Is your new employer pushing back your start date due to the pandemic? In this bonus episode of HBR’s advice podcast, Dear HBR:, cohosts Alison Beard and Dan McGinn answer your questions with the help of Moshe Cohen, a senior lecturer at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business. They talk through what to do when your new boss postpones your first day on the job and then doesn’t respond to your communications.

 From Alison and Dan’s reading list:

HBR: You’ve Been Furloughed. Now What? by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Becky Frankiewicz — “Ask yourself if your job is worth waiting for. Do you want to return to your pre-crisis life? If there is any inkling of doubt in your mind, there is no downside to applying for something new, and seeing what could materialize as a different future.”

New York Times: Google Rescinds Offers to Thousands of Contract Workers by Daisuke Wakabayashi — “Many of the contract and temp candidates who had agreed to work at Google before the pandemic took hold in the United States were let go without any severance or financial compensation. This came after weeks of uncertainty as Google repeatedly postponed their start dates during which time they were not paid by Google or the staffing agencies.”

Book: Collywobbles: How to Negotiate When Negotiating Makes You Nervous by Moshe Cohen — “Negotiations make people anxious. Not everyone, but many. Before you begin, you fret whether you should negotiate at all; you agonize how to approach the other person, and you worry that you might lose, or offend, or look foolish in the process. Even engaging the other party is awkward. Should you go first?”

HBR: 15 Rules for Negotiating a Job Offer by Deepak Malhotra — “Stay at the table. Remember: What’s not negotiable today may be negotiable tomorrow. Over time, interests and constraints change. When someone says no, what he’s saying is ‘No—given how I see the world today.’ A month later that same person may be able to do something he couldn’t do before, whether it’s extending an offer deadline or increasing your salary.”