I'm not a manager, but I play one

Question

There is an employee in my department who, in spite of having been with the company nearly 15 years, cannot remember day to day and week to week how to perform her job. There are a number of responsibilities that are rotated between us.  I've been here 6 years and  find myself constantly having to ask her to correct her work, recall emails, etc. because thing are just plain wrong with the work and it reflects badly on the department. Because we rotate the responsibilities, and use an organizational signature block when we send them out, these mistakes reflect badly on everyone equally. Our supervisor and upper management are aware of the problem but seem unable or unwilling to do anything about it. Other coworkers have been to HR about it with no success. I don't have any disciplinary authority, so  I do what I can to try to keep the department's reputation intact.  I'm checking the quality of her work, requesting corrections be made, and trying maintain the FAQ for her to reference to prevent future mistakes. I've been performing these 'additional duties' for the last 5 years. I'm fed up and looking for a new gig. Is it unreasonable for me to consider this supervisory experience?

Keila Alvarado · Answer

Gee, sorry for you...I can relate through past experiences as you appear to be filling the gaps and doing extra work without the compensation as well as title for doing all that. Since it was clever to try to see if higher ups and H/R would address the issues but that was unsuccessful or to no avail: Definitely keep looking elsewhere for a better opportunity and add onto your resume or portfolio the extra work you do. Hopefully you could get a more satisfying job where you are appreciated and they have promotional opportunities to grow. I had extra work in more than one past job where I was being taken advantage of without the bump in title and pay so I went up the ladder by moving on to other companies. Search companies to apply for with high ratings great treatment of employees and great perks/benefits.

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks for the feedback everyone. I've spoken with my immediate supervisor and was advised to document specific instances of where my co-worker's performance is problematic and present these to our manager along with a plan for improvement. The request makes me very uncomfortable. Is that just me being silly or naive? I've been tapped previously to do resource scheduling and budget planning but the improvement plan for a coworker at the same grade as me (and  in the job longer) seems like a line being crossed.

Brooke Morrison · Answer

For your resume, I wouldn't list say 'supervised', even though you've taken on some of that role. If you use someone from your company as a reference, they could be asked about your role or you may be asked supervisory-related questions in an interview and the answers might not match up to a full-blown 'supervisor' role. I would list the specific additional duties that pertain to the position you are applying for. For example, you could you something like 'led, mentored, and trained team members' or 'edited and fact-checked documents', if that was part of your additional duties. I think it would be even better if you could work in some results or statistics related to these responsibilities.

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks for the feedback Jenn. I've done (a) which is how the FAQ  and other job aids came about. I've tried (b) with minimal success since our supervisor is often unavailable and our work is time sensitive.  Since our department downsized there literally isn't another employee available to take on the work so (c) isn't likely.  All the resources I had successfully trained on these tasks were either reallocated to other departments or offered early retirement. I'm just done and ready to find another position.  The thing is I've always managed processes not people and it's limited me in going after supervisory positions in the past. If I find a supervisory position I'd like to go after, how can I leverage the last 5 years to be in the running?

Jenn Ubaldo · Answer

This is obviously a frustrating experience!  You’re so proactive and you did your best in dealing with her.

Maybe to help solve this:

a) find out what the real problem is. Each person has different learning curves and there may be times she can be slow. Maybe you can ask her what her system is and help her tweak hers little by little.

b) Learn to say no or redirect her to your supervisor if she asks questions. Let your supervisor do his/her job. You’ve given your coworker the  materials she can look.

c) Talk to your supervisor and suggest to give her tasks that she can take on without problems. Most likely, leverage her strengths so she doesn’t affect others who are better at tasks she’s weak at.

Hope these help!

I'm not a manager, but I play one

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