Co-Worker working on Christmas/Holidays while they are off (to complete tasks I agreed I'd complete on our return from time off)

Question

I would like to know how to deal with this situation.

Basically our manager had a clear schedule on who is working and not working over Christmas. I took my vacation accordingly as I was the prime person for the December month-end activities which is a regular part of our job on a monthly basis.

I completed what was necessary on the 23^rd December before leaving on vacation for 3 days and so did my co-worker who was off for the next 4 days.

I was supposed to finish the month-end activities on the 27^th December upon my return, but when I logged in I found my co-worker worked on the 24^th, 25^th, and 26^th of December and finished all the work that was on my plate to finish on the 27^th.

Now, I arrived early in the morning on the 27^th, got online on time, and when I opened up the system I found all this!

I really don't know how to react to this! I feel upset and I am a little bit worried about my co-worker as well!

The reason why I feel upset is because we decided who was going to work on which tasks, I was not late on any of those, and there were absolutely no requirements to work on Christmas and the day after. I planned my work accordingly so that I could stay on the course to finish the month-end activities and now I got up on the 27^th and saw that everything was done over the holidays. I was thinking that if they had said they were going to do this before, I could have planned my vacation accordingly but when the work was distributed they didn't raise this issue at all.

Also, I am worried about my co-worker as they were supposed to rest over the holidays but were still working and maybe they feel some sort of competition or something between the both us.

Could you please advise me how to tackle this issue as this is not the first time my co-worker has done this, working over holidays / weekends and doing my work?

Answer 1

I really don't know how to react to this! As I feel upset as well as have little bit worried about co-worker as well!

Don't overthink it, be happy that the work is done. Enjoy the rest of the holidays.

Could you please help me how to tackle this co-worker as this is not the first time, he has done this: working over holidays / weekends and take up my work?

In general, for other times (when/if it happens), ensure that:

• The work division / assignment is formalized, and it is clear that the co-worker is overstepping to take up your job - you did not ask them to get it done.
• Keep your manager informed that the work which was assigned to you to be done at a particular time, is already worked on by the colleague and you have no part in ensuring the correctness / applicability of the result / outcome.

Also, next time the planning meeting comes up, bring this topic up and mention that if they believe they have less on their plate, they can either look for more work to be assigned by the boss / manager, or talk to the boss of utilizing their free time effectively. Stepping into someone else's assignment actually messes up the plan, instead of making it better.

And, I am worried about her as she is supposed to rest over holidays but still working and may be he feels some sort of competitions or something between both us.

I'd say, until proven otherwise, assume good intentions. Maybe by doing your work, they're trying to be nice and making themselves useful. It's true that by doing this sort of overstepping they are actually creating problems instead of helping, but it may also be an honest mistake.

Talk to them, tell them that what they're doing is actually not helping. They may realize the mistake and never do it again!

Answer 2

It doesn't matter why they ended up working when they weren't supposed to. It isn't any of your business. Their plans could have fallen through, a vacation got cancelled, family changed plans, who knows? It doesn't matter. If its square with their manager it is a done deal.

I was supposed to finish month-end activities on 27th December, upon my return, but when I logged in I found my co-worked worked on 24th, 25th, 26th of December and finish all the work pretty much which was on my plate to finish on 27th.

Now, I came early morning on 27th, got online on time, and when I opened up system I found all these!

Well the work was planned when everyone believed that nobody would be there on those days. Those plans changed, so the plan needed to change. Suddenly 24 man hours got added to the sheet. They chose to do work that needed to be done rather than sitting around doing nothing for those 3 days. I don't see any issue here. It doesn't read to me like they were trying to do your work because of anything to do with you, but rather because they needed work to do. Pick up the next work item and move on.

Could you please help me how to tackle this issue as this is not the first time, he has done this, working over holidays / weekends and take up my work?

