The Student Room Group

Office politics a waste of time?

In my workplace we have a team. I like to be very efficient and do sht tone of work. One of my team mates does barely any work, but hangs around our bosses all day. I find this a waste of time, because essentially they are telling jokes and their productivity is abysmal.

However, I recently learned that since this guy talks to the bosses all the time, it is him who tells our bosses how our project is going. Although I do a large amount of work, and I'm very productivity, when he talks to the bosses giving these informal reports, it looks like that he does all the work.

What's more I found out that the guy was promoted and got a raise at the end the project. I repeat, he does barely any work, except for shooting the sht with the bosses and telling them informal reports on our progress, while the rest of the team does the actual hard work. I find telling jokes to each other a waste of time, so usually I avoid chit char and just get down to work all the time.

How should I handle this situation?
Reply 1
Original post by bizso09
In my workplace we have a team. I like to be very efficient and do sht tone of work. One of my team mates does barely any work, but hangs around our bosses all day. I find this a waste of time, because essentially they are telling jokes and their productivity is abysmal.

However, I recently learned that since this guy talks to the bosses all the time, it is him who tells our bosses how our project is going. Although I do a large amount of work, and I'm very productivity, when he talks to the bosses giving these informal reports, it looks like that he does all the work.

What's more I found out that the guy was promoted and got a raise at the end the project. I repeat, he does barely any work, except for shooting the sht with the bosses and telling them informal reports on our progress, while the rest of the team does the actual hard work. I find telling jokes to each other a waste of time, so usually I avoid chit char and just get down to work all the time.

How should I handle this situation?


I would say go and see your bosses and tell them about this, but then again they might be friends with him... I guess it depends on how well they get along.

If you have a HR department (or anyone who works in a similar role), you might want to take it up with them first.
It is not for you to complain about your colleague's lack of work ethic- that's something for his manager to deal with.

But you can potentially learn from this experience- work is to some extent about networking, having good relations with your management chain (as well as fellow team members) and getting ahead. It should be possible to do so while also being a productive team member and doing your job properly- which doesn't seem to be the case here. Maybe you should make more of an effort to communicate with your management and build a better relationship with them. Also, although it might not take as much time or effort as doing the actual project work, providing updates and communicating achievements/setbacks is a vital part of project work, however informally it may be done.

In my job there is a lot of office politics- it can be very frustrating but you can also use it to your advantage. You can play the politics game while still being a good employee and working hard. Avoiding it completely can sometimes mean you get left behind, however unfair that may seem.
Reply 3
Original post by standreams
It is not for you to complain about your colleague's lack of work ethic- that's something for his manager to deal with.


Most jobs I have seem to say that it is for the individual to complain about to their teamate. So many companies emphasise the importance of talking to each other about issues and that the manager must never be the 1st point of call..
Original post by ForKicks
Most jobs I have seem to say that it is for the individual to complain about to their teamate. So many companies emphasise the importance of talking to each other about issues and that the manager must never be the 1st point of call..


It's fine to complain (diplomatically) to your colleague about their perceived lack of effort (not about them to their manager) and that would be the first thing to do if they felt strongly enough about it. It may be that the colleague has other duties s/he doesn't know about and is in fact pulling their weight.

It's also fine to mention to your manager that you feel you are putting in more work than unnamed individuals and to ask for the workload to be distributed more equally as you feel you are taking on a burden (this can be a minefield though as you don't want to imply that you can't cope with the workload unless this really is the case).

A manager's job is to manage and monitor their team's performance. If one member is not pulling their weight, then it is their responsibility to act on it. There is a fine line between raising a grievance as outlined above and whining to a manager about a colleague (without hard evidence this will just be taken as subjective and unhelpful opinion and may well work against the one raising the complaint).

Obviously this doesn't apply in cases of harrassment, bullying etc.
Original post by bizso09
I recently learned that since this guy talks to the bosses all the time, it is him who tells our bosses how our project is going. ......when he talks to the bosses giving these informal reports, it looks like that he does all the work.

What's more I found out that the guy was promoted and got a raise at the end the project.

I find telling jokes to each other a waste of time, so usually I avoid chit char and just get down to work all the time.

How should I handle this situation?


Isn't the obvious answer to chat to the bosses more? You don't have to be petty enough to discuss what you think are the other person's failings.

You don't seem to be 'doing the math' - your colleague is getting on because he is engaging and giving feedback. Think how fast you would get on if you not only worked hard, but were also engaging and gave constructive feedback!
Original post by bizso09
In my workplace we have a team. I like to be very efficient and do sht tone of work. One of my team mates does barely any work, but hangs around our bosses all day. I find this a waste of time, because essentially they are telling jokes and their productivity is abysmal.

However, I recently learned that since this guy talks to the bosses all the time, it is him who tells our bosses how our project is going. Although I do a large amount of work, and I'm very productivity, when he talks to the bosses giving these informal reports, it looks like that he does all the work.

What's more I found out that the guy was promoted and got a raise at the end the project. I repeat, he does barely any work, except for shooting the sht with the bosses and telling them informal reports on our progress, while the rest of the team does the actual hard work. I find telling jokes to each other a waste of time, so usually I avoid chit char and just get down to work all the time.

How should I handle this situation?
It happens, there's nothing you can directly do about it, 9 times out of 10 they crash and burn on their own accord.

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