Told her to resign over this - AIBU?

[tiv2020]

A coworker of mine recounted to me how she had gone to our manager with a complaint that whenever she is off duty (sick/on holiday/whatever) her workload is only perfunctorily looked after by the appointed substitutes, who often perform just the easiest / most basic tasks, procrastinate till she is due back in, and generally act as if her "inherited" workload takes a back seat versus completing their usual tasks.
She is a good and conscentious worker who gives her 100% and cares about providing good service to her customers, many of which have followed her when she switched to our company several years ago.
She suggested that her substitutes get more training in her role (she has a special "niche" job and her substitutes do not have nearly the same level of expertise, possibly adding to their lack of confidence in tackling demanding tasks) or that she got a trainee to team up with.

Our manager replied he did not think the team were neglecting her work, that they did the best they could considering what was on their plate already, and that if she wished to address the issue she should talk to them herself.

I told her to resign.
My reasoning being that our manager is a waste of space who is only in his role because of nepotism (he's one of the sons of the founder) but he is utterly unwilling to exert any effort in managing anything at all. And that from the little i have seen of office life over the years (i WFH 90% of the time) i very much trust her word over his, her workload IS being neglected, and nobody but her gives a damn. Since she clearly feels let down by his lack of interest in her contribution to the company, she should try and find another place, and once more bring her customers with her.
Aibu?

She should look for another job, and not resign until she has been offered a new job…..unless she has the financial means to resign now then look for a new job

How often is she off duty (sick/on holiday/whatever) that it is a major issue?

Is that not the normal in niche professional roles? Noone looks at my workload unless it is important enough for someone to contact my manager when they get my out of office.

Unless you have the type of job where multiple people slot into the same role and just cover shifts, It’s not realistic for someone’s workload to be completed when they are out. I would expect just absolutely essential tasks to keep moving.

I think many people go back to work waiting for them tbh, colleagues have their own roles and can’t neglect them to cover all of someone else’s work.
Is it that her work is time sensitive?
YABU to tell her to resign though. By all means suggest she look for a new job if she isn’t happy, but to suggest she resigns is a bit extreme.

Pretty sure that's what happens in every job. I worked in a finance team and unless a client called for something urgent while I was off I came back to the work I had left plus that from the time I was off. I was not in a niche part of the job.

Nobody looks after my role when I am off. When I was off sick last month my appointments were cancelled but everything else (except shared tasks with a colleague) were waiting for me when I returned. I think this is the norm and wouldn't expect anything else tbh.

All sounds very normal to me. I think resigning is OTT

Of course only the minimum of someone’s workload is done with they are off sick though, surely that’s obvious? Unless they have been signed off for months and the business take on someone with more capacity to do the role then her duties are being covered by people who already have a full workload.

Telling her to resign is an odd thing to say imo.

I think it’s a bit unreasonable to expect colleagues to do her work on top of their own jobs tbh. Is it causing her problems when she cones back to work or affecting the business? She would have been better approaching the boss and presenting it like that, rather than XYZ person isn’t doing my work which sounds a bit petty.

Ii was out for 5 days last month and knew something critical was going to have to happen in my absence. I spent 3 days setting up and training someone to do that one task and they still struggled. The flurry of emails with senior staffers trying to help them complete it that I was cc’d on was insane.

No, it isn’t something that could be better documented. It was a one-off task that required my particular expertise.

I think it's normal to return to a pretty full in-tray.

Colleagues don't really have the spare capacity to do much more than monitor what's coming in for you and fish out/deal with anything that's urgent plus do anything you specifically left with deadlines that fall during the absence.

I don't really the the reasoning behind "He's a shit manager, so you should resign" but would heartily support "He's a shit manager so I'm going to resign"

I agree.

You can give her the advice you think is the best, but I hope she's an adult and professional and she doesn't make her decisions because a work colleague said so.

Only the most urgent or time sensitive tasks get delegated. She should reprioritise on her return. Most organisations will be the same.

Resigning over this seems hasty to me if she's otherwise happy in her job.

What’s the norm in her workplace? Is she usually covering some work for someone else in the team who is off? I’ve worked in teams where we all pitch in to cover (if it’s just one person off - usually there is a holiday booking process in place to ensure people stagger leave) and in others where it’s essential tasks only. There is also sometimes one person who doesn’t pull their weight, or who expects people to cover their work without reciprocating.

It’s hard to know how unreasonable anyone is being without context.

If her colleagues could cover her entire workload when she is off then what is the point of her?

I agree with the manager, whenever my work isn't covered properly I always speak to the people in question myself.

Plus, she's a grown woman so you can't 'tell' her to do anything.

Especially if you're only there 10% of the time, you'll have no real clue of what's going on and whose in the wright/wrong.

Yeah resigning is way OTT.

i thought most people had time off and came back to a heavier workload temporarily?

In my team, time sensitive stuff gets covered but otherwise it has to wait until they are back.

Just adding to the chorus of 'this is normal and resigning over it would be very weird.'

Add a bit of background as I realize now I was giving something for granted.

We work in logistics, in operational roles.
Our job entails organizing shipments of goods from point A to B meeting customers needs.
We do not work shifts, but whenever we are OOO, someone must pick up the slack. It is utterly unthinkable to come back to a backlog of work. The work msy not be there when we come back to it, because the customer may well have made other arrangements with competitors in the meantime.

Sure some supporting/not urgent stuff msy be overlooked but the bulk of it has to be done.
It is the same whenever one of the team is missing.

As per what I said, sorry i absolutely must rephrase that. Sure, i told her to look for another job, not to quit then and there.

If she's that good, she shouldn't find it too hard to find a new role and again take her clients with her. Ideally she'll find it before resigning, though. Then when asked why she's leaving, she can cite completely useless management. You know, the usual reason.

I always go back to piles of work and unanswered emails etc, isn't that pretty much normal?

I think it's totally fair enough that colleagues prioritise their own workloads.