You have a coworker in your office that seems to be more interested in playing games on social media, shopping online, watching movies on the internet, and wasting time than actually completing their tasks?
Believe it or not, we all have at least one unmotivated and lazy colleague at work who do not focus on their tasks and waste time doing other leisure activities. Despite your employer deploying spy phone software in the workplace, some employees still manage to get away with it and waste their time.
Have you ever wondered what would you do in such a situation? Have you ever thought of how to handle a lazy colleague at work?
You can try a couple of strategies to deal with a slacker in your workplace. You can try communicating with the slacker, complain to your manager, or simply mind your own business. In this post, we will give you some tips that will enable you to deal with a slacker at work in an appropriate manner.
Table of Contents
Show Empathy Towards Your Colleague
Do you have a coworker who is slacking at work? Do you think your work is being affected by that slacker in the workplace? The lazy colleague may not be able to complete their tasks on time and create trouble for you and your team. The best way to deal with a slacker is to show empathy towards them.
There is a possibility that your coworker is not able to complete their work and shows a lazy attitude in the workplace because of some reason. They might be facing a personal problem or might be going through some specific issues with their work that they are not able to discuss with anyone.
You can reach out to them and ask them if they’re going through a personal problem or facing some issue at work. A simple act of kindness can help the lazy coworker open up with you and share their problems.
Talk to Your Colleague
The key to success in any organization is communication. Ever since we have been working from our homes for the past few months because of the lockdown situation, several aspects of the business have deeply suffered, especially communication.
Before the global pandemic when we were working in our offices, we used to walk up to our colleague’s desks to clear a doubt or ask them how they were doing. This sort of light-hearted conversation helped you develop a bond with your colleagues and stay updated about one another’s lives.
However, after we started working from our homes, we have been missing out on these luxuries. That’s the reason why most employees lack motivation when it comes to work and show a lazy attitude. But, when you try talking to your colleague, you can close the communication gap between each other and show them that you are there for them no matter what happens. This way they can stay more connected to work as well.
Ask for Some Advice from Your Manager
There may be many instances when you get annoyed by the slacker in your workplace. You cannot just sit and complain about them right away. Your main focus should be to get all the work done. At times, you may think that complaining about the lazy coworker to your manager seems like the right option. However, that would mean you’re not a good leader. It is important to think about how you can handle the situation in the right way before taking the matter to your manager.
If you will you are not able to talk to your colleague, you can consider taking some piece of advice from your manager. You need to handle the matter with great care and responsibility. Only then your manager would be impressed by you. On the other hand, your lazy colleague will also be grateful to you for helping them get back on the right track.
By getting some advice from your manager, you come across to be someone who is more interested in solving the problem and helping your colleague rather than creating a problem for them and being toxic.
Recommend Solutions to Your Manager
Sometimes, your coworker does not seem productive in the workplace because there is too much on their plates. Since they are unable to complete the tasks all by themselves and have no one to share their work with, they take a lot of time to complete them, and eventually, that makes them look lazy and tired.
It is recommended to not take any hard decision and instead try to figure out the underlying process. For example, if your coworker wants to collaborate with some other staff worker to complete a certain project, you can ask your manager to arrange one for them. By recommending this solution to your manager, you can ease the burden on your coworker’s shoulders and help them with the task.
Take Some Hard Decision
Last but not least, take some hard decisions if you have tried all the strategies and have been unable to get any positive results. If you think nothing has been working to help the slacker in the workplace, you can now talk to your boss or superior about it. However, before going to your boss, you need to keep the documentation ready.
In that document, you need to write down all the actions of the lazy colleague and tell how they have affected your team’s work. You can also mention all the times your work has been disrupted by your coworker’s inability to complete a certain task.
Another best way to gather evidence of your coworker’s laziness and lack of productivity is to monitor their activities with the help of phone spy software. If there is no employee monitoring solution in the workplace, consider installing one right away so you can keep a check on your colleague’s activities.
Remember, you do not need to act like James Bond and spy on their personal activities as well. You only need to monitor their work-related activities so you have enough proof to back up your claims. You can also talk to your boss about the solutions that you suggested to the lazy coworker and how they behaved after that.
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