Talk to him in a kind and respectful manner. Stick to the facts, don't make assumptions or accusations. Part of working in an office environment is addressing conflict in a respectful and productive manner. Keep them from being defensive by using phrases like "I know you didn't mean any harm by ~, but...". Always frame your opinions as opinions, its very important to soften things you believe with "I feel that..." rather than stating it as an objective fact. Avoid putting them on the defensive at all costs. Start with the assumption that nothing they did was done out of malice, focus on listening and understanding their point of view, and make your goal to meet a mutual agreement and find mutual understanding. It just takes practice.

Answer 3

There are a few different things that might concern you about this. If you take a look at what you're thinking and figure out which of these are problems for you, you'll be able to make a more targeted solution.

Possibilities:

1. You're worried about your co-worker's well being.
2. You're worried it'll reflect badly on you that someone else did your work.
3. You're worried that your co-worker doesn't want you to do this work for some reason.
4. You're annoyed that you got up to do work that was already done.
5. You're paid hourly and have no work to do, so you won't get paid.

What to do for each of these:

1. Are you friends? If so, talk to them. If not, let it go. As others have said, there are lots of reasons someone might work on a holiday. If it's really bugging you, let your boss know and then let it go.
2. Let your boss know. It certainly isn't your fault the work got done. If your boss wants to do anything about it or wants you to do anything differently, they'll let you know. Otherwise, it's similar to if you had a task and got it done early.
3. Don't borrow trouble. If this isn't actually why they're doing it, and you act on this assumption, you'll look like you're being oversensitive. In case it actually is the case, tell your boss what happened (but not why you think it happened).
4. Let it go. You aren't any worse off than you would have been if they didn't do your work. Kick back and have an easy morning. "If you were going to do my work, you should have told me so I could relax more," wouldn't make you look good.
5. Tell your boss. They'll need to make sure this doesn't happen again.

Note that there are really two themes here:

• Tell your boss
• Don't worry about it

I'm a manager. I often find that team members' concerns boil down to fear that they might get in trouble for something. As soon as I assure them they won't, the concerns are gone. If you talk to your boss, they should be able to assure you this isn't going to harm you in any way, either because there's no problem in the first place or because the boss will fix it.

Answer 4

Four possibilities:

1. A simple oversight.

2. That person is depressed or has some other issue.

3. She may not like the quality of your work.

4. Fourth possibility. That person is committing fraud. In auditing, one clue, that someone is committing fraud, is that they're not taking their vacation when they're supposed to, and they're not letting others do their work, for fear that their fraud/embezzlement could be discovered.

Whichever it is, it's very unlikely that this has anything with you. It's a possibility, yes, but only a very tiny one.

Answer 5

Here's a couple of additional possibilities I thought of (further to the already excellent answers already posted!)

This is based on my experience in the past with a specific co-worker, in case none of the existing answers seem to address what you feel your co-worker's motivations may be.

Possibilities

1. Your co-worker may be - for whatever reason - anxious about those processes being completed and it causes them to feel on edge / uneasy that the tasks that presumably would normally be done on the 25th etc are being left until the 27th.

"What if they don't get done? I need to make sure they get done as user2040021 isn't planning to do them until the 27th!"

Presumably given that it's a "month end" process you have a rota and tasks that must be done by x date.

2. Your co-worker feels that those tasks you agreed as a group can wait until the 27th MUST actually be completed on their usual days.

This could be due to a lack of understanding of the process on their part, (or indeed on your and your boss's part, though this seems less likely because why wouldn't co-worker have raised objections at the time) - or potentially undermining the 'official' process for personal reasons, feel they can't officially disagree with a group consensus, maybe even as a passive-aggressive act or to show that they (co-worker) are 'more committed' than user2040021.

Responses

(1) can be handled with reassurance and further discussion about the process with most reasonable people. (2) is more problematic as it indicates someone that will agree/commit to something and then undermine it without communicating to others, for dysfunctional reasons.

I'm curious if the co-worker has done things like this in other situations, or has acted in possible 'passive aggressive' ways at other times?