Furious at colleague who doesn't pull their weight

breaking_free

Hi there.

I create documents, online help and so forth for a living. A very small portion of my job is actually writing the documentation; the biggest part of my job is learning how to use a plethora of publishing tools and configuring them 'just so' (setting up templates, creating styles and formatting, applying company branding etc).

Take this website for example: somebody has created the menus and buttons, set the colour scheme, and basically 'got it all working'. That is the hard part. The easy party is typing the content - that is no harder than you guys making a forum post.

End of background - now for my rant. I have a colleague who has the same job title as me and gets paid the same. However, our work is apportioned completely unequally - I do all the 'making it work' while she just does the 'typing'.

I have [STRIKE]howled till I'm blue in the face[/STRIKE] talked to her about this and always get the reply "But I'm not confident to do what you do. I don't want to mess it up". I've also spoken to my two bosses on numerous occasions about how I have to do ALL the difficult work. They're well aware of this but will not deal with it. My colleague's "Can't do" attitude has gotten me so down in the past that I threatened to leave and went so far as to attend a job interview (with the full knowledge of my bosses). I didn't get the job so I'm still here. I love my job and don't truly want to leave.

My colleague and I were given a project over a month ago where we were both (gasp!) tasked with doing half of the technical set up work. I did mine and surprise, surprise, she once again failed to produce anything at all - zero, zip, nada. She told the boss "I've been researching how to do it", however she didn't even start doing that till last week.

I want to talk to my bosses again but I don't know how to approach them without coming across as angry and spiteful. Specifically I was going to ask my bosses to base our next performance related bonus on how much we learn to use and work with our latest software.

What would you do?

For what it's worth I've asked for a considerable pay rise in the past to reflect the greater amount of work I do but have been told that "There is a certain amount in the pot and you each get an equal share of it".

DKLS

breaking_free wrote: »

Take this website for example: somebody has created the menus and buttons, set the colour scheme, and basically 'got it all working'. That is the hard part. The easy party is typing the content - that is no harder than you guys making a forum post.

Either learn to ignore it or look for another job.

PS I would say writing copy isn't easier than knocking up a CMS site or a publishing template.

liveyoung

I can empathise with your situation, but getting worked up about what someone else is (or in this case isn't) doing isn't going to get you very far.

Asking for a pay rise to reflect the work you do was good - and not getting the response you wanted is unfortunate. Don't stop asking though. Make sure that you have a comprehensive list of the positive things you are doing and self improvement etc to support the request. If you continue to be met with the same response then you have few options:

1. Leave - go somewhere that you will be appreciated. I know it's not an easy decision to make, but if the behavior of your colleague is having a detrimental effect on you then you need to make your own health and happiness a priority.

2. Stay - remain unhappy and hope that someone notices that the work is not equal or hope she leaves.

Speaking to her directly doesn't sound like it is achieving much and as I said before you can only control what you do.

I would speak to your line manager again, but plan the concerns you want to raise first so that when you talk it is not an 'emotional' reaction but a thought out discussion with possible solutions.

martinthebandit

DKLS wrote: »

Either learn to ignore it or look for another job.

PS I would say writing copy isn't easier than knocking up a CMS site or a publishing template.

Agree with this 100%

pimento

I'm the least creative person I know. If I'm asked to produce copy out of nowhere I go completely blank. I could, however, do your job easily. I expect your colleague is the opposite.

Chacun a son gout applies here, I think. If you don't like it, work somewhere else.

tomtontom

Calm down. Stop trying to tell the bosses how to do their job. Don't tell them you're looking for a new job.

Look for a new job, preferably working alone.

breaking_free

liveyoung wrote: »

I would speak to your line manager again, but plan the concerns you want to raise first so that when you talk it is not an 'emotional' reaction but a thought out discussion with possible solutions.

Thank you. This is exactly what I want to do.

My problem is how to phrase my request because in my head it's coming out like this:

"Colleague X hasn't done any work on the project in an entire month while I completed my half last week. If you base our next bonus on actual work done she might realize she can't get away with piggy backing on my efforts and it will force her to pull finger. I want to be recognized for my efforts and because I'm !!!!ed off I want you to acknowledge her lack of effort by penalizing her financially. Why should she get paid the same as me for doing so much less?". I know that sounds just plain nasty which is why I can't say it.

Any suggestions?

PasturesNew

How did she get the job? I know I couldn't do the technical part, so wouldn't apply for such a job. The design/elements IS the hard bit. All the typing's the easy peasey bit.... a breeze.

So she's a "can't do" not a "won't do" - so who hired her? And for what job did they hire her?

Was she hired as she was pretty to "help out with admin", then got told she could do this work too .... without anybody understanding it's actually a skill/difficult?

Could you split the projects in another way? e.g. give her all the cross-browser testing, for example? Or managing the css files to ensure they comply with a standard set of colours/specs agreed?

martinthebandit

Be careful what you wish for OP because if your colleague becomes good at both the tech and the copy writing side of the job what are they going to need you for?

liveyoung

breaking_free wrote: »

Thank you. This is exactly what I want to do.

My problem is how to phrase my request because in my head it's coming out like this:

"Colleague X hasn't done any work on the project in an entire month while I completed my half last week. If you base our next bonus on actual work done she might realize she can't get away with piggy backing on my efforts and it will force her to pull finger. I want to be recognized for my efforts and because I'm !!!!ed off I want you to acknowledge her lack of effort by penalizing her financially. Why should she get paid the same as me for doing so much less?". I know that sounds just plain nasty which is why I can't say it.

Any suggestions?

Take out every reference to your colleague:
'I want to be recognised for my efforts'

Your problem is that you're so annoyed with her that you're looking for her to be penalised. While I realise it is frustrating, concentrate on yourself. Do your job well. Speak to your manager about your progression, your opportunities and your hard work.

Everything in your statement screams 'Petty'. Ignore her failings and concentrate on your achievements.

breaking_free

martinthebandit wrote: »

Be careful what you wish for OP because if your colleague becomes good at both the tech and the copy writing side of the job what are they going to need you for?

But that's entirely the point - we were BOTH hired to do these things and only I am doing the tech side.

Be careful what I wish for? I wish she would start doing the tech side of her job so that our work was equally apportioned. When one person does all the donkey work and the other gets a free pass it causes resentment.

I want to address this inequality with my boss and am asking you all how you would go about phrasing it.