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AIBU?

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AIBU to raise concerns about a colleague doing far less work?

13 replies

Workload37 · 17/09/2026 12:07

I am in a team where we all do the same job for a different area of a large company, so for example we all manage the finances of a different area of the business, we all have the same job title and are paid the same.

One of my colleagues has a susbtantially smaller workload. She never does a full 9-5 day, she’s never in the office, she’s always on holiday and we believe she’s going away and some of the days not booking the time off officially as no one’s tracking where she is and she’s commented before about never working in the afternoons.

Management do know that she takes the piss to some extent and we have all mentioned it to our manager, but mostly about issues with how she communicates and deals with some work tasks and broadly that the workloads are uneven.

They are addressing the uneven workload by providing support for myself and a couple of others who are very busy, but this will just give me time to now work on the bigger projects I have and to ignore, so I will still be vastly busier than her.

My main frustration is that someone is being paid to do nothing and enjoy her paid work days enjoying life without having to book holiday! While I’m working 9-5 every day to get everything done,

I am now at the point where I’m so frustrated i want to say something. My manager is nice but I don’t think she will do anything so I am thinking of mentioning it to the big boss who I get on well with.

But mentioning it won’t change anything for me, my workload will stay the same, so I don’t know what to do.

Has anyone been in this situation before?

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Ayeayeayeaye · 17/09/2026 16:32

Lou1984 · 17/09/2026 13:05

Rather than complaining and sounding petty, why not ask for a pay rise, justifying it as being to reflect the workload you have in comparison to others who have the same salary and role as you, but much smaller workloads.

This! You’ll only make yourself look petty commenting on someone else’s workload when change won’t affect you. Use it as an example why you should be paid more for your extra workload.

LittleGreenShoots · 17/09/2026 14:29

we had one of these at my work. There was a long term plan (a year plus) to manage them out in a legal and gentle way. It was of course very confidential and noone would have known about it. But don't be so sure it is being ignored.

bababamama · 17/09/2026 14:15

There’s always a possibility that theres factors you don’t know about. Speaking up may make you seem silly ig she actually has a reduced hours contract but spreads for health reasons, something you may not be privy to

ifone · 17/09/2026 14:13

But is she just much more efficient at her work?

Morepositivemum · 17/09/2026 14:12

Are you sure she doesn’t work from home or have less hours for a reason? And how can she always be on holidays- do you take all your holidays or is it that she uses hers and nobody does? Just asking because I’m one of my old jobs me and another girl got in an hour before everyone else so left an hour earlier (we were all on flexi), and we regularly got comments on how lucky we were to get to leave early or would be asked were we going to stay on time today if working late. Maybe she gets her work done differently to yours

StripyShirt · 17/09/2026 14:05

If it has no effect on you and the management are not concerned, then why would you do anything?

CharlotteStreetW1 · 17/09/2026 13:46

stueeeyiii · 17/09/2026 13:04

One word of warning, as a manger I tend to know a lot more about my team than individual team members know about each other. I'd tread very carefully OP else you will not show yourself in a collegial light. Could backfire.

So what's the solution?

Friendlygingercat · 17/09/2026 13:42

Why not drop back to working at the same rate as your colleague and let the work pile up. When your manager complains you point out that you are working at the same average speed as your contemporaries. If your organisation is unionised the manager will not like to get into an argument about that.

Lou1984 · 17/09/2026 13:05

Rather than complaining and sounding petty, why not ask for a pay rise, justifying it as being to reflect the workload you have in comparison to others who have the same salary and role as you, but much smaller workloads.

stueeeyiii · 17/09/2026 13:04

One word of warning, as a manger I tend to know a lot more about my team than individual team members know about each other. I'd tread very carefully OP else you will not show yourself in a collegial light. Could backfire.

Dryshampoofordays · 17/09/2026 13:03

We have one of these at my work as well. Management have said the only way to fire someone seems to be if they kill someone. So it is what it is!

stueeeyiii · 17/09/2026 13:01

Mhm, doesn't sound fair. Is your colleague working full time, same as you? Saying something sounds very petty though.

Catza · 17/09/2026 12:13

If mentioning it won't change your own workload then I honestly don't see what it will achieve. The issue is not with the colleague, it's with the organisation who knows what's going on and are happy for it to continue.
I am unahppy about how some of my colleagues handle their sick leave, for example. If I take a day off sick, I always check my diary and send an email to admins explaining where to move my face to face contacts. So I am keeping my workload with myself. Nobody else does that and I am getting weekly requests to pick up extra contact "due to staff sickness". But I am not going to kick a fuss about that either because it isn't going to make any difference to how I do things and my personal feelings are irrelevant because they are not doing anything outside of what the organisation expects.

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