I'm going to have to resign from this job aren't I?

[JustFeckIt]

Really pissed off about it but don't think I can do anything about it!

Started a part time job last year, seemed perfect - remote so fitted in with my caring responsibilities, great hours, interesting content and lovely team..,., except my full time counterpart.

She put me on edge from the start. Quite a challenging personality - very straight talking, quite brash, slapdash, type of person. On my first day, she told me her best friend had applied for my job and she didn't know why she didn't get it. I just said 'Oh'. It didn't bode well.

Anyway she'd started in her role a few months before me and had worked in the same sector with same systems for some years prior but seemed to find it hard to pick up the training. I picked it up very quickly and was trained on a lot of tasks before her. So the most complex and time consuming bits of work became my job although we were both supposed to be doing them.

I noticed that she didn't seem to do a lot and the work load was increasing, I was finding it hard to keep up but she always had excuses as to why she wasn't helping on the complex stuff and if I asked her to do any she was constantly calling me to go though it with her, spending ages on the phone so I was getting more behind.

I have literally been doing a full time job in 24 hours a week.

She then said she wanted to go part time so would I swop with her. I said No as I don't want to work full time. I found out recently she's asked her manager if I could work more hours so she could drop a day. Manager said to discuss with me. I was bloody furious and said No again. Feel like she's trying to pressure me. She took it as a full time job not me!

The workload has massively increased over the last few months by around 50%. There is a specific reason for this but can't say why as outing. There have been comments from above that work is not completed to timescale despite knowing this.

Colleague took a whole day the other day to do something that should have taken no more than a few hours. Considering she's full time and I'm part time she should be doing the bulk of the work but loads of stuff is not getting done!

I raised the issue with management two months ago and they said they'd discuss but no one came back to me. They acknowledged that I am doing more than I should though.

Colleague has health issues and suffered a very traumatic loss some years ago (which she told me all the details of early on) so I have been loathe to call her out to her face on what seems like deliberately taking the piss. Management are similarly sympathetic so I don't think they'll do anything.

It is massively stressful and draining so I dread logging in now. i am literally stuck in my chair for hours unable to take a break as so busy and trying to keep up. It's not great pay so definitely not worth it but I could overlook that for being full remote. I was working over my hours but have stopped that now.

I am loathe to walk as I need to be remote due to children with disabilities. and it is very flexible. I can't find any other fully remote jobs and have been looking for a while.

This was my first job after being a SAHM for many years and I can't believe the shit luck of having her to work with! We have other teams set up the same as ours in other areas and they all work together well.

This is good advice.

Ah this was me last year. I left and I seriously regret it. But my anxiety and depression was being torn to shreds.

In the end, they realised thr other person was the issue and they were sacked. 😢

I left a good job for no reason ffs

Your manager is the problem here. If the workload has increased by 50% and can't be completed between your FT colleague and your PT role, they need to hire someone else to work on it, or your Manager needs to get stuck in too.

If the workload should be able to be done but the issue is that colleague isn't pulling her weight, again your Manager should be putting her on performance plan. If colleague needs reasonable adjustments or to reduce her hours, it's not on you to automatically pick up the slack or work more hours (unless you want to).

Ask for a meeting with your Manager and agree what is a reasonable workload for you to complete and then stick to that. Make it clear you are not willing to cover more than your hours.

Good point. People don’t often realise all the stuff you do, until you aren’t doing it

She sounds like a lazy and self absorbed pain. So what if she’s had a traumatic loss, lots of people have. The trying to make you go full time and her to part time was an especially dick move. It sounds like you should be managing her, as you seen to know what you’re doing

Do not be bullied!

This job is perfect for your situation and it's being ruined by one person. She is not superior to you.

Document everything and send management a report of what is happening.

Stop trying to do everything. They probably don't realise how you feel because you still get the work done.

She may leave anyway. Stand up for yourself!

If you say there is too much work but the work gets done anyway... there is no problem to the managers. You're masking it from them.

Concentrate on your own workload and not hers. Do the work you can in the hours you work. Tell your manager the workload you've got coming in is too much and you want to agree what should be prioritised each week. Then stick to it and arrange a regular call with your manager to review workloads and agree any re-prioritisation.

If the managers view is that you should work with colleague to split work, make it clear it isn't working and if they want that to be the process, it's needs to be formalised between you, colleague and the two managers as to % of complex and simple work you each pick up, bearing in mind you are PT amd not available to chase things 2 days of the week.

