HR Case Study – How to work with a lazy colleague?

HER Case Study How to work with a lazy colleague Young Is a colleague that I worked with at Othello SSL-Tech Co. , Ltd.

He Is one of the laziest person that I have ever known. During working hours, he spent most of the time playing games, talking to friends on the phone or taking “long breaks”. So when I was assigned to the same working team with him, I was worried and scared. And my nightmare turned out to be true. Our team was in charge of the new marketing strategy for our star product “Low Voltage Generator”.

We divided the work and darted working on it separately.

One week later, we began to have group meetings to combine our individual works. At our first meeting, he told us that he stuck in traffic and couldn’t make it to the meeting. Then when the second meeting arrived, he claimed that he was sick. Finally when we were at our last meeting, he told us that his father was sick and he had to take care of him. It Is hard to criticize someone facing that kind of stress. So I as the team leader spent the whole night finishing his part of the report.

One week later, after presenting our work, I was Informed that not only Young went for vocation In Thailand the week before, but also his father passed away five years ago. I was so angry that I criticized him in front of the whole team and made complains to my boss immediately. As you can see, it is frustrating to work with a colleague like this, who would lie and treat to get out of work, who not only has low productivity but also affects the morale of everyone else in the office.

However, in spite of what Young did, the way that I deal tit the situation doesn’t show emotional intelligence at all. Of course I shouldn’t Just ignore the situation and move on, but I shouldn’t confront the situation head on and start a conflict In front of the public either.

The best solution Is to begin by communicating with my colleague privately and constantly. Firstly, I should listen to his side of the story and find out If he Is really dealing with stressful Issues and If he needs help.

Sometimes just being willing to listen can make a big difference. Then I would check on his working process more frequently than others in order to make sure that he understands his responsibilities and finishes his work. Because sometimes lazy colleague Is not simply lazy, he can be just overwhelmed by the work. He can be unmotivated because he isn’t in the right role.

Checking on him constantly and recognizing his efforts would help him stay focused on what he’s doing and improve his morale.

After trying all the ways to motivate the colleague, if he still doesn’t attend meetings and misses the deadline, I should explain him how his actions are affecting the team, explain him that I had to stay late to complete his work. If he doesn’t respond to the conversation at all and still Ignore his responsibilities, then It’s time to let him know that nobody Is going to cover for him any longer. If this kind of behavior doesn’t change, I’ll have no choice but to go to the boss. Even though this can be a difficult and uncomfortable conversation to have, it is stall netter than getting emotional or angry In ten Torture process.

If, however, in spite of all the efforts, the colleague is still too lazy to improve or hang, I have no choice but to speak with the boss. But make sure that I’m not Just complaining but reporting a serious problem. After gathering enough evidence, explain the situation clearly to the boss and detail the steps that Vive taken to get the colleague to change and how he hasn’t been able to improve his performance at all. It is important to keep personal emotions out of the conversation and to handle the situation professionally.

Overall, although working with a lazy colleague can be very challenging and restating, we can still take some actions to motivate the colleague and improve the team performance: Firstly we should listen and communicate with the colleague more often and let him feel more comfortable about the work.

Then try to check on the work of the colleague and recognizing his efforts in order to help him improve his motivation. If, however, all the efforts don’t work, we’ll need to meet with the boss and explain him the situation clearly and professionally. So that he can hand the problem properly himself.