Competitive work culture

[gigipom]

Does anyone have advise?

I work for a very small company. Was one of the first employees. There have since been other hires, one who is extremely competitive. Always want to wants to be the best and stay the longest etc.

Shes online replying to messages and emails late at night, communicating with our manager (who is also online) on weekends. I do not work on weekends or late nights as I respect my time off as well as my colleagues.

I am slowly realising this person may trying to be outshine me. She is extremely competent, and frankly be better at her job than I am at mine.

how do I handle this? I’m starting to feel like I’m falling through the cracks and will not get any promotion etc. I’m also concerned she will end up being appointed as my manager.

There is absolutely no need to work late. No clients involved, no life or death situations. Had a look back through the last few emails she’s sent over the weekends/evenings and it only does seem to be those that our manager is on! :(

It's 4:30am and I've been working since yesterday evening. I have a disability that affects my concentration during the week, so I binge work before Monday morning deadlines.

My coworker with young children does the same on Sunday nights.

It might turn out she has something similar. I never expect responses at those times.

Agree with @SilverGlitterBaubles Speak to your manager about clear workstreams /swimlanes.

Also express concern about burnout and their work life balance

"No, I haven’t. I wouldn’t feel good saying that. I just know she’d get upset"

And yet here she is upsetting you. Either way one of you is upset, but only one of you knows why. You need to reset the balance. Give her a chance to stop, she might feel like she has to pick up your slack and might not realise that you are going to finish those tasks unless you explicitly tell her. Also let your manager know what you have said as they may also be unaware.

You can't really raise the issue of someone else's work / life balance. It's both subjective and overstepping.

Is people working outside of working hours it’s fine. It’s more that she’s doing her own work during our contacted working hours and then taking over mine outside usual hours.

And only where managers can see. I think that’s the upsetting bit!

Leave her to it! Be confident in your decision of having firm boundaries and a good work life balance as being in your own best interest.

Can you raise this with your manager and ask them if the expectation is that you need to be available at all times? Chances are they will say no and you can raise that you're worried this colleague is engaging in presentee-ism.

FWIW - I totally get it. I have kids, I have to pick them up at 3.30pm twice a week. I can't work weekends. I have a colleague who is regularly online past 9pm and on Saturday/Sunday afternoon. But are they actually getting more done and delivering a higher output? No.

I'd also start to point out the behaviour every time it happens. "Thanks Claire but I'll pick it up during working hours" - "As I said Claire, I'll pick it up when I'm back at my desk"

But this is just how people work nowadays. Its a common email footer - "May send emails outside of normal working hours but do not expect any reply" blah blah.
I've always worked this way - as a PP mentions its a way of being ahead of your workload, and it's just what I feel comfortable with, definitely not to overstep.

I think any good manager would be aware of the same and base promotions on quality not quantity of work

Do not just ‘leave it be’. Your managers won’t magically see what is happening and have your back. Kindly, get a grip and stand up for yourself or you are handing your promotion to this person on a plate. Every time she responds to an email directed to you ‘Hi x, I noticed you are replying to emails directed at me, why?’ And wait for a response. Whatever the response, set your expectations such as ‘ok, next time, I will need to respond to emails directed to me directly, please don’t respond’ and repeat. Then tell your manager ‘I’m aiming for promotion but I see x taking on my work. I’ve asked her to stop. To keep you in the loop’. Stop caring about hurting her feelings and look after you and your family! Also, if she starts getting passive aggression ‘I was just trying to help’ etc, en ready to say ‘ I’m pretty happy managing my tasks in work time, I’m just asking you to respect that’.

People are not understanding that you said she is taking on your work during her evenings and weekends. She can do her own work in that time, not yours! Focus on that. And agree, people who need to work all the time are not better at their jobs. Start getting good at talking to your manager and setting yourself up for promotion. Handle this without emotion and getting upset. It’s just a fact - ‘oh how strange, you are responding to emails for me and doing my work. Are you ok?’.

That's too passive aggressive @UmbrellaRed

@gigipom it sounds like this woman is doing her best to get noticed/rewarded/promoted for doing all this work. So she's deliberately shafting you. Stop worrying about upsetting her and just ask her outright why she's doing it. You don't need to explain yourself - just ask why she's doing it when you're perfectly capable of doing it yourself.

The other women is doing this OP’s job in the evenings and weekends, when the OP doesn’t have the chance to step in. OP has said she doesn’t want to upset this woman, but trying not to upset people like this can end in them getting a promotion and you don’t. I think being direct is ok. And keeping the manager updated without whining helps. I like to see what other people suggest too, this is just my opinion of course.

When she answers for you is she wrong?

Or is she right?

But that was not what he initial post was complaining about - that's an issue that came up later. She was initially unhappy at being "outshone" by her colleague

I would email her and copy the manager in to say , please would she leave your tasks for you to complete in your work hours. As a manager if someone was emailing at all hours and taking over other people's work I'd worry about their wellbeing . Don't get dragged into doing the same. Sometimes I work late but I always try and not send emails then as I think it reflects badly on me , my capacity to complete work in work hours and to manage my anxiety and stress levels.

Why are you not completing your tasks during the day? There wouldn't be an issue of her doing your work in the evenings if you were completing them.

I am doing my tasks in the day. Sometimes though, I’m working on large projects that cannot all be done in one day. My point is, she is answering non urgent emails on my behalf outside of working hours. It’s nothing to do with me not doing tasks I need to in the day.

we also work with companies that are a couple of hours behind us. Unless urgent, we have been assured a reply the next morning is fine.

Thanks to anyone who has sent helpful replies! I am going to think about what my next steps are with this.