coworker always taking time off

But essentially people think they have a right to know that something is going on. There were multiple notes over a two year period about problems they had with me and pure speculation about the causes. Sometimes people get to pull stuff like this and others dont. When he actually had a deadline hed steal others work from the network drive and present it as his own work. Also, give key individuals the heads-up that you wont be available or as available during the time that youre away. Youre also making it much more annoying to yourselfby focusing so much on it. or to win grants in the public sector is really important to a business. If behind means that its not reasonable to believe she can get something done in time, especially if there are external factors like needing data or approval from other people, tell her shes not where you expect her to be in her work, and work with her on how to fix it and fire her if she cant manage her workload effectively. How to Deal With a Co-Worker Who Takes Too Much Time Off A complaint doesnt have to be some unpleasant thing either. I have to go and take it back. Because all of that looks just like a bad manager who is doing nothing. I have that now. Honestly, I can see myself quietly doing this if the slacking coworker had truly become my BEC and I was feeling unfairly treated by management. (We dont have exempt/non-exempt in the UK, so Ive always wondered if flextime = exempt? perhaps you get less of the routine work because you are fielding the complicated phone assigned problems. Whatever arrangements you make, be crystal clear about your expectations during this time period. My husband was stuck in a similar situation at his company with a coworker who frequently padded expense reports. And I can imagine that someday, they might need some flexibility. When you take something out of it, its the same as crossing it off the list. The Right to Be Paid for Off-the-Clock Work in CA. The problem is that the junior admins tend to put all the referral calls through to me because I am in the office and pleasant. If Felix doesnt want to go to HR, hes not going to be pleased if HR come to him with the Catlin told us you told her that Arya told you story either! No! Therefore, you should focus on reducing it. In a past job, I had a co-worker who was obsessed with gossiping about who was coming in late, taking long lunches or leaving early. . Is there a way to ask my supervisor if something is happening without seeming crazy? So it goes. Call it even. I seem to recall a conversation here recently where several US people were using flextime to mean different things too! The window on let me know is pretty shortand the OP could even just say, contact the employer. In that group, it would totally be fine. But a manager has to know that people see that (if the manager is aware at all). The thing is, I havent been treated well there (like, at all), and I may decide to leave for another opportunity thats on the horizon in a few months (in fact, this is fairly likely). I was thinking that if I were the OP, I might reply the manager Well, of course Id have to review the specifics of the employment contract to determine if it was worth it, but Im happy to read one over and give it serious consideration once you have one drawn up for me! It is calling their bluff, but of course if they do come up with one there are always terms to negotiate. In retrospect, this was probably a whistleblower issue, but people werent doing much of that at that time. Or if her child or children are having personal health problems and she doesnt feel like she should share them with the office, especially if its an office that seems to be radiating this kind of tension and hostility towards her. Once youve figured out what you will do before leaving on vacation and what can be handled while youre away, clarify what you will not do until you return. A non-exempt worker does have to be paid overtime when they work more than 40 hours in a week (and state law can provide more protection), which is probably why exempt = more than 40hrs seems to be a thing. #3 One more thing, set aside for for your employee to train the other team members who are reassigned to help her out. Why does work routinely collect around this one person? I think it is important to remember that AAM letter writers are asking for help not a verbal lashing. I did a tracking sheet on those 3 for 1 month and they regularly came in late, left early and took extremely long lunches (2+hours). What to say to an employee who's requesting too much time off I have a question about an employee who is requesting a lot of time off. How do you want me to handle that?. Every month, "Jane" will take at least two sick days, leave mid-day several times for some "emergency," and dramatically leave work while crying at least once. Does it make me a bad person that I take delight in karmic retribution? Probably because this manager is the type of person who thinks their employees should kiss the ground the walk upon. If so, youre not alone. Ive had my own PTO screwed up, it does happen. It would be more acceptable in smaller, local groups than some of the larger groups with a nation wide or international reach. Try to let it go; whenever I see a co-worker seeming to leave early etc for no reason while Im staying late to finish something important, I just smile to myself. This employee is considered auxiliary (works less than. Please help! 