Dear Aunty B,
One of our long standing staff members constantly shows up each day 15 to 45 minutes late, but still manages to take a full hour for lunch, and manages to have their laptop fully packed up and reversing out of the car park at 5pm on the dot.
In addition to this, this person takes at least two breaks a day, during which they prepare some sort of snack at an excruciatingly slow pace, and then proceed to eat at their desk even slower for the next half hour.
I never used to be a clock-watcher, but I’m so annoyed I’m becoming one (which annoys me even more).
This person also spends a lot of time on personal matters and planning their holidays during work time.
I understand that we have a flexible work culture in our company, but I’m puzzled as to why my manager doesn’t pull them up?
How can I work around this so that it doesn’t annoy me?
Yours impatiently,
Tick-Tock-Watcher
Dear Tick-Tock-Watcher,
Forget your lazy staff member. Why on earth are you annoyed by him or her? Fix your gaze on the manager and yes, you can now get really annoyed. Why? Because it is your manager’s job to make sure you are never annoyed! That’s what you pay them for.
In fact, it should be in their KPIs. So because there is a chance that your manager is not doing their job you are going to have to stick your nose in (and I am now annoyed on your behalf because that person does sound exceptionally annoying).
What you need to ask the manager is this: is the worker doing a fantastic job? Is the performance of this worker off the charts? Because you are annoyed that they look like a time waster.
Now, it could well be that the manager looks at you appalled and tells you that the worker has to visit his dying mother in palliative care every morning, has to pick his kids up from child care at 5.30 because his wife ran away with the gas man and he has a major digestive disorder which means he has to eat slowly or choke. But none of that matters because he spends every second he can thinking, strategising and executing, works every weekend without fail and the company would fall apart without him.
In which case you will shut up and pay your manager more. But if your manager hangs their head and admits there is a problem then you pounce. Many workers can’t make the transition to being a boss. They are just not tough enough. They want to do the easy stuff, like lead and encourage, and don’t want to do the hard stuff like instilling discipline, monitoring performance and managing staff out.
Let’s face it. That is very hard and unpleasant work, particularly if the person is popular despite not pulling their weight. So then you need to start performance managing the manager, which is in itself very annoying.
I have to say that I think you will find the latter is true and that you will end up very annoyed at your manager, who might then keep procrastinating as he can’t take action because he is not cut out to be a manager (and many are not). So now you will be really annoyed at two people instead of one. Sorry about that!
Be smart,
Your Aunty B
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