Questions tagged [colleagues]

Questions regarding the people one works with. This includes questions about communication, teamwork, or other issues caused by ones co-workers.

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29 votes
7 answers
15k views

Should I report an unethical behavior from a teammate to our leader?

I am working in a research team that consists of researchers and a team lead. The team lead asked me with another teammate to experiment with several methodologies to get good results on a data. When ...
Minions's user avatar
  • 529
29 votes
9 answers
8k views

How do I deal with a co-worker who thinks his own shortcomings are funny?

I have a co-worker who constantly misses deadlines, hands in incomplete work, or claims that things he doesn't want to deal with are 'too hard'. For reasons beyond the scope of this question he will ...
SomeKittens's user avatar
29 votes
5 answers
11k views

A team managed by my peer is close to melting down

Environment: My boss, John, has three managers (Heather, Rudy and Gary) reporting to him, and each one is in charge of a team. Difficult times within Rudy's team are the reason for that question. I ...
Siorki's user avatar
  • 422
29 votes
5 answers
5k views

The CEO wants my colleague to work more hours than what we pay him for [duplicate]

My boss wants projects to be delivered 'quicker', he is a workaholic and expects everyone else to follow suit. By that, he means telling my colleague who is working out in India to work longer hours i....
bobo2000's user avatar
  • 12k
29 votes
6 answers
6k views

How do you work with a flat earther?

I work at a gas station. This home schooled kid is a flat earther and talks non stop. He's generally a nice person, but his views are awful and polar to mine. I try not talking, but he continues to ...
ellenmight's user avatar
29 votes
2 answers
6k views

Crying Co-Worker

I sit next to a co-worker who consistently has issues. As a human being I feel bad for her, but at the same time I do not appreciate the constant (once a week) loud personal conversations that she ...
Neo's user avatar
  • 84.8k
28 votes
9 answers
15k views

How should I deal with "online" status competition at work?

Some of my coworkers seem to keep their online status as available until late at night, even when they are not working. I suspect they use some tricks to prevent their computer from going to sleep ...
Catiger3331's user avatar
28 votes
5 answers
5k views

A colleague borrowed a book, then took home without permission. How can I get it returned? [closed]

A colleague borrowed a work-related book (value ~£30) a few months back. Recently I went to ask for it back, but they had taken it home without permission. For the past two weeks they 'keep ...
Fractional's user avatar
28 votes
5 answers
15k views

What happens if I poison a co-worker who has been stealing my food? [closed]

I must have the worst luck. Not only have I been feeling rather 'backed up*' lately but someone at work has also been stealing my sandwiches! I’m not looking for help on either of these issues ...
RyanfaeScotland's user avatar
28 votes
4 answers
3k views

Should we maintain the difference between personal and professional contacts?

I am a newbie in a professional world and hence I have some new friends in my working area including some seniors. So, we are also connected from a social networking site but the issues is I am ...
Harshal Mahajan's user avatar
28 votes
4 answers
7k views

How to deal with colleagues applying to the same company where I was just hired?

I am in a new situation and I don't know if I am supposed to do something about it or not. I was hired by a new company and will be starting in January. As soon as I had the new contract I resigned ...
Aluminum's user avatar
  • 383
28 votes
2 answers
5k views

Balance between quiet workplace and necessary discussion

We are having some strain in the team due to the level of noise in the office. Background: We share a single office with a team of six software developers. We generally have a good team atmosphere, ...
sleske's user avatar
  • 11.9k
28 votes
3 answers
3k views

How to work with somebody who works quickly without caring for quality? [closed]

I work at an organisation with a very small dev department, developing a project with one co-worker only. We are both junior, never used ASP MVC .NET or worked on production grade code before. The ...
Rumi P.'s user avatar
  • 595
27 votes
6 answers
19k views

Bossy coworker asked me to stay late. Should I tell our manager?

I started a job relatively recently, and it is in retail. The store is small, so sometimes only one or two people are working at a time. There's a coworker who's only been there a few more months than ...
casablancaeggplant's user avatar
27 votes
9 answers
11k views

Anxious about daily stand-up meetings

As mentioned in a previous post, I am a junior engineer a few months into my role after completing a 3 month boot camp. I have a BSc in English Literature, so I am picking up the technical knowledge ...
sandy's user avatar
  • 425
27 votes
7 answers
8k views

How to deal with under-performing coworker during leadership change

I work in IT, in a healthcare facility in the US. The IT department manager was fired. Unrelated, the next level boss—the CFO—transferred to another facility. It has been declared that the manager ...
James Wolfe's user avatar
27 votes
3 answers
10k views

How to defend myself from someone trying to undermine me?

