How to deal with uncooperative coworkers who don't do their work
Carrying the entire workload while teammates remain checked out, confused, or completely unresponsive turns your job into exhausting babysitting instead of actual project management. Constantly chasing people for updates and reminding them of deadlines leaves you overwhelmed and forced to manage adults who refuse to take responsibility for their tasks.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Committing people to takeaways in writing with outlined consequences
- 2Noting and reporting repeat offenders to leadership
- 3Publicly shaming people or calling them out when issues persist
- 4Accepting that repetitive communication is necessary because only a fraction of a message gets through
- 5Changing file permissions to read-only
- 6Escalating issues to management
- 7Terminating or firing problematic employees
- 8Talking to the employee about their attitude and cleaning checklists
- 9Relying on co-workers to report bad behavior when owners are absent
- 10Considering firing the problem employee
- 11Meeting to establish clear roles and rules for each class
- 12Talking to a trusted coach, mentor, or program supervisor
- 13Venting online
- 14Avoiding conversations where possible
- 15Reporting the behavior to multiple directors and the church pastor
- 16Requesting to remain paired with the colleague to act as a protective buffer for the students
- 17Sending detailed emails documenting incidents to leadership
- 18Refusing to share materials
- 19Forgetting to share with jerks
- 20Only sharing when explicitly asked
- 21Withholding detailed lesson plans meant for admin
- 22leaving the issue entirely to management
- 23documenting requests and ignoring unaddressed tasks
- 24focusing exclusively on assigned individual projects
- 25Trying to salvage the position independently
- 26Reporting the incident to superiors
- 27Writing employees up for insubordination
- 28Firing problematic staff immediately
- 29Suspending employees and cutting their shifts
- 30Hiring a manager to handle staff
- 31explaining how to prepare and read the manual beforehand
- 32suggesting alternative teaching methods like the area model
- 33Using the grey rock method
- 34Communicating exclusively via email for documentation purposes
- 35Keeping a professional distance
- 36playing along
- 37looking for the good coworkers to stay sane
- 38focusing strictly on sending requested files and getting home
- 39declining social media requests
- 40ignoring the coworker and not engaging outside or inside of work
- 41moving parking spots to avoid him
- 42Accepting that accountability flows upward and that bypassing intermediate levels of communication is a normal part of the workplace.
- 43discussing concerns with the administration
- 44responding to administration meetings with facts and supporting evidence
In their words
Unedited, most upvoted first, each linked to the thread it came from.
“not sure if it’s just my org but nowdays it feels like i’m the only one actually trying to keep the damn lights on while everyone else is either confused, checked out, or pretending things will magically fix themselves”source ↗
“some days i swear the job isn’t even project management it’s just managing the people who are supposed to manage themselves.”source ↗
“Obviously, more than one parent was upset. Is this requirement strange? I feel kinda weird about it but don’t know how to bring it up with my co-teacher.”source ↗
“Its truly amazing how computer illiterate people can be this day and age and still somehow secure employment.”source ↗
“Like no, I don't have time to teach someone in bookkeeping how to use fucking QuickBooks.”source ↗
“Constant reminder to do something, urging and asking for answer, with clear tasks, deadlines and still being ignored.”source ↗
“there's a new teacher in our hallway that needs too much help and doesn't actually do what you suggest.”source ↗
“she's not taking any advice. I don't know what else to suggest to her.”source ↗
“We recently have been receiving complaints from a cook A about cook B.”source ↗
“He was asked to prep something on the fly from cook A & cook B got huffy & puffy attitude & almost refused to do.”source ↗
“Cook A also told us they both noticed the walk-in a few degrees out of temp & cook B wasn’t going to text my husband about it, saying “he doesn’t work tomorrow, it’s not his problem”.”source ↗
“I dedicate a lot of time in creating engaging lesson plans considering my district doesn’t have a set curriculum. I don’t mind sharing my lessons, but the all the newbies are rude. Like I don’t get a thank you or a good morning. They seem to be nice to me only when they need something from me.”source ↗
“I dread all my conversations with every single engagement team, bar like one or two where the people are actually chill.”source ↗
“People pressuring me for updates when they normally wouldn't.”source ↗
“People being extremely sensitive to the words I say when they ask for an update.”source ↗
“People just being plain rude when their dreams of you being better than a regular human don't come true.”source ↗
“I feel like I'm constantly attempted to be overridden.”source ↗
“one cook who complains incessantly said during a meeting for me to 'buy a 4 burner stove instead?”source ↗
“Today, I gave a customer a free lemonade refill, and she puts her hand in my face and says 'No', insinuiting refills have a charge.”source ↗
“When I asked for a list of activities my position was responsible for, she shouted that she was here to teach me and I was not here to teach her!!!???”source ↗
“I have been working with my co teacher for five years now. It wasn’t bad at first, but over the last few years her attitude and patience towards our students has drastically declined.”source ↗
“I request to be placed with her every year because I am the “safe place” for the kids and I fear if I am moved, she will be placed with someone who will not report things”source ↗
“Yesterday, she made a student cry twice because they couldn’t find their folder due to not knowing how to identify their name, she yelled at another student for spilling their lunch and said they did it on purpose.”source ↗
“My EA is relative of admin. When she is assigned even a small task, she sometimes refuses, asks to take a short break, and leaves the classroom.”source ↗
“On my second day, she recorded me twice while I was teaching after I had assigned her a task.”source ↗
“I now feel as though someone is watching and reporting on me while sitting in my classroom.”source ↗
“The reason I got upset is that as my PARTNER, I feel like she should have come to me and mentioned that students were feeling this way. Instead, she told the student to report it to admin or their parents and never mentioned it to me.”source ↗
“At this point, I'm grey rocking her the rest of the year. Anything I need to say will be in an email so it can be documented.”source ↗
“I’ve had some uncomfortable experiences with a coworker that I’ve been unsure how to address.”source ↗
“There is one male coworker who seems to have difficulty understanding that I am not interested in him romantically.”source ↗
“I think I was unsure whether I was overreacting or how to explain what was making me uncomfortable.”source ↗
“I guess I blew budget however instead of asking why I was taking longer she went directly to her engagement partner snitching about my hours not making sense.”source ↗
“If they’re already yelling at you though that’s wicked unprofessional”source ↗
“How does anyone deal with this for years on end without going nuts? Just regular staff auditors and accountants acting like they're C-suite assholes to everyone is wild.”source ↗
“I'm coming up on 2 years of dealing with these people, their petty political games, and almost losing my mind.”source ↗
“your senior/manager/partner are always ready to throw you under the bus because there are always fresh bodies coming.”source ↗
“Day 1 and my coteacher has already yelled at me.”source ↗
“I am a sys admin in a medium organization. I have a senior coworker also a sysadmin. He doesn't do anything I request him do.”source ↗
“One week later, the tickets are still open. This is not an isolated incident.”source ↗
“I genuinely don't know how to handle him anymore.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2How to manage an older employee with more experience who undermines you
- 2Partner won't help with the puppy and keeps threatening to get rid of him
- 2How to deal with an unqualified employee who is impossible to fire
- 7How to deal with a manager who is confidently wrong
- 11Why can't employees ever use the self service portal?
- 5How do I deal with non-technical managers and constant interruptions?