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After first trying repeatedly to move desks (since mine was adjacent to hers and I had to have her blatant slackerism shoved in my face all day long) and being turned down by my boss, I made the decision to let my boss in on the real story.
While my boss addressed the issue right away and my co-worker vastly improved her performance, I think that ultimately my boss held it against me during review/promotion time, citing my "immaturity" as a reason I wasn't ready to be promoted.
I stand by what I did because I still think it was the right thing to do, but there were definitely consequences to my actions.
Also, I'd assume that if this person is spending lots of time with other people instead of working, she/he is not the only one slacking off, either. What makes this person's slacker-ness worse for you than the others? Assumptions that you will jump in and do the person's work for him/her? And how is this person empowered to rearrange YOUR work load? What else is going on here?
(registering with DISQUS seems to make me unable to post a website URL. Am I doing something wrong? I like being able to leave a URL when I leave comments http://www.almostgotit.com)
I asked one skater how he managed to move up the corporate ladder so fast and he told me it is a question of creative inactivity. If you’re doing a good job, he said, they will never promote you because they don’t want to lose the good services you are performing. But if you aren’t doing anything they don’t have anything to lose by kicking you upstairs. He moved up by telling his boss he was totally worthless and challenging the boss to motivate him. Each time a promotion failed to motivate him, he asked for another one and got it. There were several people on that company who did quite well for themselves using that strategy.
A couple of years later on another project I worked with a fellow from Afghanistan (before Bush invaded the place) who told me he was tired (at 49 years old) and just did not know how he could keep up this frenetic pace. He solved the problem by getting his check direct deposited and going home. Next thing I knew he was my boss. I left later, but by then he was moving up the corporate ladder like a bottle rocket on the fourth of July. He probably owns the place by now and he has never worked a day in his life. If he did anything he would not get promoted.
In other companies I have seen people who were foolish enough to work hard fired so the skaters could jump up and take credit for whatever they did. Credit is like money; it doesn’t matter who earns it.
The way to move up is to conserve your strength by not working and conserve time you can use for office politics, which is what companies are really all about.
This is why it's so important to do your own investigation before accepting a job -- find out what they really value, how results are rewarded, etc.
sometimes, a boss will protect them by ignoring any complaint brought to the boss about the slacker - and turn it around to being about the person who complained
or perhaps even elevate them to get them away from their department
the problem is one individual who breeds slackness and a playground type environment where joking and slacking and surfing facebook are the hardest things he does all day.
Normally, I just ignore this type...but I depend on the slacker to do my job and meet my deadlines. I cant tell my boss, because he is a student of avoidance management 101, and would rather maintain his little work friendships than foster an environment of productivity etc. I agree with another poster, its like in the movie "Office Space'...those who seem to do very little, or who are incompetent often get promoted up the ladder because it is assumed that this person is just bored or unchallenged. In my experience with this individual, it is a case of laziness and incompetence, and a total lack of work ethic. I've raised this with the boss after reaching the end of my leash, and I can tell you, if your boss and this person are buddies...it will do you no good, quite the opposite actually. My advice, ignore the person (this slacker in my office comes by my desk 15 times a day to ask 'what's shaking'...so I dont even turn to look, I just say not much). I also delay my action and responses to this person for work related requests (which is hard because I like to address things right away and am a naturally proactive worker).
To make everything worse....my manager is a slacker right along with him....so what is one to do besides look for another job or group to work in within the organization.
Ultimately, there will always be one or two of these slackers in the office...and sometimes the manager is aware of it, and really has no idea how to fix it or doesn't want to rock the boat. Unfortunately, a lot of managers dont get where they are by being proactive and hard working, that is what the grunts are for....they get there by passing the buck and thinking primarily of their careers and what they can do to further their own agenda.
Its hard to do, but try to not let this person affect your work in a negative way.
Me, there are some days I want to drop kick this guy....but in the end I just tell myself he is the one loosing out, and ultimately the looser.
My coworker, who started working here after me, was very close with our boss. That boss has since "mutually terminated" from the company, and we are all reporting into the VP until a new Director is hired. This VP knows nothing about my coworkers' severe lack of data integrity/accountability...I have documented plenty of occasions where my coworker has made errors/bad decisions, and I can't decide if I should bring it up or not. My mid-year review is next week so it would be the perfect opportunity, but I don't want to cause more harm than good.
It also fuels my fire that she and I have the same job title, I have more experience but she makes $20K more than me...but I won't bring that up in my review. :)
We are both nurses. She is an RN and I am an LPN. While this whole situation bothers me, the fact she makes about $5 more an hour than I do really hits below the belt. And I often wonder if when she is supposed to be passing medication to our patients if she is doing that. Usually if I suspect a nurse of not giving her meds I count pills and keep track but because she only works a couple days a week I am unable to do that with her.
It's frustrating for me. It's hard to sit back and be a spectator to someone who is not doing her job, especially when you wind up having to pick up some of her slack. Recently we split shifts, she did first half and I did last. What happened was she did nothing for 4 hours and I did 8 hours work in 4 hours time. Because we split the shift each of us were responsible to make sure all duties were done. So it became my responsibilty to do what she hadn't done. It really makes me mad.
I am considering approaching my boss about it. I could care less if she thinks I'm tattling, cause I will be. And the boss should be quite aware of the problem anyway. The lack of nurses notes, important documents lacking signatures... evidence is there. The main problem I have with talking to the boss is I do not do confrontation well so it will be awkward and uncomfortable for me. And because of this I worry I won't stand strong behind my convictions and speak my mind, and/or will just cower and accept it if the boss makes excuses for this employee. I have thought about putting it on paper and giving it to my boss instead of doing it in person. I think I can be more direct that way.
I dunno, its a problem that needs to be stopped. It's unethical.