'My Co-worker Is Always Out Sick!' Almost every single one has a stated rule against things like this and I would be uncomfortable just like you if my boss asked me something like this. My coworker wouldnt work a full day on those days, though he would come in late and/or leave early, every time. But you can plan for your time away more strategically to reduce a pre-holiday headache. She ignores the Leadership doesnt want her to be lead on this project and has requested that another member of the team be in all meetings, which is a very serious issue, because she doesnt know how to express this well and it doesnt feel as solid to her. If its a big enough company with decent auditing practicestheyll find the time card fraud eventually. He talked my major professor into attending and then when the meeting began, he said Herbert, I think this is your meeting. and the hapless Herbert who had nothing to do with calling the meeting fumbled around for an hour. Im going to slightly disagree with AAMs answer and say it depends. If the Facebook frowns upon people posting job ads there, then definitely use AAMs answer. Complain to your manager, not your colleague The fact that you're left taking over your absentee colleague's workload is actually your manager's fault, not your teammate's fault. With data in hand, you might suggest changes in the way work is assigned or adjustments in the way in box work is assigned since you take on more phone work or even require phone work to be evenly assigned rather than assigned to you. Founded in 1993 by brothers Tom and David Gardner, The Motley Fool helps millions of people attain financial freedom through our website, podcasts, books, newspaper column, radio show, and premium investing services. And I want to reiterate that just because theres a good business reason for tracking your time, it doesnt mean that coworkers should be tracking each others time with secret spreadsheets!! Your email address will not be published. Why You Escorted out after resignation [GUIDE], Deal with A Manager Who Undermines You? I went to my department head and reported myself. #1: One thing I remember learning from childhood is that unless a persons behavior is dangerous or destructive, reporting them to authority figures is basically tattling. Almost everyone disagreed with me. If there is real time card fudging, Jane will probably get caught eventually. Calculated by Time-Weighted Return since 2002. Plus all it does is get you more upset. Here's what to do if you're constantly pitching in for an absentee co-worker -- and rapidly losing your patience. My only other thought was this is seen as paying them back for keeping you on PT while going to school. I belong to several such groups, and posting anything like that in any of them would not be effective; it would just aggravate people, and the post would get taken down, and if I continued to post again, Id get kicked out of the group. Nah, you dont want that. Any conversation that starts Sansa told me that Arya told her that is never going to go well, especially as theres no evidence. In any given month, "Jane" will take at least two sick days, leave mid-day several times for some "emergency," and dramatically leave work while crying at least once. Open the conversation yourself by going to your boss and inquiring. But when its not, talk with your boss to confirm who would be best. And as Alison points out here and has pointed out before, its not anything the OP needs to worry about unless its impacting her own work. Some employers honestly dont care if they have employees who cheat the system. But they still could track the exempt employees time and require a strict schedule if they wanted. Part of my job is to track time for exempt workers and I can tell you that they are 3 people who regularly abuse the flexibility of exempt status. For those items you know cant get done, decide to wait and communicate this plan to others. (Ive seen it happen.) And if this were a brand-new job, Id tell you not to do it, because its reasonable of them to want a new hire to plan on staying for a couple of yearssince theyre going toinvest time in training. If one person is always late, or someone always calls in sick on Monday, the issue might be with the employee and not your attendance policies. (Also, keep in mind that if youre otherwise doing well, its pretty unlikely that a single mistake is going to get you fired. At least, thats what I would wonder if I were a manager. This. If you intend to take a week or more out of the office, put a meeting with yourself on your calendar for three to four weeks prior to your departure date. #1 The only reason I ever look at anyone elses vacation time is to check to see if other people are off when I want to take off. At my last job, I worked a 32 hour week by mutual agreement with my manager and was considerably taken aback when someone said You know, I just wanted to point out that a lot of people are noticing that you always take Fridays off in a friendly/passive aggressive tone. If you see a co-worker apparently gaming the system, there are many valid reasons as well as some invalid ones. In the first case, you could find yourself overstressed and sleep deprived, and in the second, you could end up resentful for being physically away but mentally still at work. For example, you could spend one hour on work each morning and then stay away from your computer for the rest of the day. (He thought Id like it and had given it to me because he thought I would enjoy it. Their taking the path of least resistance is causing inefficiency in the work, and they someone needs to hold them accountable to using a different metric for assigning those calls. For example: It would really help me if I could rely on you to tell me when your plate is overflowing, so that I dont need to spend time reviewing your workload and watching for it. Your manager may conclude that you are trying to cause trouble and stir up controversy