Colleague taking the piss….

Wish I could travel on my work time fancy leaving home at 8am and getting home at my finish work time -and getting paid for that time - heavenly

@Laughingteacakes you always get people with different work ethics. We have a hybrid/flexible arrangement to work xx hours. We try to fit round parents’ need to cover childcare drop-off etc. But people who want to flex their hours are expected to contribute full hours - just possibly at different times (this can work well - especially as we have offices world wide and late starters in Uk can align hours to the US for example). But anyone caught short changing the company in the way you describe would face discipline. There are ways to do it … your line manager is maybe just sticking their head in the sand. But they need to know in order to tackle the issue … so you’d need to be certain that your colleague isn’t picking up work later at home for example.

I’d raise it with your manager.

When I went full time I did so on the basis I’d have full flexibility to attend school assemblies etc (very close by) and would arrive 10 minutes late due to school run (made up at home) and I’d collect dc from school two days a week then work from home. They went to a cm but I had to leave work promptly at 5pm to collect by 5.30pm.

i guess anyone seeing this could think I’m 10 minutes late every day and bunk off early for school stuff. Every single thing was agreed with manager and I often did overtime. Now dc can all walk to and from school and my commitment to work is much more flexible. It’s hard when dc are small but I did pay for childcare.

She may have an arrangement or be taking the piss. You’ll only know if you check with your manager.

youre going to have to stop working extra hours your lm doesnt care because its getting done

can you go above them?

@Laughingteacakes

Erm, I don't think I said that?

I actually work in a very similar field to probation myself so I'm aware of the vulnerabilities of the forensic population.

This is a terrible management fail - there is nothing more demoralising for staff than seeing lazy CFs 'getting away' with doing sweet FA. It's one of the biggest causes of resentment in the workplace and management need to address it. I don't blame the OP for being thoroughly pissed off.

What seems more likely if everyone is working over capacity, is that there is a culture in your workplace of taking on more than you can manage, and your "slacker colleague" has become the scapegoat for this. You and your other colleagues need to speak up and tell your manager when you're at capacity and can't take anymore. irrespective of what another person is or isn't doing, this is the way to fix the problem.

But when my workload is like 50% higher because she’s not able to get through her fair share then it becomes my business.

How have you so conclusively made this link, though? Does your manager allocate extra work to you and say "this is now yours because (slacker colleague name) can't take it on". How are you so confident that your colleague working 1.5 hours below her hours each day has directly resulted in you having a 50% workload increase? 🤔

You’ve raised it with your manager and they aren’t prepared to do anything about it. I appreciate it can be a nightmare to tackle difficult workers in some organizations. HR can be more concerned with not getting sued than with helping make your team effective. So there may be reasons they aren’t or don’t seem to be doing anything. But that doesn’t help you.

You could try telling your manager that you think it’s unreasonable that you’re being put in this position and ask them if they are going to make changes. If some of your other colleagues raise it too it might have more impact. But if you’ve raised it a few times already that seems unlikely. So your only real recourse is to find another job and tell them this is why in your exit interview.

I don’t think it matters why your colleague isn’t pulling her weight. If it means you are having to do more than is reasonable and management aren’t dealing with that either through performance management or adding more resources if there is a fair reason for her lack of work, then you are reasonable to not want it to continue. So I wouldn’t mention that she’s going off to collect her kids or whatever. I would just say she starts late, she finishes early and she gets little done so it ends up falling to you and you’d rather not be picking up someone else’s slack on a long term basis.

Christ everyone on here is quick to defend a slack colleague. Of course it pisses you off.

If she wants to do reduced hours she should take the pay cut that comes with it.

I'm part time to accommodate this stuff so it annoys me when full timers do it (other than with the unexpected like illness) as I take a 30 per cent hit on my pay and pens up on for it (rightly so).

They also do the nine day fortnight but I see little evidence of where they actually make up the hours as eating breakfast in the office doesn't really count!

If the whole group agrees, why can't you all have a meeting with your manager, even if she is on a remote site, where are you discuss this all together? I think your boss would be quite surprised by your strength of feeling and would be forced to do something about it.

Why does she have less work to do than the rest of your team? Who decides who does what? If she's not fulfilling her duties and you're picking up the slack, stop doing so and take it up with your line manager. If she has a lighter workload that has been agreed with your line manager, then she must have some kind of flexible working arrangement.

The only thing you can do is speak to your manager about your own work load and how stressed it is making you. As part of that conversation you could say that you would appreciate it if they could look at everyone’s workload and see if there is any possibility of reallocating some tasks. Don’t mention any one in particular.

Also focus on self care. Don’t pick up the slack.

Do this and if you get nowhere speak to HR.

I’m in exactly the same position, so much so I’m wondering if we’re colleagues!! Can’t be any help because it pisses me off too. The rest of us are working ridiculously hard and she’s tinkering around the edges, looking busy whilst not actually getting through the caseload she should. However I’m more cross at our line manager for not managing the situation. She can see from the diaries and work plans what is happening but does nothing about it.

Great example of it really depends who reads the op and the mn mood.

Usually everyone would be saying opposite. Particularly in any post where op says I'm not coping and I don't have childcare.

It's not acceptable, just report the impact on you and let management sort.

Are you actually picking up her work? How is she getting her work done to a presumably acceptable standard in less hours than she is contracted while you’re working over your hours and stressed out? Could it be that she somehow has less work than you, something is off?

It’s unfair and very bad management.

There are a few people on my team who start late/leave early to do pick ups/haven't got childcare arrangements in place over the holidays as they can't afford it ... personally I think it's a good thing our workplace are flexible for families. I might feel differently if it was impacting the wider team and work was being left.

I don't know why everyone is defending this slacker at work! She sounds awful and it sounds like a situation that would cause a lot of resentment, OP. I have no answers I'm afraid. Can you find a new job with a better culture??

I don't know why folk are giving you such a hard time. She is making a mockery of the rest of the team. If she is working full time then she is working 30 hours per month less than everyone else and still getting the same pay.
It sounds like you and your colleagues don't want to let your service users down but if your manager won't address her shortcomings, you will have to stop making up her short fall.
Never mention unless asked what people's circumstances are, otherwise posters will focus on those issues rather than the point you're trying to make.

The BBC ran an article about people whose response to overload work, unfairness etc is to respond by a form of unofficial work to rule, not going the extra mile (or yard even). Not the best response but understandable.

The OP and preferably all the other colleagues who are bearing the consequences of this behaviour should raise it with their manager. Then if it is not seemingly resolved (extra staff may be a satisfactory outcome), be prepared to use things such as grievance procedures.

Flexible working arrangements mean at different times, not less work in the same contracted hours.