TL;DR Co-worker doesn't do his job and is trying to blame me for his low performance, what is the best way to get out of this situation? Is talking to his manager a good option? At my company, my ...
Felicia's user avatar
  • 281
27 votes
3 answers
11k views

How do I politely ask my co-workers and my boss not to talk in a regional local language during meetings and project discussions [duplicate]

Last week I was deputed to my office headquarter. In the beginning everything was fine, but after a few weeks some of my co-workers started having conversations in local regional language during ...
Narender Parmar's user avatar
27 votes
5 answers
12k views

Should I report to HR and involve others if I am being wrongly accused of theft?

Today something weird happened to me at work - I was accused of stealing a ring by my company's security personnel. Of course, I didn't do it; I even helped my colleague to try to find the ring. My ...
jimm-cl's user avatar
  • 487
27 votes
4 answers
6k views

How do I motivate my colleagues?

Sometimes I have to work with a particular colleague on my team; the problem is, in my opinion, that he takes his work too lightly. When I start a job, I commit to it and want to meet my deadlines and ...
Lucas Kauffman's user avatar
26 votes
6 answers
9k views

How to prevent non-technical and disruptive persons from coming to our technical meetings? [closed]

I work in a small team and recently we had to merge with another team (slightly larger) in a business vertical. Both teams are dealing with some satellite applications related to Business Intelligence....
Alexei's user avatar
  • 5,762
26 votes
10 answers
7k views

Is it ok to use an employers laptop and software licencing for side freelancing work?

I have a colleague who also freelances on the side after hours (I assume this is ok, it's none of my business). I discovered today he's using his work laptop and work software license for his ...
eipi's user avatar
  • 2,675
26 votes
10 answers
9k views

How do I tell a coworker he's wrong?

At my job as a software engineer, I am in a situation where I am right and my coworker is wrong. This is definitive; it's a black and white situation that can be "Googled" for an answer. Normally I ...
OneChillDude's user avatar
26 votes
6 answers
5k views

Sexist and homophobic jokes from teammates. Should I approach my Scrum Master or Manager?

I belong to a team of engineers and I have been often hearing sexist, racist, homophobic and transmisogynist jokes from some of them. At first they have been telling it to themselves, which I don't ...
user avatar
26 votes
6 answers
10k views

How soon after should I follow up on a missed deadline?

If someone working on a document tells me he will email it to me tomorrow, and that I will have it by 10:00, how long after the deadline should I wait to follow up? I feel that emailing (or worse, ...
yoozer8's user avatar
  • 4,746
26 votes
5 answers
9k views

Team lead unhappy to lead team [closed]

I am the team lead of a team with quite a diverse background in both age and knowledge. 2 COBOL developers around 60 years old, 1 business person, one project manager, and 3 Java developers. I am the ...
Pesho's user avatar
  • 940
26 votes
4 answers
7k views

When you have passive aggressive co-workers

I've been at the same gig for almost 8 years. I was hired in as a software developer (the entire SDLC) and am the only developer in a small IT department. We went through lay offs awhile back and ...
Rich's user avatar
  • 285
26 votes
4 answers
4k views

How to deal with a bossy coworker

Long story short, our team is now out of its team leader and our manager is not quite involved in our day to day operations. We're a small team with two more senior guys (another guy and myself) and ...
ApplePie's user avatar
  • 2,258
25 votes
15 answers
30k views

How should I deal with coworkers who don't want to engage in small talk?

I work with a great team of people. I'm the only female, and I'm younger, while the others are middle-aged. We usually get along great, have fun, engage in ridiculous banter, and share a lot of laughs....
ellenoid's user avatar
  • 367
25 votes
11 answers
13k views

Can I refuse to review the work of the team tech lead if I have a lower grade than they?

Long story short, I work as a data scientist in a small team. The working environment is quite unusual. Key facts: The lead data scientist's technical expertise wasn't checked during the interview (...
BqKaXeu29y's user avatar
25 votes
5 answers
13k views

How should I tell a colleague I don't think he's qualified for a lead role?

I work in software development and at my current company, becoming a senior developer (and beyond) is a really tough task. The process takes a lot of time and involves multiple conversations with the ...
Kenai Singh's user avatar
25 votes
8 answers
38k views

Shared Fluorescent Light Problem

Our office is primarily lit by very intense, very annoying fluorescent lights, and I find that they give me a headache if I sit under them for too long. My resolution for this is to get a lamp with a ...
Zibbobz's user avatar
  • 10.3k
25 votes
10 answers
5k views

How can I deal with co-workers that send me a lot of off topic emails?

A few of my colleagues have a tendency of sending a variety of off topic emails, ranging from the usual "funny" stuff to serious, but still not work related stuff. I really don't like that, my inbox ...
yannis's user avatar
  • 5,314
25 votes
7 answers
8k views

How do I deal with a team member that keeps taking on tasks that he cannot solve?