You need to stop being a doormat I'm afraid OP. They clearly need you, you're a very good worker. So just say no to the lifts if you don't want to (although once a month seems ok). And just do what you're paid for. I remember when they made people redundant at my firm it included those who worked hard and did more that they were paid for. There is no loyalty, don't assume they will behave that way.

Didn't you post this before word for word? It's either groundhog Day or I read this exact same story on here...

Nightmare! What's wrong with your DS?

Given how good you are at your job and how they'd be screwed without you I would lay it on the line to your manager. You need it to be a manageable workload and you cannot commit to giving her a lift. If either of these 2 things doesn't change you will be looking for a new job.

Complain again, ask them to review the number of her completed projects. Explain you are incredibly unhappy and feel like leaving. Ask them to manage her performance through regular supervisions with monitoring targets.

So whoever you're complaining to isn't helping so you have to take jt up the chain. First you need documentary evidence of what's going on.
And you need to also speak to the supervisor of the manager who keeps doing inappropriate things like saying "you'll give her a lift won't you". Also don't go above and beyond and if stuff doesn't get done then these managers will start to see it.
Dont resign, what if she resigns or any other set of circumstances happen, then you'd regret it. Tough it out and take steps to resolve - she needs to go, not you.

I left a job in a similar situation, except it was my line manager. She was totally under experienced for the job, continuously made mistakes that meant entire projects were pulled at last minute and restarted from scratch, one which we had to redo 3 times (projects took 3-6 months to complete so not a quick admin task). It impacted several depts, not just me/our team, risked legal implications.

Every time it happened, she would come out with a tragedy or drama in her personal life, make a big thing of it to the entire team, so I just felt like a complete bitch when I raised work related issues. Her manager was the dept head, so knew what had gone wrong with the projects anyway, and I brought it up in meetings but none of it made a difference. There were a lot of other issues too, her telling me to do something then asking why I did it that sort of thing, meaning more work being redone. She just wasn’t ‘present’ in the job. It became mentally exhausting documenting every little thing and scrolling through pages of notes every day, to prove what she’d asked me, on top of my actual job.

The job was a good opportunity for me, the company had offered to pay for me to do a professional qualification. I was seriously considering it but it would have meant working with her for at least another 3 years. I could not have lasted that long. I stopped overworking myself eventually but then upper management, like yours, started ‘coming down’ on us for not meeting deadlines, despite knowing how many projects had to be redone because of her.

It is a real shame to leave a job that could be right for you but I don’t regret leaving overall, because I actually ended up physically ill. I do regret trying to be sensitive to her dramas, working late so much and not continuing to raise the issues with her manager.

By the sounds of it, your team needs more man-hours, and if she wants to go part-time then the sensible thing would be for them to take on a third person. If you're reaching a point where you're considering resigning because of the pressure, then it's worth letting them know - because they'll be in a real mess if you go, and they probably know that. Better that they get someone new in, let you train them up, then let her drop her hours*. The new person presumably could be another part-timer if there isn't enough work for a full-timer: they know that you are productive as a part-timer. They do also need to look at your existing colleague's productivity, but it doesn't sound like improving that would solve the problem on its own, especially if she wants to cut hours.

*One of the valid reasons for rejecting a part-time request is ability to recruit someone to cover the hours, so they would be able to say "not until the new person is trained".

Do not under any circumstances give this woman a lift! Why the hell should you? You don't like her, she clearly doesn't like you, and the boss who tried to push you into doing it, needs telling in no uncertain terms that while you love your job, life outside work is difficult enough without taking on responsibility for getting someone else to work, point out that you have other commitments, and you simply can't do it, although don't tie yourself in knots explaining what your other commitments are, if they're outside of work, it's none of their business.

OP I don't think you should necessarily resign, especially if you're struggling to find other jobs that are a good fit for your personal circumstances. I think you should try to create a lot of documentation, ie "10/2-10/8" completed x, x, and x. Requested colleague complete x and x. Colleague needed assistance completing x which prevented me from working on x and didn't finish x which meant that I had to finish it." "10/10-10/15, completed x, x, x and x, colleague took two days off and failed to complete x and x which she had agreed to do, so both were added to my workload" "The work environment is unsustainable because colleague is unable to keep up with workload due to inability to complete x type of tasks despite trainings/walkthroughs provided by me on x dates"

I would share all that and give a time for management to propose a solution, if they then don't bring anything I would then resign. But be looking for new jobs the whole time!

Slow down OP. Do not quit!

You badly need some headspace. This is just a job. It's great in that it's remote flexible and interesting. But. Don't give away more of yourself than they are paying for.

