Dealing with coworkers who don’t pull their weight

Dealing with coworkers who don’t pull their weight isn’t just common—it’s one of the biggest frustrations that people who are looking for career advancement face. Not only does a difficult coworker make projects take longer, they also negatively impact your own ability to get ahead and do great work. 

How do you support these types of coworkers? Should you? And when is it time to talk to a colleague or coach about the problem?

The frequency of coworkers who don’t pull their weight

According to Judith White, professor of business administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, dealing with coworkers who don’t pull their weight is “probably the single most common complaint [I receive]: ‘I have a colleague who doesn’t do their work, and I have to pick up slack.’”

But just because it happens often, it doesn’t mean the issue is a simple one. Tackling a tough coworker requires both tact and forethought—here’s how to address the situation. 

1. Assessing the issue

When you’re faced with a difficult coworker, the first thing you want to do is get the story straight. What exactly is the issue at hand? Are they missing deadlines? Failing to create work that’s up to par with what you need? A bad planner? Or simply disorganized?

To get your head around the situation, you’ll want to do two very important things: document the problems that are going on, and learn more about your colleague’s situation directly through a frank but kind conversation.  

2. Getting the story

In order to give your colleague a fair assessment, you also need to address the problem at the source. Have a private, professional conversation with them, ideally in a neutral time and place, and approach the discussion from a place of curiosity. 

Start with ‘I’ statements and use them whenever possible. “I noticed some projects are showing up late in my inbox.” “I’m sensing a pattern in reports getting delayed.” “We talked about splitting responsibilities on this project, but I found myself taking on most of the load.” 

Hear them out and listen. If they get argumentative, don’t “fight to be right”—instead, give them as much attention as you would any other colleague.

• Why fighting to be right isn’t useful: Sitting down with your coworker so that you can “win” an argument against them is never helpful. Even if you verifiably prove that they’re slacking or not pulling their weight, admonishing them will automatically put you at odds with that colleague. Rather than improving your relationship, you’re making the relationship even more fraught—with zero promise that they’re going to do a better job down the line. 

As you discuss, if your coworker starts talking about deeper problems that are preventing them from contributing, pay attention. 

Why? Because you want to get as much information as possible so that you don’t make assumptions about their work ethic that could end up being incorrect, or un-useful, in solving the problem.

Remember, that’s what this is about: solving the problem, not punishing the person who’s underperforming. 

3. Thinking of solutions

Now that you’ve got your colleague’s story straight, you can think of solutions together as to how to improve their performance. You can:

• Suggest a clearer division of responsibilities
• Ask them if there are any tasks they can delegate to other team members
• Get more specific about deadlines and expectations
• Create check-in systems
• Address limiting beliefs that may be getting in their way
• Devise creative ways of thinking about their challenges
• Offer different tools, like coaching or journaling, that might help them be more efficient

4. Having informal check-ins

It’s easy to promise better performance in the span of a fifteen-minute conversation. Seeing your colleague actually improve, though, takes time. As time goes on, make a habit of informally checking in on how the both of you are feeling about your mutual agreements. Are they delivering what you hoped? Or are they falling short?

During these check-ins, let your colleague ask questions, too. Do they feel good about your working relationship? Are you helping them make it easy to deliver projects? Try to be as receptive as possible, and leave your judgment at the door when you talk—you don’t need to muddy the waters with historical sleights and misplaced anger from past spats.  

5. Talking to another leader

Sometimes, working collaboratively to fix an issue just doesn’t work. It happens. If direct communication doesn’t yield results, or you’re not experiencing an improvement in your colleague’s performance after your discussion, you can:

• Consult a supervisor and frame the discussion around team productivity and project success
• Focus on finding solutions rather than complaining
• Be prepared with specific suggestions for improvement

6. Maintaining professionalism 

Even if you end up having to go to another manager, you don’t want to dispense with your own sense of professionalism. Throughout the entire process of dealing with a coworker who doesn’t pull their weight, remember to:

• Keep your emotions in check
• Avoid office gossip
• Stay focused on work-related issues
• Continue to be cordial and collaborative

7. Staying true to your own integrity

If your colleague is a chronic underperformer, it’s sometimes tempting to just sweep their bad behavior under the rug so that you can focus on getting the job done. It’s always good to be helpful, but if you continuously cover for them, you’re going to build up a backlog of resentment that’s hard to let go of. 

If you do cover for them, you can expect:

• More workplace toxicity that grows with time
• Misplaced anger at yourself and others
• A growing disillusionment with your job 
• Fewer promotions, or watching an underperforming colleague being promoted at your expense

Do’s and Don’ts: what you focus on grows

Even if you’ve exhausted all your options and you’re still not satisfied with your coworker, there are things you can do to weather the situation. Above all, remember that what you focus on grows—as in, if you’re always fixating on the fact that your coworker isn’t pulling their weight, then you’re not going to be able to do your job as well. 

Instead, here’s what you CAN do:

• Do: excel at your own responsibilities
• Do: build great relationships with other team members you can rely on
• Do: document your own successes and wins
• Do: develop strategies to work well with coworkers who don’t pull their weight
• Do: raise issues of performance to superiors when needed

And here’s what NOT to do:

• Don’t: try to change something you can’t
• Don’t: hyper fixate on a coworker’s career trajectory
• Don’t: stay in a role or job you despise if a transfer or better opportunity arises
• Don’t: continue working closely with a difficult colleague if you can avoid it
• Don’t: take the blame for your coworker’s performance

Remember—how you choose to handle a coworker who doesn’t pull their weight reflects on YOUR ability to be a successful leader. By handling the situation professionally, you’re demonstrating that you’ve got leadership qualities and a strong sense of emotional intelligence that can lead to future opportunities.

Want more help dealing with coworkers who don’t pull their weight? Try a complimentary coaching call on us.With the right partner and the right program, coaching can:

• Help you develop emotional resilience to handle frustrating situations calmly 
• Teach active listening skills to better understand your coworker’s challenges 
• Provide strategies for having difficult conversations professionally 
• Develop your leadership skills to influence without authority 
• Help you reframe the situation from frustration to problem-solving 
• Give you tools to manage your own stress and prevent burnout 
• Teach negotiation skills for workload discussions 
• Show you how to escalate issues appropriately when needed
• …and much, much more

Remember: what you focus on grows. Don’t focus on a colleague who doesn’t pull their weight. Focus on your own ability to notice, respond to and deal with problems in your workplace.