If you are unfortunate enough to work with a lazy person, and I’m sure we all have experience of this, what can you do about it? It may seem trivial if another member of your team plays games or checks Facebook all day, but it can cause you huge problems. For example, you may end up picking up the slack for that person, meaning you become overloaded with work and stressed as a result. Morale could be affected in the office because of the poor attitude of the lazy person. Or maybe you have a report to complete. The deadline is coming up and you need the figures by today or you’ll not be able to complete the report. The lazy person you work with has not done their part and provided you with the figures. What do you do?
It can be really tricky to know how to approach the problem, but you’ll need to if you want to resolve the situation. So here are some things you can try:
Ignore the situation – you could try ignoring the fact that the other person, let’s call her Sally, is lazy. Rather than becoming annoyed and frustrated at her poor performance, concentrate on your own work, doing the best job you can. That way you’ll get the recognition you deserve. And, whilst Sally may be getting away with doing nothing right now, it will soon become obvious to others and, especially, her superiors that she does not pull her weight.
Do the extra work yourself – this is another option, but not one you really want to go for, as it’ll mean you have to do the work Sally should be doing as well as your own and you may not get any recognition for it. You could also risk increasing your levels of stress as you try to complete your own work and Sally’s.
Get assertive – the last option is the one we’d wholly recommend for dealing with Sally. You need to get assertive and make sure that she knows that you are not happy with her lazy attitude. So how do you get assertive?
First, some ground rules:
• don’t get annoyed or upset – stay calm as getting upset will only exacerbate the situation and you may end up looking like you are bullying Sally.
• be respectful and polite – there’s never any need to be rude or disrespectful, so don’t do it. It’ll only damage you and make you look like you want to rant.
• make notes of everything – this includes what you do and, if you can, what was said and why. But do this afterwards, as you’ll not want Sally to feel like it’s some kind of formal meeting – it’s supposed to be an informal chat between work colleagues. This will also help you if Sally decides to make a complaint about you to the management.
Once you are ready, you should ask Sally for a private chat. During this chat you should explain that her behaviour is making working together difficult and affecting the whole team. You should use examples to make your point. For instance, explain that you needed the figures for the report and because she missed the deadline for completing them, you had to stay late. Try to make Sally understand that her actions impact on your home life and explain that you don’t feel it’s acceptable or fair.
At this stage, Sally may agree with you, apologise and promise to work harder. That’s great, you’ve made your point and, hopefully, the issue is now resolved.
But, what do you do if Sally reacts badly to your points. Well, we’ll cover that next week and, in the meantime, if you have any experience of this situation, do let us know how you resolved it.
If you are unfortunate enough to work with a lazy person, and I’m sure we all have experience of this, what can you do about it? It may seem trivial if another member of your team plays games or checks Facebook all day, but it can cause you huge problems. For example, you may end up picking up the slack for that person, meaning you become overloaded with work and stressed as a result. Morale could be affected in the office because of the poor attitude of the lazy person. Or maybe you have a report to complete. The deadline is coming up and you need the figures by today or you’ll not be able to complete the report. The lazy person you work with has not done their part and provided you with the figures. What do you do?
It can be really tricky to know how to approach the problem, but you’ll need to if you want to resolve the situation. So here are some things you can try:
Ignore the situation – you could try ignoring the fact that the other person, let’s call her Sally, is lazy. Rather than becoming annoyed and frustrated at her poor performance, concentrate on your own work, doing the best job you can. That way you’ll get the recognition you deserve. And, whilst Sally may be getting away with doing nothing right now, it will soon become obvious to others and, especially, her superiors that she does not pull her weight.
Do the extra work yourself – this is another option, but not one you really want to go for, as it’ll mean you have to do the work Sally should be doing as well as your own and you may not get any recognition for it. You could also risk increasing your levels of stress as you try to complete your own work and Sally’s.
Get assertive – the last option is the one we’d wholly recommend for dealing with Sally. You need to get assertive and make sure that she knows that you are not happy with her lazy attitude. So how do you get assertive?
First, some ground rules:
• don’t get annoyed or upset – stay calm as getting upset will only exacerbate the situation and you may end up looking like you are bullying Sally.
• be respectful and polite – there’s never any need to be rude or disrespectful, so don’t do it. It’ll only damage you and make you look like you want to rant.
• make notes of everything – this includes what you do and, if you can, what was said and why. But do this afterwards, as you’ll not want Sally to feel like it’s some kind of formal meeting – it’s supposed to be an informal chat between work colleagues. This will also help you if Sally decides to make a complaint about you to the management.
Once you are ready, you should ask Sally for a private chat. During this chat you should explain that her behaviour is making working together difficult and affecting the whole team. You should use examples to make your point. For instance, explain that you needed the figures for the report and because she missed the deadline for completing them, you had to stay late. Try to make Sally understand that her actions impact on your home life and explain that you don’t feel it’s acceptable or fair.
At this stage, Sally may agree with you, apologise and promise to work harder. That’s great, you’ve made your point and, hopefully, the issue is now resolved.
But, what do you do if Sally reacts badly to your points. Well, we’ll cover that next week and, in the meantime, if you have any experience of this situation, do let us know how you resolved it.
