To think that people at work should actually work?

[Fleabag123]

I work in the health service, in a walk in setting. Services are busy, demand is high. I get that. We are a multidisciplinary team (doctors/nurses/healthcare assistants). A lot of my colleagues are hard working, supportive, collaborative. But I am constantly amazed by other colleagues who seem to want to do the absolute bare minimum and let others carry the load. There’s a million and one excuses as to why they can’t do any work, and a lot of wandering around aimlessly.
If we all pulled together consistently we’d be so much more efficient and effective. When the hard workers are in the majority it’s a dream - happy staff, happy patients. Other days when there’s more of the slow workers things grind to an absolute halt and the waiting time goes insane. This makes people (particularly the hard workers who are flat out) stressed.
I can’t see how those who really don’t try could have no insight into the fact that they are very much part of the problem.
Unfortunately one of the ingrained cultures is “don’t push people or they’ll go off work with stress”. So the slow workers are never challenged and just carry on.
AIBU to think this attitude just legitimises laziness? Or am I missing something?

I’m self employed and work part time as well so I’m very focussed on getting the most work out of the time I have
Sometimes I go into clients offices for the day and I’m usually horrified by the amount of “downtime”that they have.
They arrive at 9 to begin work at 9
They have actual lunch breaks where they do NO WORK and won’t even discuss work issues with you
They have time to make coffee
They discuss their weekends
Getting ready at 4.40 to leave at 5

I’ve come to realise that this is actually a normal way to behave when your wage is mostly based on you being there rather than achieving much and I don’t blame people. There is a lack of loyalty on all parts, going the extra mile ends up being expected if you do it once and I matter how hard you work if the business needs to get rid of you they will. Working yourself into illness or worse is never rewarded

@Fluffyears agree!! Have met a few ppl like this. Think they do so much more than everyone else but really they are slow at heir work and have a tendency to make work for themselves. Agree with you OP too. Especially in NHS (I'm an employee also). So many slackers. And they go off on sick when they've got a sore toe!

I've been in jobs where there has been absolutely nothing at all to do.Well I tell a lie there was about an hours worth of work per month. When I raised the issue I was just told well you know what you can do or it must be awful for you.
So basically the whole office had to pretend to be busy. If theres no work to do, and they wont pay for you to go on a course or anything what exactly is someone supposed to do all day?

anyone else reading this at work?

At my previous place of work (NHS) we used to refer to these people as RIPs.

Retired In Post.

The Council I worked for has "workers" like this, one friend was actually told on joining, "you don't have to rush around, you work for the Council now". Private companies wouldn't/couldn't tolerate it. We had a particular employee who was in a high position and lazy/incompetent/incapable, staff switched teams because of her. Management knew, someone complained officially but nothing was ever done. Everyone knew how poor at her job she was. There is a deep rooted culture in Councils where this is allowed still despite numerous cutbacks.

I used to work in a nursing home, and whilst most of the staff were very compassionate and efficient, there were a few who made your heart sink when you saw the rota and realised you were covering a section with them.

I soon learned that you don't pick their work up, and you make it clear what is theirs to do and what is yours. Any slack was on their part, not mine and I refused to rush round like a headless chicken as others did to compensate. When people are like that, I won't cover up their failings.

From a management point of view how do you make someone who is methodical yet incredibly slow at their role work at a more suitable pace? They are being carried by their team but are completely oblivious to it and carry on producing a third of what everyone else is.

When it is more down to personality than our laziness I don't know how it can be improved.

Pineapple is absolutely correct. This is why people move from LA to LA and never work in the private sector all their working lives. Moving from one to the is a massive culture shock.

Agree with you. Although I was one for a few years. I was pretty ill and really should have been off sick, but got no sick pay so couldn't afford it. I felt dreadful every day and genuinely worked as hard as I could, but I am afraid that wasn't very hard.

Yeah, sometimes it's a problem with the organisation's culture - there isn't, actually, enough work to fill the day on a regular basis so people get into the habit of just wanking through the hours. Then some of them can't snap out of it when extra work arrives.

I can’t imagine doing very little in a day. Another nurse in nhs and except for breaks I don’t think I stop for my entire shift, we aren’t always busy but there is plenty to do when it’s not so no excuse for hanging about but can honestly say we are busy everyone works hard.

Every place I have worked has had a few of these people.
I remember one who was awful, spent the whole day wandering round doing nothing and complaining she was bored. One day she came up to me and told me that the management was bullying her so she was thinking about leaving. I told her very bluntly that being told to stop moaning and do some bloody work was not bullying it was good management! Didn’t go down to well and she left shortly afterwards.
Apparently her new management is bullying her as well!

I have no problem working hard and I would much rather be busy but I resent having to do twice my work load to make up for other people’s laziness.

I went from being a management consultant (10 hour days minimum, more when stretched, solid working and stressed) to an internal role in a large international company.

My god the culture shock! I'm friends with a couple of colleagues who did the same switch and we cannot get over how little work we have/people around us do and the fact that we are not challenged on our workloads by our managers.

We spent the first few months in panic that we would be asked to justify our time but no-one ever did.

I asked regularly for more work but it rarely worked.

Yes! We have someone at work that is so busy coming up with great ideas and deciding what needs doing. She never checks if it’s already being done or is part of someone else’s role. She’s always sticking her nose in. But you ask her for something that she is actually paid to do and it’s always late and full of mistakes because she’s rushed it. I wish she would just concentrate on doing her own job properly and leave us to get on with ours!

As a manager I have had a couple of people come to me for more work, moaning they weren’t busy enough.
So I pointed out that paperwork XYZ needed sorting and scanning, that there were a couple of small projects to finish, etc. The answer I got? “But those parts of the job are boring”

So now if someone moans they are bored, I sweetly answer that I will check their current files on our system - and that they better be 100% impeccably done - before giving them something extra. And no, they don’t get to pick and chose what part of the job they do.

Thanks for your responses - somewhat heartened but also saddened to hear this happens everywhere.
For those asking what I’m doing about it - it had been mentioned to line managers multiple times but they have the “oh you can’t push them or they’ll go off sick” mentality. Considering escalating above the line managers if nothing changes

I was pissed off last night. I was on my shift and this young lad is a lazy sod whos already had a warning for talking too much. I had a long line of customers, a rail to run and returns to clear n he just disappeared for half an hour. Then came back and asked me what jobs I'd been doing. Then proceeded to do nothing else.

Careful, OP, you're not doing a lot for the "absolutely everyone in the health services is run off their feet / exhausted / working way beyond their limit" thing

The reality is that you get these types everywhere and that the responsibility for dealing with it lies squarely with management. Unfortunately too many health managers don't bother - partly because there's not enough accountability but also, I suspect, because it's only public money so what the hell