What do I do about a coworker not pulling weight/making everyone else's job harder after being here for over a year?

30 Comments

1. AnonymousOctober 15,2024 at 1:28PM UTC

   I feel for you all - both the team and the struggling employee. It sounds like this employee's challenged when it comes to learning and retaining information. If it's the result of a medical issue or it's just his bent, it may not be known. He's logging in during off hours to compensate for his shortcomings, playing catch up on his own time so that he doesn't continue to look foolish. He means well, and yes, give him an A for effort, but it's still impacting your team's productivity. I'd say, go with what you said - lay it all out there for your manager to see, with tangible evidence and examples, to show her how much time the employee's mistakes are costing in terms of getting work completed on time and without errors. All the best.

2. AnonymousOctober 15,2024 at 1:32PM UTC

   I think you compile the written evidence. Times reminded of work hours. Requests for constant help, etc You must organize these data points along with recommendations on improvements. Draft a PIP of sorts with timeline and milestones and keep it in your back pocket. Your manager needs reminders of the drag this person puts on the team. Then include updates during your 1:1s with your manager. While this person is only somewhat under your responsibility, you don't want to take responsibility for their performance and management. You do want to highlight this person's detrimental impact on the success of the team in general. The team you are responsible for leading. Keep your assessments in writing and always include examples of direct impact on the team's success. Try and include measurements against high performers on the team.

3. AnonymousOctober 15,2024 at 2:26PM UTC

   Thank you for your thoughts. I did start changing my verbal conversations to written format of emails and sometimes Teams chats. I realized it was going to turn into a he said she said if I did not have physical proof. I have gone so far as creating a word doc with screen prints, dates of instances and details. It is disheartening that I feel the need to do it, but his repeated mistakes reflect on the whole team. It makes ME feel like I am letting the rest of the team down.

4. AnonymousOctober 15,2024 at 2:03PM UTC

   There's a lot here to unpack. Generally, document everything and submit to appropriate leader.

   That said, there could be more to determine (that wasn't stated). Do you know this teammate? Do you talk to them? Are they at a different level? Were they trained well or not? Do they speak a different language? Different time zone? Different tech at home? Is this their first gig? What is their learning style? Overload style?

   Do you have any errors in your systems ? (I say this because I once had a colleague that really want another one fired for dragging down response times. One of the elements of proof was time stamp for tasks. I did some digging and as it turns out, there was an error in the code and employees hired before a certain date and on a certain coast were time stamped one way and others were timestamped differently. I reported that to my manager who dug deeper and found that newer employees had a default older version of the tech which was a time suck to them- therefore they couldn't get their work done always repeating tasks with wrong time stamps). This may not be your scenario, but be sure you have enough info. to plead your case or at least add some compassion into your review of the situation.

   As for Team issue, there are many ways for managers or HR, etc. to implement Team prompts (team building, personality tests, group solving a project to help folks identify how to help one another). If it's just sink or swim, then we know the result.

   Now, with your scenario, if the colleague still does something they shouldn't (work during off times) and your manager isn't doing something about it, I suggest having a brief /clear conversation with your manager stating why this is important. Ask the manager if they think it's important or not (e.g. are they aware of any changes to policy)? If it's just fear of confrontation, then suggest to your manager that you'd like to have a call with the colleague and loop the manager in. Send an email, cc the manager and the employee and set up a call to bring up the situation. Then again, some of this could be handled with a (virtual) coffee conversation followed up by a "you gotta stop doing this. it impacts the team negatively. it's not opinion. what do you need to stop this?" kind of statements.

   If there's a plan or resolution, great. Next appropriate team call, mention that there's been an issue with some logging in on off times and it will be resolved by XYZ date.

   If things improve, great.
   If they don't, whatever your next step, be mindful because you're going above your manager. Approach it from asking for confirmation of policy. (It may be HR, it may be whomever is in charge of your manager).

   Good luck!

5. AnonymousOctober 15,2024 at 2:22PM UTC

   Thank for you the response and insight. While I won't get too much further into the details, I do know that many of the things he is doing wrong, he knows he is wrong. He admits to working later hours and not recording them and says he is being proactive even after our manager has specifically said no. I do not think this is the right position for him. He seems to be a person who needs very rigid structure with extremely black and white concepts and duties. Our job requires lots of critical thinking and understanding of our processes to solve issues brought to our attention.