Do your hours. Log your work.

Ignore your stupid nasty colleague! Who gives a shit what madness she gets up to or tries to bully you with. You keep your nose clean. Do your work. Log EVERYTHING in a personal file on your phone or personal laptop. Dates, times. You may need it.

Consider joining a union if you haven't already.

Don't take this idiot's behaviour personally, it is bullying and she would do it to anyone, it's her problem not yours.

Book leave and get headspace

Can’t you divide up the work at the start of the week based on how many hours you both work against how long each task should take and then you just concentrate on doing your work? Why are you bending over backwards trying to finish everything that she’s not doing? It sounds like you need to miss a few deadlines so that management can see that there is an issue, if all the work is logged they will be able to see you are doing your share. As long as you keep picking up the slack and working harder to cover her then management aren’t going to do anything, from their end as long as the work is getting done they won’t care how fairly it’s been distributed.

In terms of the lifts it’s fine to just say you can’t because of the school run and because you need to leave on time and can’t wait for her. As an adult she should be able to sort her own transport to and from work.

Thanks again all. Yes, I did post about colleague a few months ago. Was told to put on big girl pants and tell manager which I did! Even told them I was thinking of leaving but nothing has changed. We do need more man hours but have been told that we won't get it, At least if colleague did the amount of work she should be doing, it wouldn't be so bad! Seems no one wants to challenge her.

It's pretty hard for me to just straight out say 'stop fucking calling me to teach you how to do things you should already know, what the fuck are you doing all day'! This is on Teams and I quite often don't answer now, then I get 'where have you been'. I have to work closely with her and can imagine how she'd be if I took her to task, not my job anyway. I'm not her manager.

Can't believe my shit luck being paired with someone like this! None of our other teams are like this. They are all very hard working and care about the job (social services related).

I've thought about asking to be moved elsewhere in the service but I know no one from the other teams will swop with me!

Too outing to day what DS was diagnosed with but it's life threatening, involves insulin and was shocking and terrifying. After my week off I was back working full throttle. It's all too much to deal with having to work with a slacker in a high pressure job too,

I actually only work 4 days a week and she was making comments about how lucky I was and she'd like a day off in the week too (she took a full time bloody job!).

Then she asked me to change my day off to another day (which I'd agreed with my manager before I'd started) for no real business reason. I said No it suits me and was agreed before I started. Then started saying she wanted to go part time as she doesn't need to work full time (why take a full time job then?). She seems to be jealous that I'm part time - err I get paid more than a third less than she does. Just nuts!

This is the first part time job I've ever had as always worked full time before. Is this normal that full timers don't like part timers working part time?

I'm not sure I'd do this to be completely honest as it may well have the opposite effect and make it look like you can't cope. Of course if you genuinely can't then there's no shame in taking time off for mental health issues but the harsh reality is that they may question whether you'll be able to hack it going forwards and instead give the opportunities to somebody else.

However, the core idea of somehow engineering a situation where your colleague is left to handle things on her own and demonstrate the true state of affairs is a good idea IMO. You just don't want to willingly go off with under the banner of stress and give your colleague the opportunity to blame everything on your inability to cope (the irony!) and play it up how she's managing to struggle on even after her traumatic loss.

Re the lift, I’d make sure you’re going to the gym, or shopping, or a dentist appointment, date night before/after the office so won’t be able to “on this occasion”.

Work your hours. Keep track of what you did in those hours. You don’t need to carry your colleague or the company on your back. Work your hours and leave the rest of the work. It is up to your manager to address these issues, not you.

You don’t need to resign. Do not put in any extra time, just work your required hours diligently and let the chips fall where they may. Only communicate as necessary with her and provide updates as to what you have done.

Go back to your manager. You should have followed up a week to ten days later.

I’d book a call with your manager. To discuss resourcing and to agree measurable for yourself. Be well prepared with x hours per work unit as suggested above. And be sure to reference the inappropriate mention at the team meeting of the lift request. Don’t be drawn into discussing the why’s or details of your child’s illness (which I’m very sorry to hear about.) also reference how it’s inappropriate to be asked to ‘sort it out yourselves.’ You are very keen to make this job a success for you and the organisation, and this requires adequate resourcing by management. Ensure you schedule a follow-up when you have agreed actions. Don’t get drawn into a three-way until you have had a management meeting yourself.

Tell your line manager, the colleague is a slacker, not doing her share of the work. You are tired of having to do her work because she's lazy and incompetent. Unless Manager makes significant changes , you will leave.

You've got nothing to lose.