I was hesitant whether I should post this on programmers instead, but I think that this problem is generally applicable. We have a junior team member (about two years with the company) who keeps ...
waxwing's user avatar
  • 353
25 votes
4 answers
4k views

Is it ok to ask former colleagues for feedback after being terminated?

I was recently fired from a job, and am struggling to understand why. The reasons given were unclear and contradictory, and management were defensive when I asked for detail - this was also my ...
blazerr's user avatar
  • 2,049
25 votes
5 answers
7k views

Male colleagues using female bathroom while specifically asked not to

I am a 24 years old female. I started working as a developer in a small-medium software company a little while back. The CEO was very exited to get me on board, as I would be their first female ...
Belle's user avatar
  • 3,702
25 votes
3 answers
3k views

How can I help a coworker with a bad case of impostor syndrome?

I am a software engineer in the US. One of the engineers in our team has a bad case of impostor syndrome, despite being among the most talented software engineers I've ever had the pleasure of ...
osuka_'s user avatar
  • 1,619
24 votes
14 answers
14k views

Sending department-wide non-work emails to colleagues. Is it rude?

I really would like to send an email to all the colleagues working in my department about tomorrow's strike and the recent UN report about climate change with some links in order to raise their ...
gabt's user avatar
  • 383
24 votes
3 answers
14k views

Party for a leaving coworker, but I'm off that day

A coworker is leaving the company and they are having a small party in the office. I will be off that day. Is it rude to not show up, since I'm off?
Bigbob23's user avatar
  • 625
24 votes
10 answers
20k views

How to deal with an intern who puts no effort in her work?

There is an intern who I am responsible for this summer. But apparently she isn't interested in the job. I gave her a research assignment which is needed for her following assignments. I told her ...
user2191454's user avatar
  • 1,587
24 votes
5 answers
6k views

Gotten enmeshed with constantly helping a co-worker with their homework during work

Prior to getting my degree and becoming a programmer, I was the head tutor of my college. When I was hired, part of my expectations were to help teach programming concepts to the team when they ...
ggiaquin16's user avatar
24 votes
6 answers
17k views

Should I report a coworker who is stealing from me?

This may seem pretty trivial, but it really bothers me. In my cubicle I have an area set aside for my personal effects, nothing expensive. Among those items is a carton containing packages of peanut ...
Bill Norman's user avatar
24 votes
5 answers
3k views

How can I get my colleagues to stop interrupting me?

I am the youngest and the least experienced member of my team of eight. Everyone else has at least six years' experience. I have been observing that, for a long time now, whenever I try making a ...
nysa's user avatar
  • 807
24 votes
6 answers
35k views

How to deal with co-workers speaking in another language? [duplicate]

I came to the US about a year ago. I changed my employer 3 months ago. The technical lead is American, and the 4 developers are Indian. They have all been with this employer for around 2 years, and ...
Language's user avatar
  • 241
24 votes
9 answers
4k views

How to politely return an expensive gift from a coworker?

One of my team members gave me an expensive gift before the Christmas break as a thank you for something that I did for him earlier in the year. I feel it's way over the top and would like to give it ...
I-P-X's user avatar
  • 417
23 votes
10 answers
15k views

Should I tell on my colleague for not keeping to assigned work-hours and abusing work-hours as break time? [closed]

Update: Thanks for all the answers, some more useful than others. Conclusion is: I went to HR and told them my concerns about said employees behavior. Turns out I wasn't the first to complain so they ...
Scorch62's user avatar
  • 363
23 votes
9 answers
11k views

Coworker keeps telling me where to sit. How can I handle this?

I recently started a new job. My coworker who sometimes works from home asked me which desk I sit at when he is not there. I told him at the same desk I normally do. He told me that needs to change, ...
ClanLatin's user avatar
  • 579
23 votes
13 answers
11k views

Can the word "girl" be derogatory when used to address a well known colleague?

I have worked in the cybersecurity division of my employer in the United States for about 9 years with last 4 years, in a management role. I have a female colleague whom I know well , and is also in a ...
Anthony's user avatar
  • 20.8k
23 votes
11 answers
11k views

How to help my stubborn colleague learn new ways of coding?

I work for a small wholesale company as a developer. It is just me and one other. I am way younger than him and he is considered my "senior". I put that in quotes because I soon realized ...
CodeJunkie's user avatar
  • 1,108
23 votes
10 answers
10k views

What can I call actions that seem to motivate employees to give gifts to a senior?

A situation like this has been happening. The most senior (say the dean of a faculty or a manager of a company) of the workplace, kind of likes to receive gifts. When there are new members, she looks ...
Hasini's user avatar
  • 341

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