Am I too harsh, or is colleague taking the piss?

[mixedbagofraisinsplease]

I have a colleague who has been quite unreliable over the past 12 months. They suffer with stress and anxiety, and have had multiple occasions of time off (usually 2-4 days). This usually coincides with a busy period and means they miss deadlines and other people have to pick up the slack.

Things have been better for the last 5 months or so, but this week, there is a big event on, at the same time as us having two other staff members out with Covid. The unreliable colleague called in saying they feel ill this morning, and has now said they are not well enough to return until maybe Friday, or probably Monday.

This now means that I have to cover their work, as well as the two others with Covid. I'm pissed off and feel like they've just dropped me in the shit. Finding it hard to muster any sympathy. AIBU?

People get sick, and part of the function of management should be to ensure adequate cover or staffing to deal with it. If your managers aren’t doing that, focus your annoyance on them instead of your colleagues who, presumably, didn’t get sick on purpose.

I'm sure the managers are aware of it. How do you even know the reason they are off sick. Unless the colleague is telling you themselves you shouldn't know.

This is managements problem.

Don't conflate the two things.

If you go off sick, who is responsible?

It is NOT your job to do the work of 4 people and you are foolish if you try.

I agree with this. It sounds as though it’s time to speak with your manager - you can’t do four people’s work.

I remember telling a manager that him saying that we all needed to “step up and pull together” translated as “Cru, you’ll be staying late because you have too much work to do”. He didn’t like it but it needed saying.

I am going to go against the grain here and say that, although this is a management issue, if your colleagues reason for being off is stress and anxiety and being busy triggers her, maybe this is a capability issue and she cant do this actual job. I agree you should not be focused on her, but talking to your manager.

This is always a management problem I'm afraid.

All you can do is mention it to the relevant manager, say that you are struggling for capacity and ask them what they can do to help. That’s their job. Definitely don’t do several people’s jobs as that’s not possible.

Just refuse to cover the work. Let the management deal with it

Phone in sick yourself with stress.

This person isn't capable of doing this job. They can't cope.

This isn't your problem, it's your employer's problem.

Do what you would normally do, and whatever extra (maybe none) to show willing to your employer. But that's it. Let whatever the event is, suffer.

YANBU @mixedbagofraisinsplease I once worked with someone like this. Any deadline or important meeting and they had a migraine or a virus or an upset stomach. They were actually not speaking about their condition of BPD.

It could be that your colleague has a significant disease (physical ir mental), and these days off are a sort of cover up.

Its really difficult to work with such people, particularly if your management aren’t aware or do nothing. In my workplace then (a university) there just wasn’t the cover for him. We can’t cover people in this way as we all work fairly autonomously. And yet the students needed teaching so we somehow made up his work.

Managers tried to manage him and tried so many things but he would quite disability legislation. So we had a supposedly full time colleague doing only half his job and universities have no cash to bring in casual cover.

It was an impossible situation in the way it put all of us in stressful situations. He had a disease I would never wish on my worst enemy and he was genuinely unable to manage a full time job, but was in denial about that. We had to take up the slack. So pleased I don’t work there or with him any more, frankly.