WWYD - the person sitting next to me does hardly any work

[diamondsplease]

I can see their screen, they are on facebook, instant messenger, shopping, web surfing and constantly on their smart phone (which I guess is more obvious than web use on their screen)

My company has a relaxed attitude to web use as long as we get our work done. I also realise I am on Mumsnet and so not working for the time it takes to post this.

But this is a total other level - and it's everyday.

I am not their manager, not responsible for their work and so am ignoring it....but what would you do?

Fume silently then try to reassure myself that they will never get anywhere in their career if they can't prove they have achieved anything special.

am fuming silently.......

What kind of work are they expected to do? What will happen if it's not done by them - will it be split amongst others?

I'd mention it to their manager, tbh and say they might want to clamp down on screentime.

Sounds like me!

Although to be fair I am sitting in my office at home helping DH run the business.

I used to work with a woman like this. She got in early and went home early, but spent her whole time playing solitaire.

Bear - is she still there playing solitaire do you think?...how dull it would drive me mad

PS I am now on my lunch break :)

Imperial - it will reflect badly on our team, but I am not sure how much work the person has - maybe that's the issue and the manager needs to spread it about a bit....I am not flat out but not exactly idle either

I wouldn't give a shit and think you sound like a crazy person. Why would you care? You aren't at school anymore.

Interesting view snossidge - I guess I think it a bit unfair...we are being paid to work and some of us are not....it's not my direct responsibility but at some point will affect me as someone will have to do the work.... you don't sit next to me do you?

If it affects you, then fine - complain about that.

If you are jealous that she's getting away with more slacking than you, then slack more yourself.

Telling tales because you're jealous isn't the behaviour of an adult though. I say to my nursery children "are you in this story?" when they start tattling. This story does not have your name in it.

I'd have to say something to someone. It's Presenteeism at best.

Snossidge, you are what makes this country great.

Is your line manager also this other person's line manager? If so does your manager know about it? Why isn't the company monitoring non work time on Facebook etc?
Years ago I worked alongside the laziest person I'd ever met. He spent most of his day doodling on his desk blotter. Luckily veryone knew he was lazy including our line manager and he didn't get any of the promotion opportunities available within the company and left.

Just make sure your work is clearly marked as yours, same for your colleagues, then it will be flagged up for your manager pretty quickly.

When I was at work, I used to get through my work twice as fast as anyone else - it was consistently rated as high quality as well so it wasn't an issue. Because of this I used to spend a load of time on the Internet. Someone once tried to dob me in, but got rebuked by the managers for it as they were delighted with my work, so I'd tread carefully unless you are sure that your colleague is actually slacking

OK so it's annoying they're into a bit of 'social loafing' but I agree with PP that you'd best be crystal clear about what you want to achieve.

If you do talk to their/your manager about their surfing habits, you'll need to have specific examples of how it is reducing efficiency, distracting (in what way?) Etc.

Think about why the manager would care, and what effect it has on the company, directly or indirectly (eg can customers or visitors see her, does the person fail to complete actions from meetings that you both attend, meaning that you and other colleagues are having to pick up the slack for them on a regular basis?) Those things are, IMO reasons that reporting someone is justifiable.

If their role is so unnecessary that they can get away with such a low work - rate, it may mean either redeploying them elsewhere or eliminating the role, so ask yourself if you want it on your conscience that you might be impacting someone's livelihood

Doesn't their manager already know?

But Theodolia, why didn't your bosses either give you more work or promote you? To just let you sit there online for half the day is very poor use of your time and shows very poor management skills.

They didn't feel they could give me any more work for fear of it being 'unfair' (I wouldn't have minded, bored as I was) and the maximum bonus was £100 , which I got without fail.

Promotions? Ha! In the time I worked there nobody got promoted who wasnt a man (purely coincidence of course ). The last promotion I applied for I didn't even get shortlisted despite more than meeting the criteria.

There are a lot of reasons I don't work there anymore!

Don't forget OP if you complain about this person it could backfire as they might then clamp down on everyone's Internet use. It's also hard for you to complain when you're using the Internet during work time yourself.

I agree though it is very frustrating to work hard and see others getting paid the same and appearing to do less work.

Same as Theodolia, in a previous job I've got through double the amount work compared to most colleagues, all to an extremely high standard, no complaints, and spent a large portion of my day on the internet.

Line manager gave me more work (I actually asked for it), still managed to get through it all and have plenty of time to browse the net.

It gets to the point where if they give you even more work it makes your colleagues look like pure lazy bastards.

As most line managers I've encountered in the NHS are completely ineffectual they actually don't want to deal with the consequences of this, and are therefore quite happy to turn a blind eye to someone who does all their work, keeps their head down, and spends a lot of time doing sweet FA.

You say you're not idle but not flat out OP. Let's say she's not doing much and they get rid, they might decide not to bother replacing her and offload anything she actually is doing onto you. So I'd ignore it, for that reason and also because it's quite possible she's getting as much done as you are despite spending more time faffing. This could well end up impacting and/or reflecting badly on you. I take your point about work possibly being unevenly spread. But equally, if you've got a setup where you can piss about on MN during the day, why bother risking it because you've got a bee in your bonnet about your colleague's social media habit?