"My team member doesn't pull her weight..."

Dear Editor:

One of my team members doesn't pull her weight. She's lazy and is always chatting or taking cigarette breaks instead of doing what she's supposed to. She avoids the dirty jobs as much as possible.

When we work together I feel like I have to do everything, since I don't want to get blamed for tasks not being completed correctly or on time. I feel bad telling the boss about her behavior since she's a single mom and needs the paycheck, but what other option do I have?

I'm exhausted and tired of doing her job AND mine.

--BJ

Dear BJ:

It sounds like you have a frustrating work partner and I congratulate you on the self control you shown to date. People who don't carry their share of the workload make things difficult for everyone else. Congratulations on your attempt to find a productive way to solve this problem. This shows a lot of maturity. Secondly, although it may seem like your co-worker is lazy, let's give her the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes people who seem lazy or unwilling to share the load see things very differently. Guessing at people's motives or labeling their behavior usually just makes us more angry and doesn't help the situation. Let's start with the premise that she either doesn't know how to do a good job, or she doesn't understand all of the job duties.

First of all, let's think of how you want this to come out. Ideally, you'd be able to get your co-worker to see the error of her ways and help her step up to do a good job. In order to do that without creating bad feelings, think about how you might be able to apply some positive peer pressure to her to get her on board. I suggest you take some time to outline HOW the job you do needs to be done in the best possible way. List all of the duties and tasks and the process for taking care of each of them. Share this with your supervisor and let her know you've done this to ensure everyone understands the full job that needs to be done, because you care about the hospital and your patients. Ask if she'd be willing to share your job summary with all of the staff who work with you from a supervisory standpoint at the next staff meeting. She could preface the presentation by letting the staff know that one of the employees did a job audit to help improve the quality of the clinic. She doesn't have to mention your name, but will hopefully be willing to urge this new overview duty list be used by everyone to ensure all tasks get done on a shift. She could have each of you meet together to decide how best to split up the duties when on shift together.

Then, keep your fingers crossed that your difficult coworker steps up to the plate and begins to carry her load. If not, the job audit has provided you with a foundation with which to talk with her. If it seems that she's still letting things go and avoiding work, point to the job audit and ask how she'd like to split out the tasks for the shift. By making her accountable, and doing it in a neutral and professional way, the hope again is that she will try harder. If not, it is time to have an honest talk with your supervisor.

Without anger, it is important to just let her know what you've seen happening and descibe the behavior that you find difficult in your colleague.Tell her, as you've told me, that you don't like to be a whistle blower and that you've done everything you can to prevent having to do so. Let her know that you'd hoped to correct the problem with your job audit, but that things are not improving, and you are concerned for the clinic and the patients. Ask her how she thinks the problem could best be handled. Ask, too, if you can meet with her in a couple of weeks to find out how the problem can be resolved. Do this in a respectful and assertive way, so that she/he knows that you trust the judgment of your management but want to know how best to move forward.

At this point, you've turned it over to someone with the power to correct this situation. I would hope the management team would take the steps needed to either coach this employee to higher productivity or let her know she isn't succeeding on the job.

In either case, your careful assistance and self management should be clear to everyone. Instead of just naming a problem, you will have taken positive steps to solve it and involved your leadership in the effort. This will show you as the valuable and hardworking employee that you are, and provide an opportunity for this situation to reach a positive conclusion.

I wish you luck!

Dr. Ruby

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