if you dont have evidence to back up your assertions and if you dont have. Seriously, OP1. This is why you tell all employees about the deadline at the same time, and with plenty of heads-up. He often pushed me to take more time off than Id ask for due to the burnout risk, and coverage wise we were totally fine. Or a middle school hall monitor. First come, first served. If the manager works from a different location or even area of the building, or if the people arent particularly junior, I think its feasible. You cant assume that because nothing changed, management didnt do anything. Youre acting like a busy-body when you really need to be minding your own business. LW1 at best, you can say to your manager Just a heads up Im not sure if youve noticed, but Leda seems to be out a lot lately.. I think its about the amount of time and the consistency. Did they impact coverage or others ability to get their work done? My guess would be, OP, that either you may have misunderstood what you overheard or the boss is looking into what happened and collecting facts before she says anything to you. It could be worse, OP1 could be tracking menstrual cycles. I was so focused on the co-worker, I totally missed that what I had was a manager problem. Do you still plan to be with the company in 3 months? Alternately, management may just be weak and wont ever get rid of the person, at which point there still isnt anything you can do about it. They should also be able to list any major issues similarly quickly. Some of them brought up how it made them feel like the boss didnt care about the team. Is taking a vacation easy? As in, get the issue out on the table by clearly articulating what you see happening: Jane, reassigning work based on fluctuating workloads is a really normal thing here because our workloads are often so high. It's an incredibly time-consuming task and there's no guarantee that you won't wind up getting burned after hiring a new employee. I suppose I could have been more tactful. She sees it as disrespect when it is simply something that is business expedient. But if the fact that your colleague is often out means you get stuck having to pick up his or her slack, it can certainly leave a bitter taste in your mouth. :P We are required to have a minimum of forty hours per timesheet it only goes up, not down. Not legal, so nothing as important career-wise, but we still had people who would get competitive and hoard work so that they could say theyd done the most. Every single employee I work with whos negotiated a larger vacation package has said something like that about HR (and if our timecard system were integrated, theyd almost certainly have to report vacation as non-billable training sometimes). OP #1, Alison is right. Another coworker kept track of the hours and took the evidence to our manager under the guise of you are signing off on incorrect hours. Our manager was NOT pleased with the waste of the trackers time! The overworked employee should raise that as an issue and the reason for why she tries to hold on to the work, if thats the case. Then the team leader loads me up with problematic cases because I get the job done and never complain. Have you ever questioned whether taking time off is worth it because the stress of preparing for a vacation is so high? Can Student Loan Debt Actually Improve Your Credit Score? I would say, in an informative, instructional way instead of a punitive one: Its actually your job to tell me when your workload is out of balance. I was thinking ____ (and fill in with whatever makes sense, having someone else pitch in, putting off work until she returns, sliding deadlines on things, etc.). They cant work late in the evening because our building is locked at 6:45pm sharp everyday. I couldve been fired for hiding an overdue invoice just because no one spoke with me. That is reallynot your job, and most managers would be pretty annoyed to find out that you were spending your time that way. I mean, he is allowing them to work there, isnt he? But if you do find out that your co-worker has missed seven or eight days of work in the last month because he or she is dealing with fertility treatments, complications from a minor surgical procedure, or a nasty divorce, it might make you feel less bitter about having to step up. Why automatically assume that the employee is overwhelmed just from checking a few reports? Right. Are there co-workers back at my office throwing me shade because of this? At that point, staying silent becomes much more difficult. And if you can truly unplug, do. Id love your advice whether its to chill the heck out, or get the heck out of dodge. Im a member of a Facebook group of former employees of my old job. When someone says, Eh, they dont keep track, theyre usually talking about an extra five minutes here and there. And? If your only concern is that shes taking more leave than you think shes accrued, thats heavily stepping on your managers toes, especially since I doubt you have visibility to actually see how much PTO your coworker has accrued, nor do you know if shes taking this time as PTO, unpaid, FMLA, etc. Her behavior is a running joke around here. But its appropriate. I can sit here and do nothing and my paycheck still shows up every two weeks. The rest of us picked up the slack. If the job is something that you dont think many or any of the members of the group would be interested in, then use AAMs answer. This idiot sucker right here. The main goal is to provide an opportunity to pipe up when someones overwhelmed or twiddling their thumbs, and then people are able to shuffle around tasks right there. What if people think Im a bad person for taking time off if Im not completely on top of my