Work and lazy colleagues?

[tracellung]

The team I’m in all work from the same pot of work and we work cases.

There are some members that will look at a case and effectively put it back in the pot because they can’t be arsed as it’s too difficult. I’ve brought this up with management who do nothing but say - you’re better at doing them and x will struggle.

I’m not paid anymore, I’m not a higher level. So why should I constantly have to do all the more complex work?

Play them at their own game.

If your manager won’t support you, either cherry pick the easy cases too, or forward the more difficult cases to your manager. They get paid more and so they should do the heavy lifting.

So why are you doing the difficult cases? I don’t understand.

We had a similar set up of choosing from a pool and people would put the harder stuff back. In the end the management started allocating the case number out at random to make things better.

Management have no idea how to do the work. Genuinely. They are just there to “manage”

I could have written this. Say no and ask for the colleagues to be trained so they can handle difficult cases. It's so absurd that hard working people get exploited because management is incompetent and if the work is done they don't care how or who.
Push back, don't allow them to bully you!

Similar happened with me
Now it's automatically distributed and you don't get to pick and choose

I would start cherry picking too

You could be me!
I have now based my output on the lowest member of the team.

Whereas i was doing 60-70 case a day and they were doing 5

I am now doing 15 a day and there is major panic due to backlogs and talk of hiring more staff

Do you enjoy the harder cases?

I guess two options. Play them all at the same game and do the bare minimum. Or make a case that others are not trained adequately. As you are doing the harder cases then you want the salary and job title to match. Guess it depends where you are in your career and whether you are happy to call bluff with management or not.

I ended up the once taking on the more senior stuff without training or the company willing to pay for me to do it externally. Called their bluff and ended up moving to another company and earning more. Met up with one of my old colleagues a couple of years later and she said management realised once I'd left and it was a difficult six months for them adapting to cover what I'd done without complaint for nearly 5 years.

A similar thing happened in an old team of mine. A few of us mentioned it to the manager who changed the way cases were allocated to prevent the individual who was doing this choosing the easy cases.

I would be tempted to escalate the concern or move teams if that’s possible. It’s unfair that your manager is not dealing with these justified concerns.

It’s crazy isn’t it.

I finished my quota by midday before and they rewarded me with “well you can just do x amount more can’t you?”

I get it. I’m not being paid to sit there and do nothing. But also what’s the incentive to work beyond the required amount? When someone will actually do less and get paid the exact same.

I once called it out to my manager that I’d worked an entire queue (of a specific workload that required two people on it a day) and colleague had done none. Despite me saying to her “just letting you know you’re on this queue with me today”. And the manager said “I think she’s scared to work it because it’s difficult”. Oh fuck off.

It sounds like a very badly managed workplace. Is it a well paid job or convenient in other ways? I suppose your options are start doing the same as your colleagues, keep complaining at management or start job hunting (which I know is a PITA).

It makes me laugh

I was "why am I doing all this and nobody else is?!" And got "just do your own work, other people isn't your issue "
Cool. So I did just my work and no extra at all
Then suddenly mad panic

Omg how pathetic are they all? I would struggle with the contempt tbh. I'd try and negotiate a substantial raise, and if they refuse start job hunting. If you can do 70 cases a day and the others manage 5 they could give you a ten fold increase, fire the others and they'd still be saving money.

This was me too! I did become a bit jaded with it all eventually. Getting a little pat on my head and being told I was really good at doing stuff eventually enraged me!

especially noticing that it seemed to be the men on the team doing a lot less (and moaning how busy they were).

and noticing the same men wandering around outside, having another fag break then nipping to the shops for a newspaper and sausage roll. Then another wee fag before plonking their arse back on their seat.

I was working part time hours, and my output was more than some ft workers.

I realised I was the stupid one, and just stopped doing all the extra stuff.
I also realised lazy arse would be getting a lovely salary and pension based on his ft hours, and muggins me would be getting 2/3 for being pt.

You either stop being a martyr and do the same as everyone else, or you carry on as you are.

Agreed. Once I saw the light, I changed my ways.

Got a new job easily, and I love it!

Everyone was gobsmacked as I had worked in same dept for ages.

plus got a nice promotion, and said cheerio to the manager who had allowed the men to just do what they liked because they were in her smoking clique.

Byeeee! No regrets!

Is it worth going over your manager’s head - or at least complaining one more time and saying you’ll escalate things if nothing changes?

Alternatively, does your annual review process include peer feedback? If so, slate them. Do not say a single positive thing. I did this one year with a colleague who was a drain on the entire team and made it clear to my manager that I was going to do so. I think it ultimately helped her that she had back-up to deal with this person.

How in Earth will they ever learn the complex if they never do it, explain that to manager, along with there is no cover for complex cases if you get sick, hols etc

I wish I could do the same.

A colleague does 60% more hours than me but has a caseload half the size. And it's clear from his outcomes that he doesn't have as many complex cases.

I think management have worked it out though, as we're changing from taking cases from particular teams to having one inbox and whoever takes the next new case just takes whichever one came in first. This will make it much easier to see at a glance who's doing what.

As PP said use your annual review to bring it up so that there is a written record.
Ask your manager if you can have a regular team meeting to discuss all cases and who is handling them that every one attends.
Your unfair situation will go on forever otherwise, or until (hopefully) a whole management overhaul gets rid of the people who do as little as possible and promotes the ones who graft.

Look for something else. If you're frustrated now, imagine how you'll feel when one of these incompetents is promoted to management. I've seen it happen too many times where a favoured individual who can't hack the actual day job is elevated to 'manage' those who can.

All the signs are here: tolerance of crap output, inability to motivate employees, taking good staff for granted, no experience in the job itself.

I hope the lazy shit gets his comeuppance.

This thread is making me very annoyed 😂