6. WandaOctober 15,2024 at 5:39PM UTC

   I believe your assessment is spot on!

7. AnonymousOctober 15,2024 at 2:08PM UTC

   The typical steps in this situation are to put him on a performance improvement plan (PIP) that has a fixed amount of time for him to improve. If he doesn't improve, then it's time to let him go. You have to document everything, HR will need it. At my former company it took forever to get bad performers out because HR was so afraid they would sue that they almost made it impossible for us to make a case. But he's affecting the entire team and good people will start to leave soon if this issue isn't dealt with.

8. AnonymousOctober 15,2024 at 2:11PM UTC

   This is where I stand right now. He needs a PIP, and while I can't 100% say he doesn't have one in place since I am not technically his manager, the fact that the same things are happening after multiple reminders and conversations, I do not think he has one.

9. AnonymousOctober 15,2024 at 3:22PM UTC

   I would have one more conversation about the uneven work product and that the whole team is concerned about this. Perhaps go to the manager as a team? Then there is not a "ME" element to it and you can see how the manager responds to this. You could also invite the HR person and make it be about trying to help this person taking away from your own work product. Stop helping them, and focus on you.

10. AnonymousOctober 15,2024 at 10:18PM UTC

    Think about it from his perspective. He likely knows he's not cutting it to the point where he's working in the middle of the night to try to keep up. If your company has any size at all, HR should get involved and try to find a better fit for him. He's got good qualities (loyal, trying hard). A different role where he can succeed would be win-win.

11. AnonymousOctober 16,2024 at 12:31AM UTC

    Who fixes his mistakes? Who responds to his requests for the same basic assistance proving he doesn't understand his job after a year? You need to stop covering for him. Until it's inconvenient to your boss, nothing is going to happen. Everyone else on the team needs to be adding her to every message/request and stating that you are swamped and don't have time so she'll need to help him figure it out. Right now everyone else is carrying the load and keeping it at a simmer for your boss - the only one who can make the hard calls here. Make it boil over on her plate instead of taking it all on yourselves. Eventually she'll get sick of it and do something. And if she doesn't, it's still her problem to deal with instead of yours/everyone else's.

12. AnonymousOctober 16,2024 at 12:36PM UTC

    Thank you for this response! I needed this reminder that I am allowing it to happen. It is something I've struggled with a for a long time. I was always just helping him so thing would get done because what any of us do reflects on the whole team. I have stopped helping him via Teams chat and insist he puts any questions in our group chat which includes our manager and our upper manager as well. I have told my coworkers to do the same so it is in everyone's face about all the help he is asking for. Unfortunately, my direct manager doesn't have the subject expertise of our intricate processes because they have had her so focused on larger projects that she hasn't been able to keep up with all the changes/updates that come with the beginning of a new division. With me changing roles, I now do not have the time to help him very much, and it has been a lot more on other senior processors and our upper manager has stepped in for "help" as well because everything is in the chat. I cc our manager on all email correspondence and invite her (optional) to any training meetings I set up. If she doesn't take a stand soon, I will have to start including our upper manager on everything.

13. AnonymousOctober 17,2024 at 12:51PM UTC

    I understand about the boss not knowing the day-to-day tasks, but if there are written SOPs, she should be able to follow them as easily as he does. If there aren't written SOPs, that might be a good next step. Write the tasks out, provide that to the whole team (including manager), and then refer him to the document and refuse to answer any questions that are answered in the document. And I would quit using Teams at all and put everything related to this in an email. Teams chats are so much background noise that I don't even look at them most of the time. Emails that copy her and tell him to follow the SOPs 5 times daily will require her to actively manage at least her inbox.

14. Frances SadlerOctober 16,2024 at 2:25AM UTC

    I have come across a very helpful process to deal with this kind of issue. It helps you determine if the colleagues problems are a motivation issue or a skills issue. How you address each of those situations is different. Here is an outline:https://farran.abwe.org/uploads/9/7/1/2/97128822/crucial_accountability_summary.pdf

15. AnonymousOctober 16,2024 at 3:03PM UTC

    That happened on my old team. For some reason the director stopped doing her job after she got promoted. They moved her to another team, they dissolved our team and moved us from an overhead department to a frontline department.I’m much better off. I make more money and got a promotion

    As for our slacker she was eventually terminated for slacking in the new group.

