When a Colleague Doesn’t Pull His Weight

I worked with a coequal person who often bugged me as I spend less time in the office than he did.

I guess he saw me as a colleague who didn't pull his weight. But I was more productive than him. I got my stuff done and left, whereas he needed much longer for his tasks.

This caused a lot of frustration for me and him, as we both felt we were treated unfairly. I thought a lot about our problem and came to the following conclusion: This was a trust issue, as most things are. He simply did not trust me to complete my tasks on time and wanted to monitor my progress almost to the point of obsession.

I told him that trust was the foundation of our relationship, and that if he couldn't trust me enough to complete my tasks on time, I would not continue working with him.

In my opinion, stress between colleagues about getting work done should never be an issue in a healthy company. People need to be able to trust each other that they work in the interest of the company. Before a lazy employee can affect the whole team, the employer should have handled the situation.