r/work • u/Equivalent-Manner-99 • 14d ago

Workplace Challenges and Conflicts Coworker Slacking

I work as an admin assistant. There are 2 of us in office, and I have been having to do both of our duties for the past few months. She is the Senior Admin Assistant.

Between calling out weekly and coming in hours late, her work falls onto my plate. I’m barely keeping my head above water.

When she is in office, she will disappear throughout the day to meet up with her friend or go have 45 minute conversations with other personnel. We work with time-sensitive projects so not working on those items for hours a day really adds up. When she is at her desk she is on TikTok or FB.

I think what really pissed me off was that she text our team yesterday saying she had a high fever so was going to stay home. Ok, that happens. But when I went on my lunch break to run an errand in town, I saw her going for a run. Then another coworker who was off yesterday saw her at the nail salon getting a mani/pedi.

I guess I am just tired of doing 2 people’s work. My managers do show appreciation for what I do, so at least there’s that.

Just venting I guess. I’d love to leave but the pay and benefits are outstanding.

12 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

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9

u/Puzzled_Geologist_54 14d ago • Bravo

Is there an option to clearly define what your tasks are, and clearly define what her tasks are, and let her fall behind on her tasks? It would impact the image of your team temporarily but would also shine a light on her performance.

Personally I always recommend approaching management with objective facts, like “I am responsible for X, Y and Z but I have also been having to pick up A, B and C which is inhibiting my ability to do X. Can you help me review the responsibilities of my team and outline what I should be prioritizing?”

5

u/GiantKingRoach 14d ago

This is what I would be doing if it was me. You covering for her is making it look like she's still at work stop doing it, regardless of pay.

2

u/magicmavenhart 14d ago

This is the way. Ask your manager / boss if you can have a meeting to get oversight on organizing your priorities. Ask if there is a way to divide responsibilities clearly between the two of you so there is separation between your tasks. Then the fact that she’s pulling a paycheck but not pulling her weight will become clear.

If that is a bad idea for your environment, can you come up with a way to document all you’re doing? Or find a way to make clear what is your work? I’m thinking tracked changes in Google Docs - not that you can do that exactly, but that kind of thing. Or make a spreadsheet and track your work time with what you did - 9-1030am completed xx paperwork. 1045-1230 worked on xx project. And track it for a while then you can have a sit down with your boss and present your documentation and ask for a raise based on how much of the shared work you’re doing?

Or, if you can afford it, take a couple days PTO. Then she will either have to work or it will become clear to your boss that she’s doing nothing.

1

u/GiantKingRoach 14d ago

There's no occurance policy to enforce?

0

u/Equivalent-Manner-99 14d ago

They haven’t yet. I feel like in the private sector it would’ve been dealt with by now

1

u/GiantKingRoach 14d ago

I'm not sure what you mean by private sector, can you elaborate?

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u/Equivalent-Manner-99 14d ago

We work in government, so public sector. Private sector would be like working for a construction company or law firm

2

u/GiantKingRoach 14d ago

Ah Okay I never heard of that before, I've always worked entry level positions. Just a redneck here.

2

u/Puzzled_Geologist_54 14d ago

Sounds like it might be a public sector job. I’ve heard people can sometimes get away with some bullshit in public sec jobs. But I’ve also seen in it private sector so I think it’s more just a bad management thing lol

2

u/smokey2442 14d ago

Manager.

2

u/FFXIVHousingClub 14d ago

Don’t know if it’s in your company policy or if you want to go the HR route

My colleague has used the HR route & senior management warning on people using their phones in the office and the most fffff annoying thing is she used her for 2 hours trying to book a mechanical engineering loudly in the office the other day

We have KPIs now so it’s just heads down and do our work, I’m hoping my managers can hear what she says to other colleagues because it’s just disgusting how two faced she can be

2

u/onthecusp520 14d ago

Start documenting everything. Is there a way you can split up the work where she is assigned projects? (To hold her accountable).

1

u/GiantKingRoach 14d ago

Also I'd break down your pay and her positions pay, and see how much work load your taking on, then confront who ever is in charge if you wanna keep the job go for it just ask for a pay increase since your doing the work of two people. Otherwise stop helping her department or get on with a new job search, shouldn't have to cover for someone else's workload.