work? I recommend reaching out to your coworkers a week or more in advance to make them aware of what you will need, such as taking care of a specific responsibility or keeping an eye on certain projects. But its not done! I had other exempt workers coming to me to ask questions about why employee X did not work a full day for more than 3 weeks yet claimed they had flex time take on a day we had 1500 people in the building and really needed them. Express your concern that the quality of your work may begin to suffer because youre finding it difficult to complete more than your allotted portion of the work. Yeah, exactly. On average, they worked 4.5 to 5 hours per day. Sign off. Unfortunately, charm is a highly overvalued quality. We were hourly employees, and I knew from friends who worked in that office that my coworker was mostly sitting around and shooting the breeze with the man who ran that office. (But really, after the ad has been posted in the group for a week or two, it will usually fall behind other posts and people wont be noticing it anymore.). A good manager would have that conversation in private, and from there its up to your coworker to make a change or not. If shes reporting billable hours thats definitely a problem either way, but OP doesnt know that. my employees keep taking the same days off, I don't want to sit next to Good luck with that, guys. Suzie is struggling because she doesnt know what the real problems are and isnt getting coached (or moved, she cant do the work imo, she does other stuff well, jut not making teapots) and feels picked on. Fine by me; that means I get to leave at the end of the day and fuggeddaboudit. Because yes, it can feel like kindergarten all over again depending on how it is handled. Id either tell him its against the rules of the group or that its frowned upon and will do more harm than good. Does your boss routinely blindside you? New manager hasnt said one word about it, but I might proactively bring it up at my evaluation just so were all on the same page. It sounds pretty appealingexcept its hard not to think of it as demonstrating a mismanagement of resources on the companys part. Let her manager do their job, and you do yours. As a time management coach, Ive observed that pre-vacation work stress typically falls into two buckets: completing work before your departure and being away from the office. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) stipulates that enterprises subject to its provisions must grant their employees unpaid sick leave. And there may be good reasons why you check in with work while youre away, such as following up on a deal thats about to close or responding to an urgent, time-sensitive item. For a position involving timesheets? All time you spend working must be paid. In some jobs you do have to track your hours to provide transparency for the stakeholders, who could be stockholders or taxpayers. Re #3: At my work, our team meets on a regular basis to do really quick check-ins about where everyone is in their work. If you enter into a contract for employment for a set term, that contract is definitely binding in an at will state. It is time to voice your concerns if the actions of a coworker are having an impact on your work. Believe me, you want to make it easy for your manager to address things. They never get to work on time and are five to fifteen minutes late every single day. When I was a newly employed researcher elsehwere, another VIP spent his time braying on the phone to his friends about what fools the University had been to hire him and how these people just sat around doing nothing all day. There was no excuse for it; even the boss admitted his frustration but felt like he couldnt control him (obviously not a great manager). Maybe thats what the boss is thinking this is. Then partner with peers to delegate work while youre away. But maybe thats a case of not every exempt workplace being created equal. People leave all the time for various reasons, and Alisons language is perfectly vague. Now, I feel like I cant go to my boss with task-related issues. There is always something for me to do. It made me resentful and not want to work as hard. I was so focused on the co-worker, I totally missed that what I had was a manager problem. Also, your employee probably needs (what seems like) an unusually large amount of reassurance that her being overwhelmed is not a reflection on her or her ability to get the job done and that she is not going to be fired because she is overwhelmed. Did. At my previous job the work was complex and over time many variations developed that required extra work and attention. Ive worked at a lot of these workplaces. Usually people will hoard work so they can show that they are fully utilized. she made a rule that we could only have the current file and the one we were going to work on next on our desks. Unless shes completely oblivious or doesnt work with the coworker often enough to notice (eg its shift work and they work opposite shifts), I cant imagine the boss doesnt realize how much this person is out. 1000xTHIS! Have you sat down with the boss and laid it out as clearly as you have here? I require it of you, actually., And then Id be alert to whether Im sending some other messages without realizing it. A friend of mine has a coworker with performance problem and that same coworker has lodged harassment complaints against a couple of peopleso this could be ongoing who knows how long before anyone is let go. While I totally understand not wanting to initiate a convo with your boss, it could be the very thing that salvages the situation for you, if you do indeed have a problem. However, one thing no one else seems to have mentioned