St.Louis Business Journal
USE FIRMNESS, TACT TO HANDLE SLACKER CO-WORKERS

By Anna Navarro July 2010  

Examples in this column are fictionalized to protect privacy.



Slackers create problems for everyone in an organization. In some ways, they are even more of a challenge for their co-workers than their bosses, because co-workers don’t have the authority to discipline or fire them.

Mindy was a hardworking IT professional, who, like most of us, was stretched to the limit. She could manage her job and her family responsibilities only if she stayed very focused at work.

One of her biggest headaches was Charles, the person who occupied the cubicle next to hers. They were the only IT people in the company, and they reported to someone on another floor. Charles talked constantly, telling long boring stories and never noticing when others weren’t interested.

When she first got hired, Mindy listened to him politely. He seemed very lonely and didn’t have much going on in his life. She felt sorry for him. But he took up a lot of her precious time.

Then she started listening with half an ear, while looking at her computer screen and trying to get something done, hoping he’d get the message. That didn’t work. He just barreled on.

Her next step was to say that she had a lot to do, and that maybe they could continue the conversation at another time. She stopped short of suggesting lunch because she didn’t want to spend more time with him. That tactic worked in the moment, but he’d be back a few hours later.

That’s when she came to see me. I suggested she be more direct and explain each time he showed up that she had a lot to do and didn’t have time to visit with him.

She dreaded doing that. Politeness had been highly valued in her family, and refusing to listen to him seemed rude. But she realized she had no choice.

We rehearsed the interactions carefully She prefaced the conversation by talking about the tasks she had in hand, and the deadlines she was under. Then she’d take a deep breath and say “I’m sorry, Charles, but I have too much to do to talk or listen to what you are saying. Please excuse me, but I have to ask you to leave so I can get my work done.” I suggested she document these conversations.

After she did that, he would leave her alone, but only for a day or two.

At that point I suggested Mindy talk to their boss about the problem. This was even harder than being direct with Charles. She said she felt like a snitch, but in the end agreed to do it.

The boss’s reaction can best be described as “don’t bother me about personal squabbles with a co-worker---go figure it out on your own”.

That was the final straw. Mindy was fed up and ready to quit. She was angry and frustrated with Charles and now also with her boss. But she liked the job itself, and it was also close to home and worked well with her daycare arrangements. The salary was competitive, and the company offered good benefits.

I recommended she find a job before quitting. More importantly, I suggested she make a last ditch effort to salvage the job by talking to her boss’s boss about the situation. She was a little taken aback by that idea, but it turned out to be easier than she anticipated.

Her boss’s boss listened attentively and asked for a copy of the log where she’d recorded her conversations with Charles and her boss. A couple of weeks later she got a call from HR and was told that Charles had been warned about his behavior. They asked her to report any time Charles attempted to chat more than 5 minutes, which she had to do several times, although she was very uncomfortable doing it.

He was let go several months later, and the IT function was moved to another manager. She learned through the grapevine that several of her predecessors had also lodged complaints about Charles and that her former boss had also ignored them. He’d been relieved of his people management responsibilities because of it.

To deal with a slacker, Mindy had to overcome her concept of what was polite behavior in the workplace. It wasn’t easy. But her willingness to take better care of herself and to be firm and persistent about what she needed allowed her to keep her job.

Anna Navarro is the founder of Work Transitions, a nationwide career consulting firm that works with clients on an individual basis to help them find more satisfaction and fulfillment in their work-lives. She can be reached by phone at (314) 367-0008 and her e-mail address is email@worktransitions.com. For more information visit the worktransitions.com website.

This column was originally published by the St. Louis Business Journal. The actual title of the column and date in which it appeared in the Business Journal may be slightly different from what appears on WorkTransitions.com.