    Second time I’ve seen a slacker terminated.

16. AnonymousOctober 16,2024 at 5:52PM UTC

    Unless you have the authority/power to put them on a PIP , do nothing. If you complain you'll be the problem. Pray that karma gets them or someone higher up notices or is inconvenienced and they finally get a clue. Sucks, but such is the way of the world in the US.

17. Maria MolinariOctober 17,2024 at 12:13AM UTC

    Bottom line is people will rely on others until they are no longer enabled.

    that aside, I didn’t see it mentioned that anyone has sat him aside and walked through the tasks one by one and evaluated his full understanding or comfort level

    set clear expectations

    if he fails after that than he fails at least you both can say you’ve done everything you can

18. Teresa CookOctober 17,2024 at 1:32PM UTC

    Does that person suffer from any kind of trauma? Ex. birth defect, head trauma? Maybe that person has a mental illness that you and your team members are not aware of! So, being a leader maybe asking that person in private to see what is happening without making them feel uncomfortable.

19. AnonymousOctober 17,2024 at 2:29PM UTC

    Seems like everyone is bending over backwards to help this guy. Stop

    and let him fail. Definitely document his inappropriate hours and anything else you see.

20. AnonymousOctober 17,2024 at 3:08PM UTC

    Talk with your manager one more time, let your manager know you are going to talk with HR yourself regarding what you should do. You need to follow their steps.

21. maria roseOctober 17,2024 at 4:18PM UTC

    If this employee has been with the team as posted for the same amount of time and has had these mentioned difficulties not addressed by previous supervisor, then it’s possible that this employee is a DEI hire, —for those who find using this terminology offensive —it includes in definition that no one is limited by perceived lack of ability by any definition and includes disabilities perception.and someone should have informed the present supervisor when they took this over the position that accommodations had been made to allow this employee to work in the team. Aside from the facts, that this employee has issues with communication presentations ( as the examples shown in the post by the OP—writing a standard response to an email) the main issue that is causing problems for the team appears to be that this employee is logging on during the non-working hours between 7pm-7am, which is causing internal company issues. I am assuming that this time period closure is for the main computer system to download and close out all previous data from the operating system during the regular operating cycle, which is being affected by this employee when they sign in during the closed down hours. Rather than getting all stressed out by being held accountable for this employee’s misconduct/low performance in relation to the rest of the team, it is time for this OP to have a frank discussion with HR about the proper procedures for dealing with this employee who may have been hired with accommodation needs and somehow when there was a supervisor change there was no notice given to the incoming/now present OP who is now in charge. Understandably, none of the team members work physically together because this is a remote work team, so no one is aware of anyone except that they are working remotely as a team. But the team supervisor has to be given certain information to have a full picture of their team’s performance, which is where HR is involved. The OP was not fully informed that accommodations are in place for this employee that would help them understand the best way to deal with this without creating burden on the rest of the team in terms of job assignments that will avoid/lesson the need to review /correct the work and to make sure that this employee realizes that the hours between 7pm to 7am are off limits to sign on in an active role. Perhaps that was available before but not at present. This is very solvable issue which should not have happened if proper communication of the skill levels of the team were given and not left for the OP to find out later. We don’t know how anyone is hired for remote work at this company but we do know that this OP has been promoted to be the team member of their remote team group and unlike working with a team where they can visually see the team members doing their jobs the only way they can evacuate their work is through the results and when the results are posted online. So there’s nothing to judge but the end results. For this employee, this OP, as the team leader has to document the mistakes, do the written reports and do the follow ups, even including a possible PIP documentation which might either help this person correct their mistakes or lose the job. What the OP wants to understand and has nothing to do with the present situation is why this employee was allowed the poor performance and the other mistakes ( clocking in during the non-working hours) by the former team leader. If they need to be given an explanation to show acceptance to accommodate the lower performance HR would be where they ( the OP)!could be getting those answers. Too many new supervisors are unsure about how to follow the rules of interaction with employees because they don’t want to accused of prejudices ( like those who misunderstood my use of a hiring tactic) to understand their role as the team leader. You, as a team leader, are there to make sure the team members create the required results which may need you to critique and correct the deviation, especially when the effect is coming directly to you the OP, to correct. The OP in this situation was directly contacted by their supervisor to fix this situation but finds it difficult to find the best approach because they think that there’s a reason to not be as corrective for this specific individual following the pattern of the supervisor they replaced. But if the OP values their position and wants future progress upwards they are going to have get tough and do the manager job ( team leader) instead of looking for an explanation to not get tough and demand the level of performance that everyone else in the team is doing within the same time frame.

