the manager with a note that said, "I'm sorry, I didn't read this, it seems personal."

The manager went ballistic. Apparently, he had some mail he didn't want his live-in fiancee to know about sent to the office. He angrily told the receptionist she should have noticed the word private on the outside of the envelope. She left his office in tears.

Our receptionist now refuses to open anyone's mail. We're afraid she'll quit. Did we make a mistake here? Can employers routinely open employees' mail? Did we violate this manager's right to privacy?

A. This manager violated his own right to privacy by routing personal mail to the office. He then overreacted when he blasted a competent receptionist for an innocent mistake.

Unless your company management makes a formal exception for individuals who receive confidential mail or to accommodate an employee who just arrived in state and doesn't yet have a post office box, mail that comes to a business address generally can be understood to be company- related.

Further, although anyone who obstructs the delivery of mail faces criminal penalties under federal law, the U.S. Postal Service takes the position that mail reaching an employer's address has been delivered.

Unfortunately, while many employers consider this practice commonplace, occasionally employees understandably react if they discover a co-worker reads correspondence they consider private. Your receptionist understood this and handled it correctly when she apologized and assured the manager she hadn't read the mailing.

Your receptionist deserves an apology from the manager and an assurance from you that you'll handle the situation so it never happens again.

Meet with the manager and let him know that while you regret his discomfort at having personal mail opened, you task your receptionist with routing incoming mail to save everyone's time and to promptly reroute time- sensitive mail for employees on vacation. Ask that he reroute any mail he considers personal to his home address.

Finally, ask him to deliver any future complaints to the person responsible for fixing things -- you.

Q. When I posted an ad on Craigslist for an administrative assistant, I didn't expect an employee who worked for a good friend of mine to apply. But she did and I knew immediately I wanted to hire her. She rocks.

I worried about how my friend would feel. I wanted to call him and discuss it but the woman begged me not to "out" her; she said if I offered her the job, she wanted to be the one to tell him.

Because I needed to hire the very best person, I hired her.

That night, my friend phoned me at home and called me the worst kind of jerk for poaching his employee. I tried to tell him I'd wanted to let him know, but he said I missed the point and that I shouldn't have considered his employee. Is that true? Or did she have the right to decide she didn't want to work for him anymore, and did I have the right to hire her because she would have left his workplace anyway?

A. When your newly hired employee sought out opportunities on Craigslist, she made the decision to leave her former employer.

If you hadn't hired her, someone else would have.

If you wanted to keep this man's friendship, you could have called him after letting your applicant know you planned to offer her the job. After all, while she and he had a relationship, you and he had one too.

If you'd called him, he might have realized she applied for your job, thus placing herself on the open market. Because he accused you of poaching her, you need to realize she might have protected herself by claiming you initiated the employment query and poached her, thus making her an innocent and you the bad guy.

Lynne Curry is a local management trainer, consultant and syndicated columnist. Her advice and opinion column appears Mondays. Questions for her column may be faxed to her at 258-2157 or mailed to her c/o Anchorage Daily News, P.O. Box 149001, Anchorage 99514-9001. Her e-mail is lynne@thegrowthcompany.com.