if anyone else comes to you again and says Jane says shes not putting the true times in her timecard tell that person to go talk to the manager [preferably in a timely manner talking to the manager now about a comment made around the holidays is a bit late]. Other people knowing makes this harder to move on. OP, are you still doing the same work youve always been doing? Have you seen this happen to anyone else? Calculated by average return of all stock recommendations since inception of the Stock Advisor service in February of 2002. Its that they dont care. After he felt that he had exhausted his options internally (casual mentions to their supervisorwho told him to drop it) he reported it to the ethics hotline. Sally is frustrated and overworked and appears petty. Reassigning job tasks based upon output is essential to the success of our organization. Honestly, as a manager, if I was shown that spreadsheet, my reaction would be to ask the OP why they felt they needed to go to such lengths because of someone elses worktime. Please take Alisons advice to heart because a reputation for this type of thing will follow you. As a consequence, I have to take time on a regular basis to review her reports to see where she is with them. The rest of the group eventually learned not to count on Bob and ended up doing the work ourselves so that it actually got done. The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) permits employees to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for themselves or a member of their immediate family in certain severe medical conditions. Id argue that you are wrong, for a number of reasons. Also, if the job is something that several member of the group might be interested in, then thats even more reason to post the job in the group. Under California labor law, an employer can't force you to work off-the-clock. Your boss should have a backup plan in place for when employees take time off, so if you're the one who's constantly bearing the brunt of your co-worker's absences, that's something you shouldn't hesitate to address. All they need to do is let people know that Wakeen is going to be working some irregular hours for the next x months. Though all of my 1-to-1s have been positive and Ive generally been doing really well, I did have a rough two weeks this month (stress due to family illness) where I was probably not performing up to my usual standards. And if so, could you let me know what it was? Before taking up the matter with the manager, you should try to demonstrate that you attempted to sort things out with your colleague first. As long as your company isnt highly dysfunctional you are probably fine OP. Instead, I focus on how sweet itll be when they get their due. During that planning time, get clear on must-do activities prior to splitting from the office. Employees generally like the flexing and are happy to participate because it evens out the work load, making it more likely that they can predict when time they get to leave work on a consistent basis. In any case, I use this as motivation to ignore the people who get away with stuff. Some people only require 5 hours to do what takes others 8. For example, I know you need some backup, and Cersei being out more than usual is making it harder for you to get that support, but unfortunately its necessary (right now/for the next week/month/etc). I found out during my annual review that my coworkers thought I was taking extra long lunches all the time. If she has to spend too much time explaining how to do the work to the other team members, neither she or they are getting anything done. But if theyre exempt, and their work is done, is it really cheating if they can get it all done in less than 40 hours? Youre reading a free article with opinions that may differ from The Motley Fools Premium Investing Services. I recommend having a sense of this in your mind early. [5 Solutions] How to Deal with a Coworker Always Taking Time Off The point of being exempt is that it doesnt matter how many hours you work so long as you get your work done. When you come to me and say, I have too much to do, I consider that a point in your column. Well, I had been three months ago, in the peak of our busy season! Is there any way to avoid making the commitment? So when I know coworkers (and other managers) say things about my time off, it upsets me particularly because I have my work done when I get back. Im all for recognizing exempt employees for quality overtime as the schedule and budget allows (and benefit from that myself), but a hard and fast rule like that is a bit ridiculous/easy to abuse! ), so theres that. Then, ask directly for what you want. Put a reminder in your calendar now for four weeks before your next period of time out of the office, with a note to refer back to this article. A secondary issue is also that the LW is participating in the office gossip about the situation. The following questions are a template your coworkers can use when they schedule time off. No revenues, no jobs. It is also not your concern to deal with. #3 its also possible that she doesnt feel like shes overwhelmed at the times you take the tasks away, and so is upset that youre removing work when she doesnt feel shes struggling. HBR Learnings online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Delegating. The ED reacted about as professionally as she expected (read: not very), but otherwise it was a totally normal resignation. This not only can make it less stressful to disconnect the next time you take time off but can also help you with day-to-day decisions like spending an evening at home on a weeknight without checking work email.
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