22. Shelby GordonOctober 17,2024 at 5:39PM UTC

    Seriously bold to just post that on this site. #goodgrief

23. AnonymousOctober 17,2024 at 7:43PM UTC

    Speak with your manager and HR. Find out if this person has any FMLA you need to be aware or disabilities they are also aware. I don't think they can tell you what they are, but they can guide you on how to approach, and how to address the problems. It also sounds like a co-worker I have that is just an elitist, and thinks they don't have to put in the work. It's been allowed as the management does nothing about it even when others have formally complained. It sure takes a team down though. I pose this question, save 1 or save your whole team.? Going into that thought, seek help from your HR Director and get some guidance to help you.

24. AnonymousOctober 17,2024 at 9:32PM UTC

    All I can say is to document everything.

    But keep in mind that the person may have a learning disability or health issues that may impede his performance. Some people may also attend class at night, as well.

    Then, take it up to the HR manager.

    Some people may have family members that they take care of.

25. Maureen CorbettOctober 18,2024 at 1:01PM UTC

    Why would the night classes mean anything here? He's working at night when he should not be.

26. AnonymousOctober 22,2024 at 2:00PM UTC

    I do know he has things going on in his personal life with his family. His working hours were shifted about 8 months ago to accomodate him being able to get off work early enough to tend to his ailing mother. And while I do feel for him with what he is going through personally and know that can totally play into work performance, it isn't really fair that the rest of us are left to pick up the pieces. When he use PTO, work is actually much easier and way more productive because we aren't cleaning up mess after mess.

27. ChrishoggOctober 17,2024 at 10:15PM UTC

    You "have been promoted to team lead" and I assume then, that you are this person's immediate supervisor.

    You have apparently done and are doing everything you can to lead / guide / direct this person with no improvement on their part.

    If I were in your shoes, I would do 4 things: 1) Write up a history of your interactions with this individual to this point and formally present it to your manager. 2) Every single time this person messes up, take the appropriate corrective / remedial action, document it in writing, and report it to your manager, asking for assistance ... every single time. 3) Let the chips fall where they may, let it all play out, and don't go over your manager's head and don't go to HR ... just do your job. 4) Don't cover for, assist, or "save the day" with this person ... let them do their job and if it negatively impacts your team team or causes project or even program failures, let them go, let the team, your manager's group, or even the company suffer the consequences ... just make absolutely certain you are doing the first 3 steps.

28. AnonymousOctober 18,2024 at 1:00PM UTC

    Said employee needs to go on a PIP. Start documenting. One bad apple (even if a nice guy) is bringing down the team.

    Tell you manager that you will tell said employee that his performance is not up to par and give examples. Give him and informal heads up. Give him a limited runway and then if not approved, it will have to be all documented issues and a performance improvement program.

    Or change his role to something very, very basic and demote him. He can then rise to the current level if/when appropriate.

29. KRISTIN MOOREOctober 18,2024 at 5:17PM UTC

    It's always very hard with a small team. HR here - if he is non exempt and working off the clock, look at your policies which hold him accountable. He is supposed to be clocking in no matter what. As it stands, he could go to the DOL and report this time, especially b/c there are emails showing it and the co could get fined. As for the not being able to keep up with the work and making mistakes, it sounds like he isn't picking up on the job and struggling. His manager may be working with him to improve his knowledge and ability on the job. If not, you may need to have a very difficult conversation with her with facts, even if you don't like it. Meaning ..."(he) has made X number of mistakes this week and it's cost the team Y number of hours to fix them. We can see he wants to do well by (X) behaviors, however the working at night as an hourly person can get us in trouble. How can I help further? So far I've done (X.)"

30. AnonymousMarch 26,2025 at 9:56PM UTC
    And funny enough, this kind of team stress is what made me value even the small things that just work—like when I fixed my MacBook using reliable apple parts after a sticky keyboard issue. When your tools—and your team—function properly, the whole system breathes easier. Be calm, be clear, and advocate for the team.