Saturday, April 6, 2013
Saturday, April 6, 2013
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What to do when your co-worker is slacking

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Diane Stafford, The Kansas City Star (MCT)
Posted: Sunday, March 31, 2013, 4:00 PM

If a recent survey of 549 workers is typical – and I'm sure it is – more than nine out of 10 employees can name at least one co-worker who doesn't pull his or her weight.

And at least one in four of those surveyed said their own work increases as a result. Drives you crazy, right?

Ideally, sub-par performance conversations are held between managers and their direct reports, and slackers who don't meet standards are let go.

In the real world, though, that doesn't always happen. So what to do if you're miserable at work with an obvious, unaccountable slacker?

Joseph Grenny, who co-wrote "Crucial Confrontations," says only 10 percent of co-workers tackle the challenge of confronting slacker peers in the workplace. Most keep quiet and carry on for good reasons:

They don't think speaking up will make a difference; they don't want to hurt existing relationships; they don't think it's their place; they fear retaliation, or they simply don't know how to broach the subject.

But if you're up for a performance-improvement attempt, here are Grenny's tips to try to hold a peer accountable:

–Don't charge into a blame game. Start a conversation with the slacker as a "curious friend" instead of an angry co-worker.

–Be sure to tell your co-worker that you have mutual goals (even if you're not sure). Explain why you're concerned.

–Be specific. Share facts. Describe the work gap between what's expected by the organization and what's delivered.

–Ask if your sub-performing co-worker sees the situation differently from you. Let him or her know you're open to hearing a different perspective.

Good workers, who are sincerely concerned about quality and productivity, sometimes decide to intervene. But it requires finesse to not make bad situations worse.

The goal is to avoid exacerbating your individual stress, damaging group morale or harming the organization.

In the end, if you can't stay silent or if your intervention attempts don't seem to improve the situation, you have a decision: Stay and accept the inequality of labor – or leave.

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ABOUT THE WRITER

Diane Stafford is the workplace and careers columnist at The Kansas City Star. Her "Your Job" blog at economy.kansascity.com includes daily posts about job-related issues of wide interest. Readers may write to her at: Kansas City Star, 1729 Grand Blvd., Kansas City, Mo. 64108-1413, or by email at stafford@kcstar.com.

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(c)2013 The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.)

Visit The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, Mo.) at www.kansascity.com

Distributed by MCT Information Services

Diane Stafford The Kansas City Star (MCT)
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Comments  (12)
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:46 PM, 03/31/2013
    I have found that most employees who seem to think they are the only one's working are genrally spending too much time watching others and not doing their job.
    — Thelonius Monk
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 4:53 AM, 04/01/2013
    Thelonius Monk, good one. How about: they are often trying to move up the ladder and look good in front of bosses as they play the blame game about co-workers. There are also ones who don't have any boundaries and work much longer than needed on particular projects they don't need to do, and then blame teammates who have boundaries.
    — xing
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:04 AM, 04/01/2013
    I just retired from my job...the front desk person spends all of her time on facebook...and cries poor to the oblivious boss who gives her a 5% raise for doing such a good job bringing in the money...shows up late for work everyday...and is out more than in because she can't find a sitter????? So how do you raise the morale of the other people who are shouldering the extra responsibility? If you go to the boss you will most certainly be retaliated against by this person...and a boss who is absolutely oblivious???
    — nuffera
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 5:40 AM, 04/01/2013
    I work with someone who "paces" herself through her daily routines so that she can say she's "too busy" to take on any additional work or last-minute things the boss needs done. Included in her work day is internet shopping and personal conversations with hubby and mom, all of which we are subjected to in our very small office setting.
    — boris
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:02 PM, 04/01/2013
    Thelonius....Yep... if you're focused on your work there are 2 things you won't notice A) how much work others are doing and B) the relationship between two others in your office.. yet there are any number of people that want to compare what they do to someone else without having any knowledge of what they do ( supervisor should know that and NOT share that with others)and still more that feel a need to gossip around the office"Did you know John and Maria are an item?? That's not fair to the rest of us!" They never have a good explanation as to why that's not fair to the 'rest of us', and John and Maria are usually doing the most work to stay under the radar. The complainers are the people you want out, they kill morale, and they spend their time doing things that aren't work.
    — drbob1
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 12:39 PM, 04/01/2013
    worry about yourself and not what co-workers are doing
    — box297
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:14 PM, 04/01/2013
    what do you do? no smoke breaks ever? look in the mirror.

    This part: 'worry about yourself and not what co-workers are doing'
    — fixed
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 2:24 PM, 04/01/2013
    We all can see who are the offenders of being slackers in the comments section. If you notice that you are doing 3x as much work while your work partner is sitting at their desk playing on the computer or taking walks without the boss noticing, then you are accused of being a slacker yourself or just trying to 'move up the ladder' at your job. Typical American attitude. Any employer that ignores slackers and the punishes or ignores whistle blower deserves to have their business go belly-up.
    — pbnewcomer267
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:01 PM, 04/01/2013
    Ms. Lou will tell you what to do - MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS! Snitches get stitches. Do your job and go on home. Don't worry about what anybody else is doing. Companies do not like a snitch. Makes you look real bad to report on a coworker or gossip about them. the boss will log that in their memory bank. Turn your head the other way or get slapped upside your head in more ways than one. I know what I'm talking about. Don't be a grohl.
    — MS. LOU.
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 3:28 PM, 04/01/2013
    There are no slackers at the salon I work at on South Street. We all work for tips, so no one can afford to be lazy like people working in cubicles at an office. We don't get any health benefits or sick time either. It is aggravating to know that the other half milks their day along and gets all those entitlements for nothing.
    — Tammy Weerds
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 1:41 PM, 04/02/2013
    Well, how about that. If you listen to the hiring managers, they will tell you that the only lazy people in the world are the unemployed. And they couldn't possibly be wrong. Could they?
    — TexColorado
  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 10:26 AM, 04/05/2013
    The worst is when an employer hires younger family members and they spend all day texting, shopping for shoes on the internet and on facebook.
    — Liberty_1776