Ask HN: What to do about underperforming coworker | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What to do about underperforming coworker

9 pointsanoneeemouse14 comments

I don't want to go into details but if you've encountered an underperforming coworker who drags you down and makes your work unenjoyable, what have you done about it?

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1. Talk to the person about the specific behaviour(s) that are affecting your work. It doesn't need to be a big deal to start with, it can be a simple and casual "can you please $x".

2. If talking to the person doesn't work, talk to your manager about how your work is being affected.

3. In both cases stick to specific behaviours and how they impact your work and the team's output. It's not your place to evaluate other people's overall job performance.

Always start with questioning yourself before questioning others.

Get your manager involved, get a new job for yourself, or learn to live with it. Maybe start sending job posts to this other person and see if you can help get them a new job?

It’s very unlikely that you’ll be able to help this other person “improve” (and it might cause new problems for you if you try).

You might also need to realize that the other person isn’t underperforming and that you don’t have full information about the situation.

I like to build him/her up. Be their friend and prop them up and "help" them whenever possible. Help propel them into even 1-2 promotions in a year or so.

Then stop helping, completely. And let nature take it's course, or help if necessary. It's nature's way.

:-)

I'm with the other poster who expressed incredulity at being "dragged down." If anything, I fear the opposite -- being paled in comparison to an overachiever.

Sometimes it could be you dragging them down by making them feel bad about themselves.

Are they uncomfortable in a group setting, going through health issues?

Let’s define underperforming fairly. Are they new? Just because they don’t match the team, maybe they’re learning still. It’s good to reflect.

Also, talk to them, be a friend. It’s a team not a competition.

How is a coworker dragging you down? You just do your own work? Leave it to the manager to deal with it. Now if you're the manager, then I'd say you should question yourself if you really should be one if you can't deal with such a common situation.

I quietly cleaned up his messes anytime his files got dumped on me for some reason, then quietly and more happily cleaned them up for another six months after he was finally fired.

Talk to your manager, it's their role to handle employee performance.

You can easily get a raise/promotion when working with "underperformers", so what are you waiting for?

But probably your college is not an underperformer.

I see a number of recommendations to involve the manager. That the manager isn’t aware that an individual is underperforming is the actual problem.

Join them. The management clearly doesn't care.

im more worried about the drag you down part lol how the fuck is that possible?

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